McSpadden v. Commissioner

50 T.C. 478, 1968 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 110
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJune 12, 1968
DocketDocket No. 1819-63
StatusPublished
Cited by103 cases

This text of 50 T.C. 478 (McSpadden 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
McSpadden v. Commissioner, 50 T.C. 478, 1968 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 110 (tax 1968).

Opinion

Scott, Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies in petitioner’s income taxes and additions to taxes for the years and in the amounts as follows:

Addition to tax under sec. 6668(by, Year Deficiency LR.C.Í964.
1959___ $70. 79 -
1960_ 837, 280. 28 $418, 640. 14
1961_ 1,422,935.04 711,467.52

The parties have disposed of certain of the issues raised by the pleadings by agreement, or petitioner’s statement that the adjustment would not be contested and respondent has conceded that no part of the deficiencies was due to fraud, leaving for our decision the following:

(1) Whether amounts of $284,904.69 and $876,272.65 which were received by petitioner’s husband in 1960 and 1961 from discounting fictitious mortgages on which neither petitioner nor her husband was liable are includable in petitioner’s income; and

(2) Whether the burden of proof is on respondent to show that the amounts of $48,050.01 and $73,800.01 were payments actually made in 1960 and 1961 by a third party on notes on which petitioner’s husband was liable, and if such payments were so made, whether the amounts are includable in petitioner’s income for 1960 and 1961.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are found accordingly.

Petitioner is an individual who resided in Lubbock, Tex., at the time the petition in this case was filed. Petitioner and her husband, Coleman D. McSpadden (hereinafter referred to as McSpadden), filed joint Federal income tax returns for the years 1959, 1960, and 1961 with the district director of internal revenue at Dallas, Tex. Petitioner had some separate income during these years from the operation of a situs for mobile homes in Lubbock. This income was properly included in the income reported for the years here in issue and the deficiencies relate entirely to the income which respondent determined to have resulted from activities of petitioner’s husband.

The income tax liability of petitioner’s husband for the same years here in issue is pending before a bankruptcy court in Lubbock, Tex., in a proceeding designated, “In the Matter of Coleman D. McSpad-den, Bankrupt, No. 852 in Bankruptcy, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division.” The statement attached to the statutory notice of deficiency from which the petition in this case was filed is identical to the statement attached to the Form 7900 which respondent sent to Coleman D. McSpadden and Roy Bass, trustee.

Prior to the taxable years here in issue, McSpadden had successfully engaged in a wide variety of business ventures in and around Lubbock. In early 1960, his principal business interest was farming. He operated as a sole proprietorship under the name of “Associated Growers.” McSpadden also bought seed, sold farm produce, sold anhydrous ammonia fertilizer, and owned and operated grain elevators.

McSpadden used equipment in the fertilizer business which he purchased from Superior Manufacturing Co. of Amarillo, Tex. Prior to April 1960, Superior Manufacturing Co. was owned by Robert E. Clements and it was in the business of manufacturing LPG propane tanks, acid tanks, anhydrous ammonia fertilizer tanks and applicators, and various types of oil-refinery equipment.

McSpadden dealt with Superior Manufacturing Co. through its salesman, Harold E. Orr. Sometime prior to April 1960, Orr told McSpadden that Clements wanted to sell Superior Manufacturing Co. because he was getting old and wanted to retire. Orr asked McSpadden if he would like to buy a portion of that company. McSpadden had a net worth of about $875,000 at the time. However, he told Orr he did not have available cash to make the proposed purchase of 25 percent of the stock of Superior Manufacturing Co. Clements and Orr represented to McSpadden that the fair market value of the stock of the company at that time was $482,000. Orr told McSpadden that Clements could arrange a way to finance his purchase of stock of Superior Manufacturing Co. McSpadden then agreed to purchase some of the stock and stated that he would like to acquire 51 percent of the stock rather than 25 percent.

Superior Tank Co. was incorporated on April 26, 1960, and on April 30, Superior Tank Co. acquired all of the stock of Superior Manufacturing Co. from Clements for $382,000 cash and a note for $100,000. Superior Manufacturing Co. was liquidated into Superior Tank Co. on May 14, 1960, and the name of Superior Tank Co. was changed to Superior Manufacturing Co. the following day.

The $382,000 cash was obtained by capital contributions from the five persons who had agreed to purchase stock of Superior Manufacturing Co. These capital contributions were made by the following persons in the amounts indicated:

Coleman D. McSpadden-$202, 000
R. W. Davis_ 20, 500
John Simmons_ 79, 500
Subtotal_ 802,000
Ruel W. Alexander_ 40, 000
Harold E. Orr_ 40,000
Total_ 382,000

McSpadden, Davis, and Simmons obtained $300,0001 of their cash requirement by floating false chattel mortgages on nonexistent fertilizer tanks through the original Superior Manufacturing Co. The bogus mortgage transactions were carried out by Orr under the direction of Clements. McSpadden knowingly signed the false mortgages and received $200,000 which he used toward the acquisition of 51 percent of the stock of Superior Manufacturing Co.

Alexander and Orr obtained their cash requirements from other sources. There was an account on the books of the original Superior Manufacturing Co. in the amount of $36,900, payable to Billie Sol Estes. With Estes’ permission, Clements wrote a check of the company for the amount due Estes and the check was endorsed over to Orr and Alexander. Orr and Alexander each borrowed $21,550 from the original Superior Manufacturing Co. to obtain the balance which he needed to complete his stock purchase.

McSpadden was the controlling shareholder of the Superior Manufacturing Co. (hereinafter referred to as Superior) which resulted from the change of the name of Superior Tank Co. after the old Superior Manufacturing Co. had been liquidated into Superior Tank Co. McSpadden was originally the president of Superior. Orr was responsible for the management of Superior and sometimes after Superior was organized replaced McSpadden as president of the company because other fertilizer dealers who were customers of Superior objected to doing business with a supplier whose president was a competitor of theirs in the fertilizer business.

Originally the stockholders of Superior planned to sell preferred stock in Superior to raise money to repay the bogus mortgages. Such stock was issued to them and two or three sales of such preferred stock were made.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
50 T.C. 478, 1968 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcspadden-v-commissioner-tax-1968.