Pacific Coast Biscuit Co. v. Commissioner

32 B.T.A. 39, 1935 BTA LEXIS 1002
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedFebruary 14, 1935
DocketDocket Nos. 71588, 74625-74628.
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 32 B.T.A. 39 (Pacific Coast Biscuit Co. 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
Pacific Coast Biscuit Co. v. Commissioner, 32 B.T.A. 39, 1935 BTA LEXIS 1002 (bta 1935).

Opinions

[41]*41OPINION.

ARunbell :

The amounts expended in 1926 in connection with the retirement of capital stock and the issuance of new stock, and the expenditures in 1930 in connection with petitioner’s dissolution and liquidation, are claimed by petitioner to be deductible as losses in the year 1930. This claim is based on the holding in Malta, Temple Association, 16 B. T. A. 409.

In the Malta case we found as a fact that in connection with the taxpayer’s incorporation it incurred certain expenses which, under our holdings in cases cited, constituted capital expenditures. The amount of those expenses we allowed as a loss deduction in the year in which the taxpayer dissolved and surrendered its charter. We said in part:

Upon dissolution and surrender of its corporate francMse in the year 1925 the petitioner abandoned or lost a corporate asset which had cost it $1,087.40, no part of which had been returned to it through exhaustion deductions or as ordinary and necessary expense deductions. We think that such a loss clearly falls within the provisions of section 234(a)(4) of the Revenue Act of 1924, and is deductible in computing net income of the year when sustained.

Petitioner’s expenditure of $745 in 1926 for amendment of its articles of incorporation was a capital expenditure similar to that in the Malta case, and under our holding in that case it is an allowable deduction in 1930, the year of dissolution.

The other expenditures in 1926 in connection with the retirement of stock and the issue of new stock were of a different character. One of the expenditures was a banker’s fee in connection with the retirement of old stock and sale of new stock and the other was a [42]*42capital stock transfer fee paid to the State of New Jersey. They were not organization expenses and did not result in the acquisition of a capital asset. These expenditures are like those in James I. Van Keuren, 28 B. T. A. 480, where a corporation, subsequent to the completion of its organization, incurred expenses in selling its capital stock and sought a deduction therefor in the year of dissolution. We sustained the respondent’s disallowance of the claim, and in the opinion said:

The petitioner relies upon our decision in the case of Malta Temple Assn., 16 B. T. A. 409. That case, however, related to a loss sustained by a corporation upon dissolution and surrender of its charter, not in connection with expenditures incurred in selling stock, but expenditures in connection with incorporation. The petitioner here is not claiming a loss for what it cost to incorporate, but what it cost to acquire capital, a different matter. It may fairly be said that money expended to form a corporation results in the acquisition of an asset, namely the corporate franchise, which may be considered as a balancing asset, but money paid out to acquire capital does not result in the acquisition of any asset other than the capital itself.

In Barbour Coal Co. v. Commissioner, 74 Fed. (2d) 163, the court said that a commission paid for the sale of capital stock does not result in the acquisition of property used in the trade or business, but is an expenditure “ for captial in the forms of cash for use in the business. * * * It is equivalent for income tax purposes to the sale of stock at a discount.” Under the holding of the above cases petitioner acquired no asset by the payment of the banker’s fee and the capital stock transfer fee; consequently, there was no asset value for it to lose when it dissolved in 1930. We sustain the respondent’s disallowance of these items.

The question as to the deduction of the expenditures in 1930 in connection with petitioner’s dissolution and liquidation does not appear to have been passed upon in any of the decided cases. It is argued by petitioner that this deduction is governed by the decision in the Malta case, supra, and it is further claimed that the expenditures are ordinary and necessary expenses. Clearly the cost of dissolution and liquidation did not constitute a deductible loss. Those expenditures did not represent the cost of any asset which was lost upon dissolution and liquidation. If, as held in the Malta case, a loss is sustained upon surrender of the corporate franchise, the measure is the cost of acquisition and not the cost of disposition. The expenses allowable by the statute are those relating to a trade or business that are both ordinary and necessary. It will not be doubted that expenditures in connection with liquidation and dissolution are necessary. When business is conducted in corporate form, the governmental authority that endows the artificial corporate being with life also prescribes how that life may be terminated and requires [43]*43compliance with certain formalities. Such compliance necessitates expenditures, one of which quite commonly is that of a fee for filing a certificate of dissolution. Services of attorneys and accountants may be required. If the corporation has acquired any property, liquidation is necessary and this may require the expenditure of considerable sums. In Welch v. Helvering, 290 U. S. 111, consideration was given to the meaning of the word “ ordinary ” in the provision of the statute allowing deduction of ordinary and necessary expenses. First, stated negatively, it “ does not mean that the payments made be habitual or normal in the sense that the same taxpayer will have to make them often.” Second, it does include such items as the cost of a lawsuit affecting the safety of a business, “ because we know from experience that payments for such a purpose, whether the amount is large or small, are the common and accepted means of defense against attack. * * * The situation is unique in the life of the individual affected, but not in the life of the group, the community, of which he is a part.” Dissolution and liquidation will of course occur but once in the case of any particular corporation, but it is an everyday happening in the business world, and in this sense it is quite an ordinary affair under the test of the Welch case. Consequently we are of the opinion that costs of dissolution and liquidation are both ordinary and necessary expenses within the meaning of the statute. We are further of the opinion that costs of dissolution and liquidation are so closely connected with a taxpayer’s business as to come within the rule of Kornhauser v. United States, 276 U. S. 145, which allows the expense of defending a suit for an accounting by the taxpayer’s former partner on the ground that such a suit is a matter “ directly connected with, or, as otherwise stated (Appeal of Backer, 1 B. T. A. 214, 216), proximately resulted from ” the taxpayer’s business. Here, while no suit is involved, the liquidation and dissolution are in the nature of a final accounting of the results of the taxpayer’s business rendered to its stockholders and the state. We conclude on this point that the petitioner is entitled to deduct the expenses aggregating $12,856.77 which it is stipulated were incurred in connection with its dissolution and liquidation.”

As to the interest item, petitioner contends that the portion thereof allocable to 1929 on a time basis was an accruable item for 1929 and does not belong in 1930 income. In Household Products, Inc., 24 B. T. A.

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Bluebook (online)
32 B.T.A. 39, 1935 BTA LEXIS 1002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pacific-coast-biscuit-co-v-commissioner-bta-1935.