Ronald Press Co. v. Shea

27 F. Supp. 857, 23 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 543, 1939 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2730
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 21, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 27 F. Supp. 857 (Ronald Press Co. v. Shea) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ronald Press Co. v. Shea, 27 F. Supp. 857, 23 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 543, 1939 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2730 (S.D.N.Y. 1939).

Opinion

LEIBELL, District Judge.

The plaintiff sues to recover additional assessments of income tax, and interest thereon, paid to the Collector for the fiscal years ending March 31, 1929, and March 31st, 1930, respectively. For 1929 the additional assessment was $3,454.72 on which the taxpayer also paid $413.76 'interest. For 1930 the additional assessment was $1,-515.66 and the interest, $165.37.

A portion of the additional assessment for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1930, based upon the disallowance of a deduction of $2,433.49 for the State Franchise tax for 1931, is not disputed. The parties have agreed that, in the event of a decision in favor of the plaintiff, the amount of the judgment will be settled by stipulation.

The additional assessment for 1929, and the disputed part of the additional assessment for 1930, result from the Commissioner’s action in disallowing $40,440.92 of the net losses of $70,936.94, claimed by plaintiff for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1928, which plaintiff sought to carry over and apply on its returns for 1929 and 1930, pursuant to the Revenue Act of 1928, Section 117 (a), (b) and (e), 26 U.S.C.A. § 117 note.

The plaintiff, a New York corporation organized prior to 1919, was engaged in the business of -publishing and trading in books. In 1920 plaintiff caused to be organized and acquired all the stock of two corporations, Administration Publishing Corporation and the Management Engineering Corporation, for the purpose of publishing, through them, two certain magazines known as “Administration” and “Management Engineering”. On November 13, 1923, the two subsidiary corporations were consolidated into one, the Management and Administration Corporation; on July 9, 1925, the name of the consolidated corporation was changed to Management Publishers Corporation, and on April 22, 1926, further changed to Manufacturing industries, Inc. The name of the magazine was changed from “Management and Administration” to “Manufacturing Industries”.

Until the subsidiary, Manufacturing Industries, Inc., was dissolved, January 31, 1928, as hereinafter related, the plaintiff, as parent, and its wholly owned subsidiary, continued as affiliated corporations, and the plaintiff annually filed consolidated income tax returns, reflecting the consolidated income and deductions of the two corpora[859]*859tions for each fiscal year ending March 31st.

The plaintiff directed the activities of its subsidiaries and their consolidated successor and advanced to them from time to time the money needed to carry on their operations. In fact, the accounts of the operations of the subsidiaries were recorded on the plaintiff’s books, as charges against the subsidiary corporations. Plaintiff incurred all the liabilities for the magazines and paid them from its own funds and from the receipts from the magazine business.

During the period from January 1, 1921, to March 31, 1927, the plaintiff advanced to its subsidiary, Manufacturing Industries, Inc. and two predecessor corporations which were consolidated into said subsidiary, $311,614.51. During that period the amount of these advances lost by the subsidiaries and reflected in the consolidated returns was $226,215.70. The difference was $85,398.81 and represented advances spent by the subsidiaries but not reflected in the consolidated returns (See Ex. 17). During the year ending March 31, 1928, plaintiff advanced to Manufacturing Industries, Inc. the further net sum of $40,440.92, which the latter lost in the course of its operations in that year.

On January 3, 1928, the plaintiff and Manufacturing Industries, Inc. entered into an agreement whereby the Manufacturing Industries, Inc., transferred all of its assets to the plaintiff, which the latter agreed to accept L. cancellation of the debt of Manufacturing Industries, Inc., to the plaintiff, then stated as aggregating $357,349.01 ($352,055.43). Manufacturing Industries, Inc., was dissolved on January 31, 1928, and on February 1, 1928, the plaintiff sold the assets so acquired from Manufacturing Industries, Inc., for $45,000.

Plaintiff’s books reflect plaintiff’s transactions with its subsidiaries in a way that differs materially from the agreement of January 3, 1928, between plaintiff and its subsidiary. (Ex. 3). As of March 31, 1926, so much of plaintiff’s advances to its subsidiaries as had been availed of in the consolidated returns as operating losses of the subsidiaries to offset profits of plaintiff, were deducted from the then total of plaintiff’s advances and the balance of $85,-398.81 was shown on the books as the net investment of plaintiff in its subsidiary. Indeed, this was listed in item 11 under the heading of “Other Assets” in both the 1927 and 1928 returns of plaintiff as “Net Investment in Magazine, $85,398.81”. When the magazine assets were sold by plaintiff for $45,000 an account known as “Manufacturing Industries — Liquidation” was set up and the item of $85,398.81, as part of a larger item, was debited against said account under date of February 1, 1928, and on March 31, 1928, another item that included the $40,440.92 (the net amount plaintiff advanced to its subsidiary during the fiscal year ending that day) was also debited against that account. The Journal entry in relation to the transfer of this last mentioned item states that it was “To capitalize the loss for the year ending 3/31/28.” In addition to certain small items, there was credited to the “Manufacturing Industries —Liquidation” account the $45,000 received from Mr. Ahrens, who purchased from plaintiff the magazine assets; one entry is for $10,000 paid by him on January 31, .1928 and another for $35,000 paid February 29, 1928. On March 31, 1928, the net debit balance of this “Manufacturing Industries — Liquidation” account was transferred to surplus and an entry was made in the Journal as follows: “Magazine Liquidation Account, to close the net investment in magazine into surplus $92,663.-72.” The entries in the books control. They indicate that all that had been advanced by plaintiff to its subsidiary, less the amount previously taken as deductions in prior returns, as above stated, and less the amount realized on the sale of the magazine, was finally written into the Surplus Account and in effect was “charged off”. American Cigarette & Cigar Co. v. Bowers, 2 Cir., 92 F.2d 596, 597.

Plaintiff’s income tax return for 1928 does not agree with the statements contained in the agreement of January 3, 1928. In the income tax return filed by plaintiff for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1928, plaintiff entered under item 22 “Other Deductions” the following: “(d) Net Loss on Magazine Sale (Net Investment — $97,222.-82 less Sales Price $45,000) $52,222.82.” An item of $11,824.01 for certain commissions was improperly included in the figure of $97,222.82 which should be $85,398.81, and in the sum of $52,222.82 which should be $40,398.81.

Concerning the item of $85,398.81 in the 1928 Income Tax Return, plaintiff’s comptroller testified that it “represented the advances that the Ronald Press Company made on behalf of the magazine corporation for which it had not been reimbursed [860]*860and for which it had not deducted in any previous past returns * * *; that it represented the amount of money “that had been advanced by the parent to the subsidiary and really was an investment to the extent that it was entitled to collect that from the subsidiary”.

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

Related

Moore v. Freeman
266 P.2d 674 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1954)
Porter v. Theo J. Ely Mfg. Co.
5 F.R.D. 317 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1946)
Kuhn v. Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. of California
37 F. Supp. 102 (S.D. New York, 1941)
Brown v. New York Life Ins. Co.
32 F. Supp. 443 (D. New Jersey, 1940)
Bennett Glass & Paint Co. v. State Tax Commission
100 P.2d 567 (Utah Supreme Court, 1940)
White v. Holland Furnace Co.
31 F. Supp. 32 (S.D. Ohio, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
27 F. Supp. 857, 23 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 543, 1939 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2730, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ronald-press-co-v-shea-nysd-1939.