Mount v. Commissioner

16 B.T.A. 847
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedMay 31, 1929
DocketDocket No. 21627
StatusPublished

This text of 16 B.T.A. 847 (Mount v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mount v. Commissioner, 16 B.T.A. 847 (bta 1929).

Opinion

[854]*854OPINION.

Morris:

In determining whether the transaction entered into between the petitioner and his brother and the Clem Realty Co., Inc., resulted in a taxable profit in 1920, we must determine whether it was an exchange of property for other property within the meaning of section 202 of the Revenue Act of 1918, or, as the petitioner contends, a gift, and therefore resulted in no taxable gain. That section of the Act provides in part:

(a) That for the purpose of ascertaining the gain derived or loss sustained from the sale or other disposition of property, real, personal, or mixed, the basis shall be—
* * ⅜ * * ⅜ *
(b) When property is exchanged for other property, the property received in exchange shall for the purpose of determining gain or loss be treated as the equivalent of cash to the amount of its fair market value, if any; * ⅜ *

The respondent’s counsel contends that the transaction falls within the purview of that section and article 1566 of Regulations 45 (1920 Edition), and is, therefore, taxable. That article of the regulations provides in part as follows:

Esochange of property and stock. — Where property is transferred to a corporation in exchange for its stock, the exchange constitutes a closed transaction and the former owner of the property realizes a gain or loss if the stock has a market value, and such market value is greater or less than the cost or the fair market value as of March 1, 1913 (if acquired prior thereto), of the property given in exchange.

The petitioner contends that the capital stock of the company was paid for in cash and that the properties in question were transferred to it as a gift. In order to sustain the petitioner, therefore, we must find that there was an intention to make a gift, that a gift was in fact accomplished, and, furthermore, that the element of consideration was wholly absent from the transaction.

At the meeting of the stockholders of January 9, 1920, the chairman “announced that all subscriptions to stock had been paid in full,” and at the meeting of the board of directors on the same date the president “ announced that the entire capital stock of the company * * * had been issued, and paid for in cash at the rate pf $100 per share, * * On this subject, Clarence J. Hand, one [855]*855of the incorporators, who originally held four shares of stock, testified as follows:

Q. You were one of the incorporators, were you not?
A. I was.
Q. Did you ever pay any actual cash to Mr. Mount for your four shares?
A. If you mean by that, did I turn over, to him currency, no.
Q. Did you turn over to him a check?
A. No.
Q. In what way did you pay for your stock?
A. I signed a subscription blank and I signed the certificate of incorporation, and I was, at all times, in position to turn over the cash.
Q. Did you ever turn over any cash for that stock?
A. I did not.
Q. Did Mr. Edward H. Mount ever turn over any cash for the stock?
A. I do not know.
Q. Did you, as secretary, ever have any knowledge of his having turned over any such cash?
A. I had knowledge that Mr. Mount stated in my presence that the twelve shares of stock of the corporation had been paid for, and that the corporation was ready to do business.

Obviously, unless some one else paid the cash for the stock of Hand, which does not appear to be the case, the statements made at the meeting of the stockholders and the board of directors are unfounded in fact. At any rate, this testimony creates in our minds sufficient doubt of the actual payment of cash to require more positive proof on the subject.

The petitioner’s counsel points out that it was provided that the company should take all of the properties jointly conveyed by the Messrs. Mount “at the value at which they had been appraised in inheritance tax proceedings in the Estate of Susan Mount, and the property, 901 Broadway, at the price at which it had been acquired by Edward H. Mount, plus cost of improvements; that if upon an appraisal any of said properties should be found to be of greater value than said prices the excess value of said properties, if any, should be received by the company as a gift from the Messrs. Mount.” He argues that the conveyances were made pursuant to the offers and acceptances arrived at and consequently fully subject to all of the said terms and conditions, including the expressed provisions, that the excess values, if any, should be construed as a gift to the corporation; that there is no evidence of the transfer on any other basis; that the shares of stock of the company were not salable and the fair market value thereof was at no time in excess of the value of one-half interest in the properties covered by the deed of January 9, 1920, and-an entire interest in the 901 Broadway property.

It is well to state at this juncture that no evidence was offered as to the salability of the company’s stock or as to the fair market value [856]*856thereof. Therefore, if the respondent’s findings are sustained on the issue presented to us, the values found by him must be approved'-also.

It appears from the minutes of the board of directors of January 9, 1920, that the petitioner and his brother proposed to transfer the properties in question to the company, and that it was “ Resolved, that the corporation undertake to forthwith procure the transfer to Edward H. and Harold K. Mount, respectively, of fifty per cent of its authorized and outstanding stock * * and that after a further resolution with respect to saving the petitioner and his brother harmless from certain liabilities the same said resolution stated “Provided, however, that the Messrs. Mount forthwith procure to be transferred to the corporation, subject to existing outstanding mortgages, liens and taxes, the following properties: [here listing the properties] on the distinct understanding and agreement that the corporation shall take said properties, at the values at which said properties were appraised in inheritance tax proceedings in the Estate of Susan Mount; and further, Provided, that Edward H. Mount forthwith transfer to the corporation, subject to existing mortgages, liens and taxes the property 901 Broadway, New York, at its cost to him.” The aforementioned shares of stock were duly issued on January 9,1920, and the petitioner and his brother became the sole owners of the company’s capital stock.

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Bluebook (online)
16 B.T.A. 847, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mount-v-commissioner-bta-1929.