Mutual Shoe Co. v. Commissioner

25 T.C. 477, 1955 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 26
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 14, 1955
DocketDocket No. 35506
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 25 T.C. 477 (Mutual Shoe Co. 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
Mutual Shoe Co. v. Commissioner, 25 T.C. 477, 1955 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 26 (tax 1955).

Opinion

OPINION.

Mulroney, Judge:

All the facts have been stipulated and are herein incorporated by this reference.

Petitioner is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Massachusetts with its principal office at Marlboro, Massachusetts. The income tax returns, excess profits tax returns, and declared value excess-profits tax returns for the years involved were filed with the collector of internal revenue for the district of Massachusetts at Boston, Massachusetts. Claims for relief under section 722 of the 1939 Internal Revenue Code for the same years were filed with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue at Washington, D. C. On April 10, 1951, the respondent notified petitioner that its application for relief had been allowed in part, such allowance being based upon a construe-tive average base period net income of $22,360. There is no dispute about the relief allowed to petitioner under section 722.

The credit allowed for income tax purposes under section 26 (e), in an amount equal to the adjusted excess profits net income, is determined with the use of the constructive average base period net income allowed the petitioner under section 722 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939.

The only question is the interpretation of section 26 (e). The portion of that section that is here applicable allows a corporation credit for income tax purposes in “an amount equal to its adjusted excess-profits net income (as defined in section 710 (b)).” Turning to section 710 (b), we find the term “adjusted excess profits net income” means the excess profits net income (as defined in section 711) less the excess profits credit and other items which do not concern us here. The excess profits credit is allowed by section 712, which defines the credit as the amount computed under section 713 or section 714, whichever is applicable. Section 713 bases the excess profits credit on taxpayer’s average base period net income, while under section 714, the credit is based on invested capital. Here, petitioner computed its excess profits credit for the years involved under section 714.

Where, as here, relief is granted under section 722, that section provides that taxpayer’s excess profits tax shall be determined by using a constructive average base period net income instead of the average base period net income otherwise determined. This means that the excess profits credit is computed by using the constructive average base period net income instead of the average base period net income as provided in section 713. If a taxpayer has based his excess profits credit on invested capital under section 714, he is considered, under section 722 (c), as entitled to use an excess profits credit based on income, using the constructive average base period net income for that purpose.

Petitioner, having obtained partial relief under section 722 with respect to the years here involved, now argues that it is entitled to make a computation of the credit for income tax purposes under section 26 (e) without reference to the constructive average base period net income used in obtaining such relief. Respondent contends that this constructive income, by increasing the excess profits tax credit, decreased petitioner’s adjusted excess profits net income for each of the years involved. Since section 26 (e) allows as a credit an amount equal to the adjusted excess profits net income, such credit is decreased as well. It is this decrease in the credit under section 26 (e) that gives rise to the income tax deficiencies here disputed.

We believe that the respondent’s interpretation of section 26 (e) is correct. Congress, in enacting section 26 (e), sought to prevent the same portions of a corporation’s income from being subjected to both the income tax and the excess profits tax. It was intended that this double burden be prevented through the device of a credit against net income. Such intent on the part of Congress is clearly evidenced in the following House Committee Eeport on the Eevenue Bill of 1942:

Under the present law, the excess-profits tax is computed before the normal tax and surtax, being allowed as a deduction in determining the bases to which those taxes apply. Thus, the portion of the adjusted excess-profits net income not taken by the excess-profits tax is subjected to the normal tax and surtax.
The bill changes this method of determining the tax base by dividing the net income into two portions, one of which is subject to excess-profits tax alone, and the other of which is subject only to normal tax and surtax. Instead of deducting the excess-profits tax itself in determining the normal tax and surtax bases, the bill deducts, through the form of a credit against net income, the adjusted excess-profits net income, the base upon which the excess-profits tax is computed. [Ways and Means Committee Report, H. Kept. No. 2333, 77th Cong., 1st Sess., 1942-2 C. B. 388.]

No violence is done to the Congressional intent if the credit under section 26 (e) is made to depend upon the constructive average base period net income determined under section 722. This constructive income results, eventually, in a smaller tax base upon which the excess profits tax is actually computed. This in turn increases the tax base upon which the income tax will be computed, thereby increasing such tax.

The argument advanced by petitioner leads to an exemption of a portion of its income from any income tax. It files an excess profits tax return and bases the tax upon its actual adjusted excess profits net income. Thereafter, upon obtaining relief under section 722, the corporation determines a constructive average base period net income which results in a smaller adjusted excess profits net income, and consequently the corporation ends up with a reduced excess profits tax liability. If at the same time the corporation’s credit under section 26 (e) is not reduced to the new adjusted excess profits net income, but remains at the old and larger amount, the corporation would be receiving a credit for income tax purposes based upon an amount that was ignored in determining the final excess profits tax liability. The consequence of this would be to free a portion of the corporation’s income from both the excess profits tax and the income tax. Such a result is clearly unwarranted. It is inherent in petitioner’s argument that relief from the excess profits tax under section 722 means relief from the income tax as well. We see nothing in the statutes involved, nor in the legislative history, to justify such an interpretation.

A further indication of the Congressional intent that a decrease in excess profits taxes through the relief provisions of section 722 will work an increase in income tax liability is revealed in the Senate Committee Eeport on section 206 of the Eevenue Bill of 1943, which added section 722 (g) to the Code. This section provided for the publicity of certain information. The Committee stated:

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Related

Mutual Shoe Co. v. Commissioner
25 T.C. 477 (U.S. Tax Court, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 T.C. 477, 1955 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mutual-shoe-co-v-commissioner-tax-1955.