More v. Commissioner

66 T.C. 27, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 138
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 5, 1976
DocketDocket Nos. 5404-67, 5868-67
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 66 T.C. 27 (More 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
More v. Commissioner, 66 T.C. 27, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 138 (tax 1976).

Opinion

Tannenwald, Judge:

In these consolidated cases, respondent determined the following deficiencies in petitioners’ Federal income taxes:

Addition to tax Docket No. Year Income tax (sec. 6651(a))
5404-67_ 1962 $7,768.25
5868-67_ 1963 59,370.48 $3,705.19
1964 93,676.87

All issues save one have been resolved, with the result that the only question remaining for our consideration is whether the petitioners are entitled to the benefits of income averaging under sections 1301 through 13052 for the taxable year 1964.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Petitioners, husband and wife, resided in New York, N.Y., at the time of filing their petitions herein. They filed Federal income tax returns with the District Director of Internal Revenue, New York, N.Y., for the taxable years 1960 through 1964. Neither petitioner filed a Federal income tax return for 1959.

Petitioners were Cuban residents at the time Fidel Castro acceded to power on January 1, 1959. They had enjoyed much affluence in Cuba where Jose was a sugar and stock broker. Both Jose and Adela owned valuable real and personal property in Cuba. When he realized that he could not successfully continue his business in Cuba under the new government, Jose resolved that his family would relocate in the United States. All of petitioners’ property remaining in Cuba was expropriated by the Cuban Government under circumstances which respondent concedes constituted a deductible loss.

Jose held a Cuban passport issued on April 24, 1958, which contained a nonimmigrant visa issued by the American Embassy on October 8, 1958, “valid for unlimited applications for admission into the United States if presented before October 7, 1962.” He was admitted to the United States and readmitted to Cuba on the following dates, remaining in the United States and Cuba during the intervening periods except as hereinafter noted:

Admitted to United States Readmitted to Cuba
Dec. 6,1958 Jan. 30,1959
Feb. 3 or 9,1959 Feb. 15,1959
Feb. 18,1959 Mar. 5,1959
Aug. 8,1959 Jan. 22,1960
Feb. 14,1960 Feb. 24,1960
Mar. 15,1960

Jose went to France from the United States on or about August 19, 1959, and returned to the United States on September 15, 1959.

Jose was not in Cuba after March 15, 1960. He applied for permanent residence status in the United States at Montreal, Canada, on June 20,1961, and became a United States citizen on July 18,1966.

Jose rented an apartment in New York for a number of years prior to August 8, 1959. He also utilized office space and secretarial services at Bache & Co. in New York, N.Y., starting in early 1959.

When Jose departed from Cuba in August 1959, he left his house in Havana open and occupied by two of his servants and he lived in that house during the periods when he was in Cuba prior to March 15,1960. He worked actively in Cuba as a sugar broker until that date. Prior to that date, he utilized the same social clubs in Cuba of which he had been and continued to be a member.

In the early months of 1960, Jose’s Havana brokerage office was placed under surveillance by the Cuban authorities, as was his house 3 days before he departed from Cuba on March 15, 1960. He realized at that time that his business in Cuba was “gone” and decided to stay in New York permanently. His brokerage office in Havana was closed in June or July of 1960.

Jose began his employment relationship with Bache & Co. in New York, N.Y., in March 1960, and first received a drawing account in that month or the following month.

ULTIMATE FINDING OF FACT

Jose was a nonresident alien for at least part of I960.3

OPINION

After application of the net operating loss and net operating loss carryforwards arising from their Cuban expropriation losses, petitioners had no taxable income for the years 1960 through 1963. For the taxable year 1964, petitioners had taxable income of $204,747.19.

We have found as an ultimate fact and hold that Jose was a nonresident alien for part of 1960. We must now decide whether petitioners are precluded by that holding from obtaining the benefits of income averaging for 1964. This issue depends upon whether the entire year 1960 during part of which Jose was a nonresident or only that part of 1960 during which Jose was a resident alien is to be included in the 4-year base period for income averaging.

Section 1303(b) provides that an individual shall not be eligible for income averaging if such individual was a nonresident alien “at any time” during the computation year or during “the base period.” The computation year is the year for which the taxpayer elects the benefits of averaging (sec. 1302(e)(1)), in this case 1964, and “the base period” is defined as “the 4 taxable years immediately preceding the computation year” (sec. 1302(e)(2)).4

Petitioners argue that Jose did not become subject to United States income tax until he became a resident alien and that therefore his 1960 “taxable year” consists of only that portion of the calendar year during which he had that status. Respondent argues that the entire calendar year 1960 must be taken into account in determining “the base period” and that therefore petitioners are ineligible for income averaging under section 1303(b). We hold for respondent.

Petitioners refer us to section 7701(a)(23) which defines the term “taxable year” as the calendar or fiscal year for which taxable income is computed or, in the case of a return made for a fractional part of a year, the period for which such return is made. Because section 871(a) provides for the taxation of nonresident aliens only on income received from sources within the United States and because Jose alleges he had no such income during that portion of 1960 when he was not a United States resident,5 petitioners conclude that Jose had a “short taxable year” consisting of only that portion of the calendar year during which Jose was a United States resident and liable for Federal income taxes. Petitioners make further reference to section 1304(g)6 for the proposition that short taxable years are includable as base period years. The regulations promulgated under section 1304(g) only address short taxable years recognized by section 443.7 Petitioners concede that their situation does not fall within section 443, but argue that the general import of section 1304(g) is broader than the scope of respondent’s regulations and section 443.

Petitioners’ analysis of the applicable statutory provisions is misconceived. The concept of a “taxable year” is clearly articulated in the Code. Thus, section 7701(a)(23) contains the following definition:

TAXABLE YEAR.

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Related

Furstenberg v. Commissioner
83 T.C. No. 43 (U.S. Tax Court, 1984)
Estate of Petschek v. Commissioner
81 T.C. No. 20 (U.S. Tax Court, 1983)
Nico v. Commissioner
67 T.C. 647 (U.S. Tax Court, 1977)
More v. Commissioner
66 T.C. 27 (U.S. Tax Court, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 T.C. 27, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/more-v-commissioner-tax-1976.