Monroe v. Commissioner

7 T.C. 278, 1946 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 135
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJune 28, 1946
DocketDocket No. 6380
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 7 T.C. 278 (Monroe 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
Monroe v. Commissioner, 7 T.C. 278, 1946 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 135 (tax 1946).

Opinion

OPINION.

Harron, Judge-.

The question is, briefly, whether petitioner4s taxable on all of the income of his business enterprises, as respondent has determined, or on only one-half of such income, as petitioner contends.

The question arises under section 22 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code. Under section 22 (a) the question is: Was the income attributed to petitioner’s son Moi, Jr., as a partner income from a partnership for which he alone is liable in his “individual capacity,” as provided by sections 181 and 182 of the code, or did petitioner, his father, despite the claimed partnership, actually create the right to receive and enjoy the benefit of the income, so as to make it taxable to him under sections 11 and 22 (a) ? See Commissioner v. Tower, 327 U. S. 280. In considering this question the facts must be examined to ascertain whether the alleged partner, in this case a minor son, has done the following:

(a) Invested capital originating with him in the businesses.
(b) Substantially contributed to the control and management of the business.
(c) Performed vital additional services.

Petitioner undertook to sell an undivided one-half interest in three business enterprises, the chief one being located at Waycross, Georgia, to his son for $10 and other valuable consideration. Petitioner has testified that the consideration was $40,000. He has testified, also, that the following was done by which his son is alleged to have acquired an interest in his businesses. Three days before the “bill of sale” was executed; petitioner gave his son $14,750, which the son deposited in his bank account. Thereafter, on June 30 or July 1,1941, the son gave petitioner a check for $15,000 which represented the $14,750 just received from petitioner, plus $250 of the son’s own funds. The son is said to have given petitioner five notes for $5,000 each, or a total face amount of $25,000, to be paid serially, one in each year.1 In 1942 petitioner is said to have credited his son with payment of the first note of $5,000. He testified that, in connection with this note, he gave his son $4,000, and that he received $1,000 from his son out of his own cash.2 There is no evidence that any other notes of the son have been paid or canceled as paid. The son did not give testimony in this proceeding, trial of which was in the year of 1946.

Upon this evidence it has been found as a fact that the son of petitioner did not contribute any capital to the businesses in question from any source originating with himself. See Lusthaus v. Commissioner, 327 U. S. 293. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1942, the son received from the Georgia Hide & Fur Co. various sums totaling $3,011.23. It has not been shown that part of these withdrawals was not used to make payments to petitioner on the notes or in consideration of the purported sale by petitioner of a one-half interest in his businesses. The record contains a statement that at the end of June 1941 Moi, Jr., had about $250 cash, and that petitioner’s purpose in giving him $14,750 was to enable him to make the purchase described in the “bill of sale.” Under these circumstances and all of the facts, it would be improper to find as a fact that Moi, Jr., invested capital in the businesses originating with him.

Petitioner’s son did not render any services in the businesses during the fiscal year July 1,1941, to June 30,1942, except for about six weeks after July 1, 1941, and three weeks in December 1941. Such services as he did render during those vacation periods are not shown to have been substantial contributions to the control and management of the businesses, nor vital additional services. Whatever petitioner’s son did was of such nature that the regular employees did the same type of work when he returned to school. Perhaps some indication of the capacities of petitioner’s minor son to perform services of importance in the businesses is found in the partnership agreement of July 1, 1941, which provided that the parties would agree mutually to increase the salary of Moi, Jr. “as he gains experience and knowledge of the businesses.” Petitioner’s son did not receive a salary during the fiscal year involved here.

The arrangements for taking Moi M. Monroe, Jr., into partnership consisted only of the three documents described in the findings of fact It may be that, as petitioner testified, there was an intention for a short time on the part of the parents and the minor son that the son would not return to school after July 1,1941. Such momentary intention, if it existed, weighs little in determining the question. The minor son had not participated in the business as a full time employee at any time prior to July 1, 1941, but had only spent time, intermittently, at his father’s place of business when his school duties left him with spare time. Bather, it is the actual results which weigh heavily, and the facts show that the execution of the three papers did not bring about any real change in the economic relation of petitioner to the income in question, which was derived chiefly from a business which petitioner had developed by his own personal efforts during a period of twenty years. After the arrangements were made, as before, petitioner managed, controlled, and did the same amount of work in running his businesses, and he controlled the earnings of his businesses. At the end of the fiscal year one-half of the net profits was credited to a drawing account in the name of the son, but the son made no withdrawal thereof and exercised no control over such income. Since the control which a taxpayer can exercise over income is of the greatest importance in determining the liability for tax on income, Helvering v. Horst, 311 U. S. 112, it is noted that under the statutes of Georgia petitioner could have revoked at any time the consent he gave with respect to his minor son’s engaging in business under the document of June 27, 1941.3 Petitioner continued to support his minor son anc to pay his school expenses, and he apparently consented to his son’s returning to school.

The agreement of July 1,1941, provided that Moi M. Monroe, Jr. would “devote his entire time to the business.” Moi, Jr., did not fulfill his obligation and agreement under the partnership agreement,

Taking into consideration that Moi, Jr., did not contribute capital originating with himself, that he did not substantially contribute to the control and management of the businesses, that he did not otherwise perform vital additional services, and, finally, that he did not fulfill his agreement to devote his entire time to the businesses, it must be concluded that the partnership died at birth. Consequently there was a mere paper reallocation of the income of the businesses between two members of the family, and under such facts petitioner is held to be taxable upon the entire income of his business enterprises for the period in question. Commissioner v. Tower, supra; Lusthaus v. Commissioner, supra; Ed Dubinsky Durwood; 6 T. C. 682; William G. Harvey, 6 T. C. 653; D. H. McEachern, 5 T. C. 23; Estate of Frank G. Ennis, Sr., 5 T. C. 1096, 1103; P. A. Keenan, Sr., 5 T. C.

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Monroe v. Commissioner
7 T.C. 278 (U.S. Tax Court, 1946)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 T.C. 278, 1946 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monroe-v-commissioner-tax-1946.