Rivers v. Commissioner

49 T.C. 663, 1968 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 160
United States Tax Court·Decided March 22, 1968·No. Docket No. 6990-65·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

OPINION

The first question presented is whether petitioner received taxable income during the years in question upon receipt of the payments on the notes issued in 1951. The parties concede that the 1951 transactions, from which the promissory notes arose, were nontaxable transfers pursuant to section 112(b) (5) of the 1939 Code,3 the statutory predecessor to section 351 of the 1954 Code. Pursuant to section 113(a) (6), petitioner’s basis in the stock and notes received from the transferee corporations, WEAS and WJIV, was the same as the basis of petitioner’s property transferred to those corporations, i.e., $90,154.73 as to WEAS and $53,075.48 as to WJIV. After allocating $10,000 to the stock of each corporation, petitioner’s basis in the WEAS note was $80,154.73 and his basis in the WJIV note was $43,075.48, although the face amount of the WEAS note was $240,000 and the face amount of the WJIV note was $120,000.4 Although petitioner’s basis in each note was less than its fair market value, petitioner reported no income from the monthly note payments and now contends, without recitation of any judicial authority, that he derived no taxable income upon the receipt of the note payments because the nontaxable transfer, pursuant to which the notes were acquired, did not permit the transferee corporation to take a stepped-up basis. We agree with petitioner that where property is acquired by a corporation in a transaction to which section 112 (b) (5) applies, the basis of the property in the hands of the corporation is the same as it was in the hands of the transferor. Sec. 113(a) (8). However, to conclude from that fact that petitioner will never receive taxable income upon payment of the notes received in such a-transaction is without legal foundation. Under both the 1939 and 1954 Codes, gain is defined as the excess of the amount realized from the sale or other disposition of property over its adjusted basis. Sec. 111 (a), I.R.C. 1939; sec. 1001(a), I.R.C. 1954. The “amount realized,” where no money is received, is by definition the fair market value of the property received, sec. 111(b), I.R.C. 1939; sec. 1001(b), I.R.C. 1954, and since in this case no money was received by petitioner at the time of the transfer in 1951, the “amount realized” was the fair market value of the stock and notes received, i.e., their face amount.5 Inasmuch as the fair market value of the notes exceeded petitioner’s, basis therein, petitioner realized a gain'to the extent of the difference. Section 112(b) (5) reflects the well-established intent of Congress to foster tax-free business reorganizations of the very type which occurred in this case by postponing recognition of gain. However, there is no suggestion in that Code section, or any other, that Congress intended to thereby eliminate all tax to a transferor in such a transaction. The fact that section 113(a) (6) specifically provided a basis-for the property received by the transferor in such a transaction convinces us of the error in petitioner’s argument. It follows that since the bases of petitioner’s notes were less than their fair market value, petitioner derived taxable income on the receipt of the note payments. We must therefore decide whether petitioner was required to pay a tax on the gain only after he had fully recovered his basis or, on the other hand, whether some portion of each monthly payment was taxable as gain.

Respondent contends, as he has in the past, Victor B. Gilbert, 6 T.C. 10, 13 (1946), that receipt by petitioner of the monthly note payments,, beginning in May 1951, was attributable entirely to recovery of petitioner’s basis in the notes, with the result that by sometime in 1958, the first tax year in question, petitioner had recovered the entire basis in each note. From this respondent contends that the entire portion of all subsequent note payments were attributable solely to income. In Darby Investment Corporation, 37 T.C. 839 (1962), affd. 315 F.2d 551 (C.A. 6, 1963), we recognized the long-standing principle that:

where evidences of indebtedness such as negotiable bonds, notes, and mortgages payable in installments with interest are purchased at discount, and where when purchased they have an ascertainable fair market value less than the amount due and payable thereon, the payments each include, after deduction of interest, realized discount income in proportion to the difference between the taxpayer’s cost and the principal balance due upon the face of such instruments at the date of taxpayer’s purchase thereof. William A. Tombari, 35 T.C. 250; Phillips v. Frank, 185 F. Supp. 349 (W.D. Wash.); Victor B. Gilbert, 6 T.C. 10; Vancoh Realty Co., 33 B.T.A. 918; Shafpa Realty Corporation, 8 B.T.A. 283; Florence L. Klein, et al., 6 B.T.A. 617.

It is therefore established in the discount note cases that where the cost basis of a note is less than the amount due and payable thereon, the difference, or discount, is to be allocated to each installment payment reported as discount income. In the instant case, while the notes were not purchased at a discount, there also exists a disparity between the holder’s basis and the amounts to be received on the note. For this reason, we think it follows that each principal payment in retirement of the notes, after deduction of interest, must be allocated in.- part to return of petitioner’s basis and in part to the receipt of income.6

Respondent strongly contends, however, that since petitioner never reported any income from the notes, excepting interest income, we must invoke a doctrine of quasi-estoppel, and hold that as to each note, the entire monthly payment, beginning with the May 1951 payment, was attributable solely to the recovery of petitioner’s basis. Thus, when the entire basis in each note was recovered sometime during 1958, all subsequent principal payments would be taxable, in their entirety, as income. In support of his position, respondent cites the cases of Alderson v. Heady, an unreported case (D. Mont. 1965, 15 A.F.T.R. 2d 536; 65-1 U.S.T.C. par. 9239), and Orange Securities Corp. v. Commissions, 131 F.2d 662 (C.A. 5, 1942), affirming 45 B.T.A. 24 (1941).

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Rivers v. Commissioner, 49 T.C. 663, 1968 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 160 (tax 1968).

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