Pincus Bros. v. Commonwealth

295 A.2d 618, 6 Pa. Commw. 392, 1972 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 308
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania·Decided October 17, 1972·No. Appeal, No. 248 C.D. 1970·Published

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Kramer,

This is an appeal by Pincus Brothers, Inc. (Pincus), from a resettlement of Pincus’ corporate net income tax for the calendar year 1967 as determined by the Board of Finance & Revenue (Board). The Board’s determination came about as the result of a Petition for Review by Pincus of the resettlement as determined by the Department of Revenue.

At the hearing held before this Court, a partial stipulation of facts was presented, received and filed, together with an agreement to trial without a jury. Said stipulation is accepted and utilized for purposes of this opinion. To fully comprehend our discussion, we set forth certain of the stipulated facts pertinent to this opinion, followed by additional findings of fact as developed in the record.

Findings op Fact

1. Pincus is a Pennsylvania corporation engaged in the business of manufacturing men’s clothing, with [394] its principal office and plant in Philadelphia. Pincus duly filed its corporate net income tax report for the year ending 12-31-67. Said report showed, inter alia:

Net Income to be allocated

No. 1 $3,421,379 = .952479

3,592,080

No. 2 $3,722,882 = .933346

3,989,819

No. 3 $1,119,275 = .102504

10,919,319

1.988329

$325,103.00

Divided by three allocated net income Less: Additional depreciation

Net Income Tax at 7 %

.662776

215,470.00

32,557.00

182,913.00

$ 12,804.00

2. By settlement mailed to Pincus on July 31,1968, the Department of Revenue and Department of Auditor General computed Pincus’ corporate net income tax for 1967, disallowing the additional depreciation deduction claimed by it and otherwise accepting the report as filed. The result of this computation was a tax of $15,082.93.

3. After resettlement by the Department of Revenue, on Petition for Review, the Board of Finance and Revenue finally resettled Pincus’ tax return as follows:

3,680,261

3,807,962

[395]*3953,855,343

3,989,819 x $345,513 less $32,557 — 50% additional depreciation

8,588,717

10,919,319

Tax due $19,644.11*

4. The parties agree tliat the correct computation of the first fraction of the formula should be as resettled, i.e., 3,680,261, that the corporation is entitled

3,807,962

to the $32,557 additional depreciation deduction.

The following findings of fact are derived from the record made at the hearing before this Court, all of which are applicable to the calendar year 1967:

5. Pincus employed approximately 750 people at its plant and offices located in Philadelphia.

6. Pincus leased approximately 1500 square feet of space in a building located in New York City, New York, where approximately 90% of all of the manufactured men’s suits are displayed by manufacturers in the United States. This leased space was used for showroom and office purposes.

7. Pincus also leased storeroom facilities, known as Bill Blass, in New York City for the purpose of retail sales. This operation is not a problem in this case.

8. Pincus employed approximately eight full-time employees in its New York City showroom-office facilities.

9. David Pincus, Vice President and Sales Manager of Pincus, travelled, almost daily, from his office [396] or home in Philadelphia to New York City, where he worked at the showroom-office facilities from between four to four and one-half days per week.

10. Pincus paid wages amounting to $134,476.09 to the eight New York City employees, all of whose wages were reported to the State of New York for unemployment compensation. The wages of all other Pincus employees were reported to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for unemployment compensation. All of Pincus’ employees were paid from the Philadelphia office.

11. Pincus employed fifteen salesmen-employees who were assigned territories delineated by state. All fifteen salesmen-employees were reported to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for unemployment compensation purposes. Neither Pincus nor David Pincus made any state income tax return to the State of New York.

12. The salesmen-employees of Pincus made sales at the New York showroom-office of Pincus and also in their respective territories. Some of the orders, written by the salesmen-employees, were directed to the New York office of Pincus and some were sent directly to the Philadelphia office.

13. All orders of salesmen-employees which were directed to Pincus’ New York office were given preliminary approval by David Pincus, and thereafter sent to the Philadelphia office of Pincus for final approval, credit check, fulfilling, billing and payment. In addition there were some house accounts, all facets of which transactions were carried out in the Philadelphia office.

14. All the expenses for the New York showroom-office of Pincus were paid by Pincus. Pincus did not maintain any offices other than those mentioned, in Philadelphia and New York City.

15. Under the stipulation both the numerator and denominator of the first fraction of the allocation for[397] mula pertaining to tangible property, as set forth in the resettlement, and approved by the Board are accepted and not at issue. The denominators of the second and third fractions of the formula pertaining to wages and gross receipts, respectively, were stipulated to and are accepted.

Discussion

The two-part question which has been presented to this Court is, (a) Whether the numerator of the second fraction of the formula should include the salaries and commissions of all the salesmen-employees and the salary of David Pincus, and (b) whether the numerator of the third fraction of the formula should include the gross receipts derived from all of the sales made by Pincus’ salesmen-employees?

In determining this matter de novo before this Court, the burden of proving that such commissions and salaries, and gross receipts should be deducted from the respective numerators is placed upon the taxpayer in an appeal under Section 1104 of The Fiscal Code, Act of April 9, 1929, P. L. 343, as amended, 72 P.S. §1104. See Commonwealth v. Stretchnit, Inc., 2 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 270, 273 A. 2d 750 (1971).

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Pincus Bros. v. Commonwealth, 295 A.2d 618, 6 Pa. Commw. 392, 1972 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 308 (Pa. Ct. App. 1972).

295 A.2d 618 (Pincus Bros. v. Commonwealth) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Commonwealth v. General Foods Corp.
239 A.2d 359 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1968)
Commonwealth v. Stretchnit, Inc.
273 A.2d 750 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)
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291 A.2d 347 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1972)