Marsman v. Commissioner

18 T.C. 1, 1952 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 230
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 3, 1952
DocketDocket No. 18591
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 18 T.C. 1 (Marsman 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
Marsman v. Commissioner, 18 T.C. 1, 1952 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 230 (tax 1952).

Opinion

TURNER, Judge:-

The respondent determined deficiencies of $281,-811.72, $142,298.90 and $152,224.16 in the petitioner’s income tax for 1939, 1940, and 1941, respectively, and a delinquency penalty of $70,452.93 for 1939.

On joint motion of the parties, an order was entered severing for preliminary determination in this proceeding and in the proceedings in Docket Nos. 18590 and 18592, involving deficiencies determined against the petitioner’s husband, J. H. Marsman, and their daughter, Anne Petronella Marsman, for the years 1939,1940, and 1941, the sole issue whether the petitioner, her husband and their daughter were, after April 28, 1939, residents of the United States during the years in question. At the hearing on that issue all questions involved in the proceeding of Anne Petronella Marsman were disposed by a stipulation of the parties. Following the hearing on such issue, it was determined that J. H. Marsman was at no time during the said years a resident of the United States, that until September 22,1940, the petitioner likewise was a nonresident, and that beginning on that date and continuing through December 31, 1941, she was a resident. Pursuant to our determination as to the status of J. H. Marsman, decision was entered determining that there were no deficiencies in his income tax for the years in controversy.

In the case of Mary A. Marsman, three issues remain for determination. They are set out in a written stipulation filed by counsel at the hearing herein, and are (1) whether the income of petitioner and her husband both from individual services rendered by them and from their separately owned properties was community income taxable one-half to petitioner Mary A. Marsman, (2) whether the undistributed Supplement P net income for the entire year 1940 of petitioner’s wholly owned foreign personal holding company, La Trafagona, is includible in full in her income for the period September 22 to December 31,1940, or whether the amount to be so included is only that portion of the company’s income attributable to the period September 22 to December 31,

1940, and (3) whether the petitioner is entitled to a credit against her 1941 Federal income tax of the income tax paid by her in that year to the Philippine Government on income for 1938 and that part of 1940 prior to September 22, during all of which she was a nonresident alien, and if the credit is not allowable, whether the Philippine income tax so paid is allowable as a deduction in determining her net income for 1941,

GENERAL FINDINGS OF FACT.

A portion of the facts have been stipulated, and are found accordingly.

The petitioner is not and never has been a citizen of the United States. Prior to September 22, 1940, and as early as 1920, she was a resident of the Philippine Islands. She was not engaged in any way in trade or business within the United States at any time during

1939, 1940, or 1941. In 1939, she received dividends from sources within the United States in the sum of $1,332.50. Since it is not now ascertainable whether Federal income taxes were withheld from these dividends, the petitioner concedes that there is a deficiency of $133.25 in her Federal income tax for 1939 as a nonresident alien.

The only Federal income tax returns filed by the petitioner for 1940 and 1941 were nonresident alien returns on Treasury Department Forms 1040 NB.

Issue 1. Community Income.

FINDINGS OF FACT.

The petitioner and J. H. Marsman were married in the Philippine Islands on September 8, 1920. They became naturalized citizens of the Philippines in 1934 and remained citizens thereof until the inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines on November 15,1935, whereupon they became citizens of the Commonwealth. They remained citizens of the Commonwealth and were domiciled therein until a time subsequent to January 1,1942.

At the time of the marriage of the petitioner and J. H. Marsman, each owned separately a substantial amount of property and they entered into an oral agreement that the property thereafter acquired by each, including compensation derived from personal services as well as income derived from the separate property of each, was to remain the separate property of each spouse. This agreement has been observed by them since the date of their marriage. Separate bank accounts have been maintained in which the income of each, whether from investments or from personal services, has been deposited. Beginning not later than 1921 they have maintained separate accounts which reflect their individual investments and the income derived therefrom as well as their income from personal services.

As required by the income tax law of the Philippine Islands, the petitioner, J. H. Marsman, and their minor daughter, Anne Petronella Marsman, consolidated their incomes for each of the years 1938,1939, 1940, and 1941 and filed joint Philippine income tax returns for each of the years. The return for 1941 was not filed on or before its due date, March 1, 1942, because of the Japanese possession of the Philippines, but was filed after the cessation of hostilities.

Except for such adjustments as may be required as the result of this Court’s determination of the issues involved herein, the deficiency notice mailed by the respondent to the petitioner correctly sets forth her gross income and losses, and allowable deductions and credits for the years 1939,1940, and 1941.

In his determination of deficiencies against the petitioner and her husband for 1940 and 1941 the respondent determined that the petitioner’s husband' was taxable on the entire income from the property owned separately by him and on one-half of the combined earnings (salaries and director’s fees) of himself and the petitioner, and that the petitioner was taxable on the entire income from the property owned separately by her and on one-half of the combined earnings of herself and her husband.

OPINION.

It is the claim of the petitioner that both the personal earnings of herself and her husband and the income from their separate properties were community income, only half of which was taxable to her. The respondent contends, on the other hand, that while the individual earnings of the petitioner and her husband were community income, the income from petitioner’s separate property was her separate income. In the alternative, he contends that the oral antenuptial agreement was an effective agreement and that, by reason thereof, the income of each spouse from individual earnings and from separate property was his or her separate income. It thus appears that in order to win a greater over-all advantage on the basis of their respective contentions as to the status of the income of the petitioner and her husband from their separate properties, both petitioner and the respondent are willing to make concessions against interest as to the individual earnings of petitioner and her husband, and in the case of the respondent, we. have as to such income the taking of contradictory primary and alternate positions.

The decision, in our opinion, must be for the petitioner. It is well settled that property and property rights are to be determined by the law1 of the domicile of the parties. Poe v. Seaborn, 282 U. S. 101; Helvering v. Campbell, 139 F.

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Bluebook (online)
18 T.C. 1, 1952 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marsman-v-commissioner-tax-1952.