Robinette v. Commissioner

46 B.T.A. 1138, 1942 BTA LEXIS 766
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedMay 13, 1942
DocketDocket No. 104200.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 46 B.T.A. 1138 (Robinette 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
Robinette v. Commissioner, 46 B.T.A. 1138, 1942 BTA LEXIS 766 (bta 1942).

Opinion

[1140]*1140OPINION.

Smith :

The respondent contends that the taxpayer, Charles C. Cole, formerly Charles C. Cohn, failed to file any income tax and excess profits tax returns as a citizen of the United States in 1917 and 1918 and has determined deficiencies for those years. He proposes to assess and collect the taxes from the petitioner as transferee of a transferee of the taxpayer, who is now deceased. The petitioner’s primary contention is that Charles C. Cole filed all the returns which he was required to file and paid all taxes which he was required to pay in the years in question. Second, the petitioner argues that the returns which Cole did file started the running of the statute of limitations in his favor and that no tax liability of his may now be assessed against the petitioner. The respondent claims that the statute of limitations was tolled by the failure of Cole to file the required returns and that the jSling of returns with the Philippine Government is immaterial.

[1141]*1141With respect to the taxable year 1918 it is clear that the respondent’s determination must be approved, upon the authority of Lawrence v. Wardell, 273 Fed. 405. The Revenue Act of 1918 imposed an income tax for the calendar year 1918 upon the income of every citizen of the United States. Section 1400 of the 1918 Act expressly repealed the Revenue Act of 1916, as amended by the Revenue Act of 1917, except with respect to any taxes which became due thereunder on or before December 31, 1917, and except with respect to the Philippine Islands. Section 1400 (b) of the 1918 Act provides in part as follows:

Title I of tine Revenue Act of 1916 as amended by the Revenue Act of 1917 shall remain in force for the assessment and collection of the income tax in Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, except as may be otherwise provided by their respective legislatures.

In addition to the above exception to the repeal provisions of section 1400, section 261 of the 1918 Act specifically provides in part:

That in Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands the income tax shall be levied, assessed, collected, and paid in accordance with the provisions of the Revenue Act of 1916 as amended.
*
The Porto Rican or Philippine Legislature shall have power by due enactment to amend, alter, modify, or repeal the income tax laws in force in Porto Rico or the Philippine Islands, respectively.

Thus, the 1916 Act as amended remained effective in the Philippine Islands as a local income tax law similar to the income tax law enacted by any one of the states in order to tax its citizens or residents, or those having income received from sources within the state. The only return filed by the taxpayer for the calendar year 1918 was that filed under the Revenue Act of 1916 as amended by the 1917 Act and in accordance with the provisions of section 261 of the 1918 Act. The taxpayer was required to file this return because he was a resident of the Philippine Islands. The filing of the return with, and the payment of a tax to, the Philippine Government, however, did not relieve him of his liability under the 1918 Act as a citizen of the United States to pay a tax to the United States Government. Lawrence v. Wardell, supra; Emil Peterson, 45 B. T. A. 624.

In the Lawrence case the taxpayer was a United States citizen residing in the Philippine Islands during the taxable years in question. He filed a return for the year 1918 with the Philippine Government in accordance with the provisions of the Revenue Act of 1916, as amended, and as required by section 261 of the 1918 Act, and paid the tax to that Government. This return was similar to the one filed by the taxpayer in the instant case. The court held that the payment of the tax to the Philippine Government was a payment made under a local law equivalent to the income tax law of any state and that a tax was also due to the United States Government, against which [1142]*1142tax a credit was allowable for the amount paid in the Islands. We followed the Lcmrence case in the Peterson case, which involved precisely parallel facts. ' The taxpayer in the instant case did not file an income tax return with or pay a tax to the United States Government for the year 1918.

No return having been filed for 1918, the Commissioner would nevertheless be prohibited from attempting to assess and collect the tax if the period of limitation provided in the 1918 Act were effective here. Section 250 (d) of the 1918 Act provides that no suit or proceeding for the collection of any tax shall be begun after the expiration of five years after the date the return was due. Section 250 (d) of the Bevenue Act of 1921, however, contains the period of limitation which is applicable in the instant case. Emil Peterson, supra; Helmuth Heyl, 34 B. T. A. 223; Eli Kirk Price, Executor and Trustee, 23 B. T. A. 1192. In the Peterson case it was held that the filing of the return with the Philippine Government did not start the running of the statute of limitations on assessment and collection of the tax due to the United States Government because the limitation period provided in the 1921 Act was applicable. Section 250 (d) of the 1921 Act provides in material part as follows:

(d) The amount of income, excess-profits, or war-profits taxes due under any return made under this Act for * * * prior taxable years or under prior income, excess-profits, or war-profits tax Acts, * * * shall be determined and assessed within five years after the return was filed, * * * and no suit or proceeding for the collection of any such taxes due under this Act or under prior income, excess-profits, or war-profits tax Acts, * * * shall be begun, after the expiration of five years after the date when such return was filed, * * * That in the case of a false or fradulent return with intent to evade tax, or of a failure to file a required return, the amount of tax due may be determined, assessed, and collected, and a suit or proceeding for the collection of such amount may be begun, at any time after it becomes due * * *

The respondent’s determination with respect to the year 1918 is therefore approved.

Two deficiencies are asserted for the year 1917. One is the deficiency in excess profits tax which was imposed by Title II of the Bevenue Act of 1917. The second is the deficiency in income tax for the year 1917.

The taxpayer admittedly did not file an excess profits tax return for the year 1917. Section 250 (d) of the Bevenue Act of 1921, discussed above, also contains the period of limitation applicable to the excess profits tax of 1917 and, no such return having been filed by the taxpayer, the respondent is not barred by lapse of time from assessing and collecting such tax. The only questions to be considered are whether the taxpayer was liable for the tax and, if so, whether the amount of the tas: has been properly computed by the respondent.

[1143]*1143Partnerships and individuals were subject to the excess profits tax upon their net incomes under section 201 of the Eevenue Act of 1917. Members of partnerships, although perhaps otherwise taxable as individuals, were not required to include in their excess profits tax net incomes their distributive shares of the partnership income. William Hamilton Lawrence, 44 B. T. A. 128; art.

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Related

Pert v. Commissioner
105 T.C. No. 24 (U.S. Tax Court, 1995)
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105 T.C. No. 24 (U.S. Tax Court, 1995)
Helvering v. Campbell
139 F.2d 865 (Fourth Circuit, 1944)
Robinette v. Commissioner
46 B.T.A. 1138 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 B.T.A. 1138, 1942 BTA LEXIS 766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robinette-v-commissioner-bta-1942.