McDougal v. Commissioner

62 T.C. No. 78, 62 T.C. 720, 1974 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 52
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedAugust 29, 1974
DocketDocket Nos. 534-72, 535-72
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 62 T.C. No. 78 (McDougal 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
McDougal v. Commissioner, 62 T.C. No. 78, 62 T.C. 720, 1974 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 52 (tax 1974).

Opinion

Fat, Judge:

The respondent has determined the following deficiencies in, and additions to, the income tax of the jietitioners:

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The petitioners have in turn claimed income tax refunds for the aforesaid years.

Mutual concessions having been made, the following issues remain to be decided:

(1) Did the McDougals’ transfer of a one-half interest in the racehorse, Iron Card, to Gilbert McClanahan constitute a gift, or alternatively, did the aforesaid transfer constitute a contribution to an oral partnership or joint venture previously or contemporaneously formed by the McDougals and Gilbert McClanahan; and

(2) Did the McClanahans fail to report $500 of income in the year 1969.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Certain facts have been. stipulated by the parties and are found accordingly. The stipulation of facts and exhibits attached thereto are incorporated herein by this reference.

F. C. and Frankie McDougal are husband and wife, as are Gilbert and Jackie McClanahan. Each couple filed joint Federal income tax returns for the years 1968 and 1969 with the district director of internal revenue in Austin, Tex. Petitioners were all residents of Berino, N. Mex., when they filed their petitions with this Court.

F. C. and Frankie McDougal1 maintained farms at Lamesa, Tex., where they were engaged in the business of breeding and racing horses. Gilbert McClanahan2 was a licensed public horse trainer who rendered his services to various horse owners for a standard fee. He had numbered the McDougals among his clientele since 1965.

On February 21, 1965, a horse of exceptional pedigree, Iron Card, had been foaled at the Anthony Ranch in Florida. Title to Iron Card was acquired in January of 1967 by one Frank Ratliff, Jr., who in turn transferred title to himself, M. H. Ratliff, and John Y. Burnett (Burnett). The Ratliffs and Burnett entered Iron Card in several races as a 2-year-old; and although the horse enjoyed some success in these contests, it soon became evident that he was suffering from a condition diagnosed by a veterinarian as a protein allergy.

When, due to a dispute among themselves, the Ratliffs and Burnett decided to sell Iron Card for whatever price he could attract, Mc-Clanahan (who had trained the horse for the Ratliffs and Burnett) advised the McDougals to make the purchase. He made this recommendation because, despite the veterinarian’s prognosis to the contrary, McClanahan believed that by the use of home remedy Iron Card could be restored to full racing vigor. Furthermore, McClanahan felt that as Iron Card’s allergy was not genetic and as his pedigree was impressive, he would be valuable in the future as a stud even if further attempts to race him proved unsuccessful.

The McDougals purchased Iron Card for $10,000 on January 1, 1968. At the time of the purchase McDougal promised that if Mc-Clanahan trained and attended to Iron Card, a half interest in the horse would be his once the McDougals had recovered the costs and expenses of acquisition. This promise was not made in lieu of payment of the standard trainer’s fee; for from January 1,1968, until the date of the transfer, McClanahan was paid $2,910 as compensation for services rendered as Iron Card’s trainer.

McChinahan’s homo remedy proved so effective in relieving Iron Card of his allergy that the horse began to race with success, and his reputation consequently grew to such proportion that he attracted a succession of offers to purchase, one of which reached $60,000. The McDougals decided, however, to keep the horse and by October 4, 1968, had recovered out of their winnings the costs of acquiring him. It was therefore on that date that they transferred a half interest in the horse to McClanahan in accordance with the promise which Me-Dougal had made to the trainer. A document entitled “Bill of Sale,” wherein the tranfer was described as a gift, was executed on the following day.

Iron Card continued to race well until very late in 1968 when, without warning and for an unascertained cause, he developed a condition called “hot ankle” which effectively terminated his racing career. From 1970 onward he was used exclusively for breeding purposes. That his value as a stud was no less than his value as a racehorse is attested to by the fact that in September of 1970 petitioners were offered $75,000 for him; but after considering the offer, the McDougals and McClanahan decided to refuse it, preferring to exploit Iron Card’s earning potential as a stud to their own profit.3

On November 1,1968, petitioners had concluded a partnership agreement by parol to effectuate their design of racing the horse for as long as that proved feasible and of offering him out as a stud thereafter. Profits were to be shared equally by the McDougals and the Mc-Clanahans, while losses were to be allocated to the McDougals alone.4

Though the partnership initially filed no return for its first brief taxable year ended December 31,1968, petitioners did make the computations which such a return would show and reported the results in their individual returns. The partnership was considered to have earned $1,314, against which was deducted depreciation in the amount of $278. Other deductions left the partnership with taxable income for the year of $737, which was allocated to the extent of $405 to the McDougals and to the extent of $332 to the MeClanahans.5

On their joint return for the year 1968 the McDougals reported, inter alia, gross income of $22,891 from their Lamesa farms. Against this income they deducted $1,390 representing depreciation on Iron Card for the first 10 months of 1968 and $9,213 in training fees.6 The Mc-Dougals appear, however, to have initially claimed no deduction by reason of the transfer to McClanahan of the half interest in Iron Card.

In addition to their distributive share of partnership income referred to above, the McClanahans reported $5,000 of gross income which they identified as a gift interest in a racehorse.

We shall now turn our attention to those returns and amended returns filed in April of 1970. The McDougals explicitly claimed by way of amendment to have transferred the half interest in Iron Card to Mc-Clanahan as compensation for services rendered and thus to be entitled to a $30,000 business expense deduction, computed by reference to the last offer to purchase Iron Card received prior to October 4, 1968. Furthermore, the McDougals acknowledged that they had recognized a gain on the aforesaid transfer. By charging the entire depreciation deduction of $1,390 against the portion of their unadjusted cost basis allocable to the half interest in Iron Card which they retained, the McDougals computed this gain to be $25,000 and characterized it as a long-term capital gain under section 1231 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.7

The McClanahans simultaneously increased their income arising out of the transfer from $5,000 to $30,000. They could thus claim to have a tax cost basis of $30,000 in their half interest in the horse.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 T.C. No. 78, 62 T.C. 720, 1974 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 52, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdougal-v-commissioner-tax-1974.