Maltine Co. v. Commissioner

5 T.C. 1265, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 18
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 19, 1945
DocketDocket No. 6180
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 5 T.C. 1265 (Maltine Co. v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maltine Co. v. Commissioner, 5 T.C. 1265, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 18 (tax 1945).

Opinion

OPINION.

Kern, Judge'.

The petitioner urges that the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals in Maltine Co. v. Commissioner, Docket Nos. 2805 and 3967, promulgated February 18, 1927, and reported at 6 B. T. A. 153, makes the issues involved here res judicata.

The respondent points out that the issues are different, different revenue acts apply, and, specifically, that the basic questions here, whether the intangible assets were acquired within the meaning of the statute so as to be an allowable component of invested capital, and the value of such intangibles, were not raised, litigated, or determined in the prior decision.

We agree with the respondent. The basic issue before the Board in the earlier case was whether the 1898 transaction was a purchase by petitioner of the capital stock of the manufacturing company, or of its assets, a distinction which was important under the then effective statute. No one suggested then that the transaction should be ignored for tax purposes, the question being limited to the construction thereof. The question here is not what the character of the transaction was, but whether it should be entirely disregarded for the purpose of computing invested capital under a statute materially different from the one in effect when the earlier decision was rendered. The issues are different and different tax statutes and years are involved. We must therefore conclude that the doctrine of res judicata is not applicable. See Reynard Corporation, 37 B. T. A. 552; Susanna Bixby Bryant, 2 T. C. 789; Pelham Hall Co. v. Eassett, 147 Fed. (2d) 63.

The petitioner’s contention on the merits here is that it is entitled to include in its computation of its equity invested capital, under the provisions of section 718 (a) (2) of the Internal Eevenue Code, the assets of Maltine Manufacturing Co. acquired by it in 1898, in consideration of the issuance of its capital stock, in an amount equal to its unadjusted basis for determining loss upon a sale or exchange; that its basis as to these assets was cost; and that its cost was $1,134,-926.34, which was the net worth of the property paid in for its stock, under Regulations 112, section 35.718-1.

Respondent argues that the formation of a new corporate entity in 1898 by the stockholders of an existing corporation and the acquisition by the new corporation of the assets of the old corporation in exchange for the issuance of the capital stock of the new corporation do not entitle the new corporation to the use for this purpose of the cost to it of the property so acquired in excess of the original investment in the old corporation. Respondent regards such a transaction as no more than a “write up” of good will and the declaration of a stock dividend.

There is no dispute about the facts of the 1898 transaction. The Maltine Manufacturing Co. had been operating with outstanding success for several years, having paid dividends for six successive years equal to a 100 percent return on the original investment, which was $100,000. It operated under a charter which limited its activities to “the manufacture and sale of a medical preparation known as Maltine and its compounds in the City and County of New York.”

In 1897 petitioner was incorporated with a capital of $1,000,000, for the purpose of acquiring the assets and business of the manufacturing company. Its corporate purpose was the making and selling of medicinal and food products and its activities were not confined to any particular locality.

The Maltine Manufacturing Co. had four stockholders. Three of them became the incorporators and original stockholders of petitioner, but almost immediately, on the same date, at least, the stockholdings were so adjusted that the four stockholders of the manufacturing company held stock in petitioner in the same proportion, at the ratio of ten for one, of their holdings in the manufacturing company.

Petitioner took over the assets and the operation of the business, added new products to its line at various times, and continued its highly successful operation to the present time.

There seems to be no serious doubt that if the transaction had occurred in later years it would have qualified as a tax-free reorganization, and in that case petitioner would be required to use its transferor’s base for the purpose under discussion. The immediate question here, then, is whether the fact that the transaction occurred in 1898 leads to a different result.

Section 718 (a) (2) of the code provides that property acquired for stock shall be included in the computation of equity invested capital at an amount equal to its basis (unadjusted) for determining loss upon a sale or exchange.

Section 113 (a) of the code provides: “Basis (unadjusted) of property. The basis of property shall be the cost of such property; except that * *

There follow twenty-two exceptions to this basic rule, of which none is claimed by respondent to be applicable to the present situation. Consequently, we conclude that the petitioner’s basis of the property involved here for determining loss upon a sale or exchange is cost.

One of the exceptions, found at section 113 (a) (6), relates to property acquired in a tax-free exchange after February 28,1913. It does not provide, however, for an exception where property is acquired before that date in an exchange of a character which would have been tax-free had it occurred thereafter.

Section 113 (a) (7) provides an exception where property was acquired after December 31,1917, by a corporation in a reorganization.

Section 113 (a) (8) provides an exception where property was acquired after December 31,1920, by a corporation by the issuance of stock or securities, or as a paid-in surplus, or contribution to capital.

Section 113 (a) (14) provides an exception in basis for determining gain on property acquired before March 1, 1913. It is silent as to basis for determining loss and respondent’s regulations (Regulations 111. sec. 29.113 (a) (14)-1) explicitly recognize that fact.

These exceptions, which do not apply here, are examined because they indicate ¡.he degree of precision with which the statute provides for the varying situations for which Congress intended to make special exceptions. The inevitable conclusion is that it meant exactly what it said when it said that the basis, except for the several special situations thereafter specifically set forth, should be cost. To hold petitioner’s basis for determining loss to be other than cost would be to create another exception, which we conceive to be properly the task of Congress if it is to be done.

There now arises the question of the valuation of the assets acquired by petitioner as outlined above. The regulations (sec. 35.718-1 of Regulations 112) provide:

* * * * * * *
If the basis to the taxpayer is cost and stock was issued for the property, the cost is the fair market value of such stock at the time of its issuance. If the stock had no established market value at the time of the exchange, the fair market value of the assets of the company at that time should be determined and the liabilities deducted.

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Bluebook (online)
5 T.C. 1265, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 18, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maltine-co-v-commissioner-tax-1945.