Ossorio v. Commissioner

1 T.C. 410, 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 262
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 5, 1943
DocketDocket No. 108499
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1 T.C. 410 (Ossorio 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
Ossorio v. Commissioner, 1 T.C. 410, 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 262 (tax 1943).

Opinion

OPINION.

Smith, Judge:

This is a proceeding for the redetermination of a deficiency of $9,019.10 in income tax for the calendar year 1937. The question in issue is the amount of the credit to which the petitioner is entitled under section 131 of the Revenue Act of 1936 by reason of a payment of income tax for 1937 to the Philippine taxing authorities.

The facts are found as stipulated.

1. The petitioner is a resident of Meads Point, Greenwich, Connecticut. He filed his income tax return for 1937 with the collector of internal revenue for the second district of New York.

2. The petitioner has been married since 1910 and since 1927 he and his wife have been separated and have lived separate and apart. When the petitioner and his wife separated in 1927 they were both citizens of the Philippine Islands and were both domiciled and resident therein. In 1931 petitioner became a resident of and domiciled in the United States and he has continued to be domiciled in and a resident thereof ever since. In 1933' he became a naturalized citizen. Petitioner’s wife is still a citizen of the Philippines and she is still domiciled in and a resident of the Philippine Islands. In 1927 when they separated petitioner and his wife divided all of their property and they have kept their financial affairs and interests separate and distinct ever since.

3. For the year 1937 over 99 percent of petitioner’s income was from the Philippines and he was subject to a Philippine income tax on such income. Petitioner’s wife, who had a separate income for 1937, was liable for a Philippine income tax on her entire income.

4. The Philippine Islands income tax law was amended in 1936 (Commonwealth Act No. 117, June 6, 1936, now section 45 (d) of the National Internal Revenue Code), and for the first time required that the income of married persons be consolidated for the purpose of the normal and additional income taxes levied by the Philippine Islands. This amendment was applicable to the income of the petitioner and his wife, notwithstanding the separation of petitioner and his wife and separate residence and different citizenship.

5. The Philippine Islands income tax statute does not in terms provide who shall be liable for the payment of the tax computed on the consolidated income of spouses.

6. The petitioner and his Atfife filed separate Philippine income tax returns for the year 1937 upon which the following income was shown (all amounts are shown in pesos, which are convertible into dollars at the rate of 50 cents):

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7. Pursuant to the provisions of said 1936 amendment to the Philippine income tax law, the Philippine taxing authorities consolidated the income of the petitioner and his wife and assessed on the consolidated income a total tax of 331,527.30 pesos ($165,763.65), consisting of a normal tax of 2,456.61 pesos and additional tax of 329,070.69 pesos. The additional tax is imposed with progressive rates which increase as the taxable income increases, with the result that the additional tax on the consolidated income was higher than if it had been figured separately on the separate incomes.

8. The petitioner and his wife adopted the following method for dividing between them the total tax determined by the Philippine taxing officials to be due on their consolidated income for the year 1937:

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9. Pursuant to said method of division, the petitioner and his wife made payments to the Philippine collector of internal revenue to be applied on the income tax due from them for the year 1937 in the amounts of 307,533.24 pesos ($153,766.62) paid by the petitioner and 23,994.06 pesos ($11,997.03) paid by his wife.

10. The limitation on the credit for Philippine income tax imposed by subdivision (b) of section 131 of the Revenue Act of 1936 is 100 percent of petitioner’s Philippine income tax. The limitation on the credit imposed by the doctrine of Hubbard, v. United States (17 Fed. Supp. 93; certiorari denied, 300 TJ. S. 666) is 98.8869 percent of petitioner’s Philippine income tax, since 21,413.71 pesos or 1.1131 percent of petitioner’s income which was taxed in the Philippines was not taxed by the United States (as indicated in paragraph 6 of the stipulation) and the remaining 98.8869 percent of petitioner’s income taxed in the Philippines was taxed by the United States. If petitioner’s correct Philippine income tax within the meaning of section 131 was 307,533.24 pesos ($153,766.62) as urged by petitioner, then his allowable credit after applying said 98.8869 percent limitation is $152,055.04. If the petitioner’s Philippine income tax within the meaning of section 131 was correctly computed by the Commissioner in his deficiency notice dated May 31,1941, then the credit allowable to petitioner is $140,797.16.

11. The respondent determined the allowable credit of $140,797.16 in the following manner:

Credit for taxes accrued to the Philippine Islands, claimed on your return in the amount of $151,766.02 has been decreased to $140,797.16. The difference of $10,969.46 is determined as follows:

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12. Under date of June 17, 1938, the collector of internal revenue gave an income tax receipt to the petitioner which shows “Tax due as per return 307,533.24” pesos. The receipt describes the payment as “part payment of income tax due from the spouses, M. J. Ossorio and P. Y. Ossorio for the year 1937.”

National Act No. 117 passed by the First National Assembly, first session, held at the city of Manila on June 6, 1936, provides in section 4:

Sec. 4. Subsection (b) of section eight of Act Numbered Twenty-eight hundred and thirty-three, as amended by section six of Act Numbered Twenty-nine hundred and twenty-six and section one of Act Numbered Thirty-six hundred and five, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

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Related

United States v. Rexach
200 F. Supp. 494 (D. Puerto Rico, 1961)
Howell v. Commissioner
10 T.C. 859 (U.S. Tax Court, 1948)
Ossorio v. Commissioner
1 T.C. 410 (U.S. Tax Court, 1943)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1 T.C. 410, 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ossorio-v-commissioner-tax-1943.