Newport Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. United States

259 F. Supp. 82, 18 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5950, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10636
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedOctober 3, 1966
DocketNo. B-65-C-16
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 259 F. Supp. 82 (Newport Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newport Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. United States, 259 F. Supp. 82, 18 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5950, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10636 (E.D. Ark. 1966).

Opinion

Memorandum Opinion

HENLEY, Chief Judge.

This is a suit brought against the United States by Newport Federal Sayings & Loan Association for the purpose of securing a refund of income tax, negligence penalty and interest, paid by it following a deficiency assessment made by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue with respect to calendar year 1960. The cause is now before the Court on the cross motions of the parties for summary judgment.

Plaintiff is a mutual savings and loan association which has been doing business in Newport, Jackson County, Arkansas, since 1934. Its deposits are insured by the Federal Savings & Loan Deposit Corporation; it is subject to the regulatory powers of the Federal Home Loan Bank Administration and is within the jurisdiction of the Little Rock Branch of the Federal Home Loan Bank. Under applicable regulations it is required to maintain an adequate “federal insurance reserve,” for the purpose of protecting the interests of depositors in relation to losses generally, including bad debt losses. Bellefontaine Federal Savings & Loan Association v. C.I.R., 33 T.C. 808, 813.

Plaintiff has been subject to federal income- taxation since 1951. Under the provisions of section 591 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 dividends paid to depositors are deductible from corporate gross income for income tax purposes. And under the provisions of section 593 of the Code plaintiff is also entitled to deduct annual credits to bad debt reserves. The Treasury Regulations on Income Tax, section 1-593.1 (c), provide that credits to reserves required by federal or State statutes or regulations shall be deemed credits to bad debt reserves.

From 1952 through 1959 plaintiff had no income tax liability, since its undivided profits remaining after the payment of dividends were regularly credited to the federal insurance reserve.

Plaintiff keeps its books on a calendar year basis and for dividend purposes closes its books twice each year, once at the end of June and once at the end of December.

Plaintiff’s insurance reserve as of the beginning of 1960 was $133,094.48. It also had a reserve account entitled “Con[84]*84tingencies For Losses.” That reserve was not a bad debt reserve; it had been accumulated during years prior to 1952, with respect to which years plaintiff was not subject to income taxation. As of June 30, 1960, the balance in that reserve was $15,197.41.

Net earnings for the first half of 1960 amounted to $14,293.41 after payment of dividends. This controversy had its genesis when plaintiff’s board of directors determined, erroneously as it turned out, that if the insurance reserve was credited with the first half year’s net earnings, and if the “Contingencies For Losses” account was closed out and the balance therein transferred to the insurance reserve account, net earnings after dividends for the second half of the year could be credited to “Undivided Profits,” a surplus account. On June 28, 1960, a resolution was adopted which rescinded an earlier resolution which had earmarked undivided profits after dividends for the insurance reserve account. By. proper bookkeeping entries the insurance reserve was credited with the $14,293.41 in net earnings through June and with the $15,197.41 balance in the “Contingencies For Losses” account. Those credits raised the insurance reserve account to $162,585.30.

Net earnings after dividends for the second half of 1960 amounted to $17,-981.79, and on December 30, 1960, when the books were closed, that amount was credited to undivided profits.

In the meantime the affairs of plaintiff had been audited by the Division of Supervision of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and a copy of the audit was transmitted to plaintiff by the Home Loan Bank of Little Rock under date of January 12, 1961. Between that date and March 8, 1961, the Little Rock Bank received a letter from the Division of Supervision to the effect that the June 1960 resolution of plaintiff’s board authorizing the credit of second half-year earnings to undivided profits was ineffective because “ ‘no amount of earmarked undivided profits was then eligible for release.’ ” The Little Rock Bank was requested to advise plaintiff of that determination.

That advice was given plaintiff by the Little Rock Bank on March 8, and plaintiff was requested in replying to the January 12 letter to “give consideration to the foregoing comments of the Division of Supervision.” By letter dated April 10, 1961, plaintiff advised the Little Rock Bank that “appropriate action had been ordered for the minutes to show the voiding of the previous resolution.”

Plaintiff’s tax return was filed on April 15, and it reflected that bad debt reserves had been credited with $32,275.20. That amount, which represented plaintiff’s total annual net income after dividends, was deducted with the result that there was no tax liability reported, and no tax was paid.

That return did not correctly reflect what was shown on the taxpayer’s books because, as of that date, the second half-year’s earnings had not been credited to any reserve for bad debts and were still being carried on the books as surplus.

Although plaintiff had been advised in March of the comments of the regulatory agency with respect to the resolution of June 28, 1960, and although plaintiff had advised the Little Rock Bank on April 10 that appropriate action had been ordered to void that resolution, the record does not indicate that anything was in fact done until June 27, 1961.

On that date the board resolved to transfer the $17,981.79 being carried in the undivided profits account to the insurance reserve account to the extent of $1,631.62 and to a new reserve account entitled “Reserve For Bad Debts, Reserve For Contingencies” to the extent of $16,350.17 thus placing all of the net earnings for the second half of 1960 into reserve accounts. It was further decided that this action should be deemed effective as of December 31, 1960, and the officers were directed to make appropriate book entries as of the date last mentioned. The entries were made on or about June 30, 1961.

[85]*85Finally, on December 19, 1961, plaintiff’s board adopted a resolution formally rescinding the resolution of June 28, 1960, which had caused the trouble in the first place.

In due course, plaintiff’s 1960 return was audited by the Internal Revenue Service, and it was determined that the ultimate credit to the federal insurance reserve and the newly set up bad debt reserve account of plaintiff’s net earnings after dividends for 1960 had not been made within the taxable year or “as soon as practicable” after the close of that year, as required by I.T. Regulations, § 1-593.1 (c). Based on that determination the Commissioner of Internal Revenue disallowed the deduction of the net earnings for the second half of 1960 and assessed an appropriate deficiency. The Commissioner also assessed a negligence penalty based on the fact that the return should have been filed not later than March 15, 1961, and was not filed until April 15 of that year.

Basically, plaintiff seeks to recover the full amount of the deficiency assessed and paid, including the negligence penalty. Ignoring the negligence penalty for the present, the theory of the plaintiff is that the ultimate credits of the net earnings of $17,981.79 to the reserve accounts, while not made within the taxable year 1960 were made “as soon as practicable” after the end of year and were deductible under the statute and regulations.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Home Sav. & Loan Asso. v. Commissioner
80 T.C. No. 28 (U.S. Tax Court, 1983)
Centralia Federal Sav. & Loan Asso. v. Commissioner
66 T.C. 599 (U.S. Tax Court, 1976)
Annapolis Federal Sav. & Loan Asso. v. Commissioner
1972 T.C. Memo. 243 (U.S. Tax Court, 1972)
Peoples Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. United States
320 F. Supp. 179 (D. South Carolina, 1970)
Leesburg Federal Sav. & Loan Asso. v. Commissioner
55 T.C. 378 (U.S. Tax Court, 1970)
Equitable Savings & Loan Ass'n v. State Tax Commission
444 P.2d 916 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1968)
Equitable Savings & Loan Ass'n v. State Tax Commission
3 Or. Tax 1 (Oregon Tax Court, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
259 F. Supp. 82, 18 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5950, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newport-federal-savings-loan-assn-v-united-states-ared-1966.