Ostrow v. Comm'r

122 T.C. No. 21, 122 T.C. 378, 2004 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 21
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 21, 2004
DocketNo. 6325-03
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 122 T.C. No. 21 (Ostrow v. Comm'r) 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
Ostrow v. Comm'r, 122 T.C. No. 21, 122 T.C. 378, 2004 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 21 (tax 2004).

Opinion

Colvin, Judge:

Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioners’ 2001 Federal income tax of $3,698.

Petitioner wife was a tenant-stockholder in a cooperative housing corporation. After concessions, the sole issue for decision is whether a deduction allowed under section 216(a)(1) for petitioner wife’s share of the real estate taxes paid by a cooperative housing corporation reduces alternative minimum taxable income.1 We hold that it does not.

Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the year in issue. Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The parties submitted this case fully stipulated under Rule 122.

Petitioners resided in New York, New York, when they filed their petition.

Lauren Ostrow (petitioner) was a tenant-stockholder of a cooperative housing corporation in 2001. Petitioners deducted $10,489, which was petitioner’s proportionate share of real estate taxes paid by the corporation, as a miscellaneous itemized deduction. In computing their alternative minimum tax liability, petitioners treated the $10,489 as deductible in computing their alternative minimum taxable income.

OPINION

A. Background

Section 164 provides a deduction for real property taxes and other specified taxes paid or accrued by the taxpayer during the taxable year. Sec. 164(a)(1).2 In addition, a tenant-stockholder may deduct amounts paid by or accrued to a cooperative housing corporation within the taxable year, to the extent that the amounts represent the tenant-stockholder’s proportionate share of (1) the real estate taxes deductible by the corporation under section 164, sec. 216(a)(1), and (2) the mortgage interest deductible by the corporation under section 163, sec. 216(a)(2).3

Section 55 provides for an alternative minimum tax (AMT). In computing alternative minimum taxable income (amti), no deduction is allowed to an individual for, inter alia, miscellaneous itemized deductions (as defined in section 67(b)) or “for any taxes described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 164(a)” unless such taxes are deductible in computing adjusted gross income; i.e., because incurred in a trade or business. Sec. 56(b)(l)(A)(i) and (ii).4 Deductions under sections 163, 164, and 216 are not miscellaneous itemized deductions, sec. 67(b)(1), (2), (12), and are therefore deductible in computing AMTI, sec. 56(b)(l)(A)(i).

Petitioners contend that amounts deducted under section 216(a)(1) are deductible in computing AMTI because section 216 deductions are not (1) listed in section 56(b)(l)(A)(ii) as deductions denied in computing AMTI; (2) deductions “for any taxes described in section 164(a)(1)”; or (3) miscellaneous itemized deductions.

B. Statutory Predecessor to Section 216

Some historical context may be helpful to understanding the dispute in this case. Before 1942, tenant-stockholders could not deduct their shares of real estate taxes and interest paid by cooperative housing corporations. See Holmes v. United States, 85 F.3d 956, 960 (2d Cir. 1996); Holden v. Commissioner, 27 B.T.A. 530, 538 (1933); Wood v. Rasquin, 21 F. Supp. 211, 213-214 (E.D.N.Y. 1937), affd. 97 F.2d 1023 (2d Cir. 1938). This result was consistent with the longstanding rule that a taxpayer generally cannot deduct taxes paid by another taxpayer. Deputy v. duPont, 308 U.S. 488, 493-494 (1940).

In 1942, Congress enacted section 23(z) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939. Revenue Act of 1942, ch. 619, sec. 128, 56 Stat. 826. Section 23(z) was reenacted as section 216 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 730. The Senate Finance Committee report for the bill that became the Revenue Act of 1942 states in pertinent part:

The bill provides for a new deduction in section 23(z) of taxes and interest paid or accrued by a tenant stockholder to a cooperative apartment corporation within the taxable year. * * * The general purpose of this provision is to place the tenant stockholders of a cooperative apartment in the same position as the owner of a dwelling house so far as deductions for interest and taxes are concerned. [S. Rept. 1631, 77th Cong., 2d Sess. 51 (1942), 1942-2 C.B. 504, 546.]

Under section 23(z) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, a stockholder in a cooperative apartment corporation could deduct real estate taxes and interest to the same extent as an individual homeowner. S. Rept. 1622, 83d Cong., 2d Sess. 36 (1954). The Senate Finance Committee intended to treat tenant-stockholders of a cooperative and homeowners similarly with respect to the deduction of real estate taxes and interest. S. Rept. 1631, supra at 51, 1942-2 C.B. at 546.5

C. Whether a Deduction Under Section 216 Reduces AMTI

1. Petitioners’ Contentions

The deductions allowed under section 216 are not specifically listed in the relevant alternative minimum tax provision (section 56(b)) as deductions that are disallowed in computing amti. Petitioners contend that if Congress had intended to deny section 216 deductions in computing AMTI, it would have done so expressly.

Petitioners point out that, in listing deductions that are not subject to the 2-percent floor of section 67(a), section 67(b) refers separately to “the deduction under section 164 (relating to taxes)” and “the deduction under section 216 (relating to deductions in connection with cooperative housing corporations)”. Petitioners also point out that section 911(c)(2)(A)(ii) refers both to taxes deductible under section 164 and amounts allowed as deductions under section 216. Petitioners contend that those provisions show that where Congress intended to make an Internal Revenue Code provision apply to section 216, Congress did so explicitly.

Thus, in sum, petitioners contend that Congress’s failure to list section 216 in section 56(b) shows that section 216(a)(1) deductions are allowed in computing amti. We disagree because of section 56(b)(l)(A)(ii), and because petitioners’ position would cause dissimilar tax treatment of homeowners and tenant-stockholders in cooperative housing corporations, a result at odds with longstanding expressions of congressional intent.

2. Statutory Analysis

“[T]axes described in” paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 164(a) are not deductible in computing AMTI. Sec. 56(b)(l)(A)(ii). A tenant-stockholder may deduct an amount equal to his or her share of the corporation’s real estate taxes deductible under section 164. Sec. 216(a)(1). The phrase “taxes described in” section 164(a)(1) clearly applies to real estate taxes paid by a taxpayer and deductible under section 164.

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

Related

Garada v. Comm'r
2016 T.C. Summary Opinion 1 (U.S. Tax Court, 2016)
Lauren Ostrow and Joseph Teiger v. Commissioner
122 T.C. No. 21 (U.S. Tax Court, 2004)
Ostrow v. Comm'r
122 T.C. No. 21 (U.S. Tax Court, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
122 T.C. No. 21, 122 T.C. 378, 2004 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ostrow-v-commr-tax-2004.