Rosenberg v. Commissioner

10 B.T.A. 601, 1928 BTA LEXIS 4067
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedFebruary 8, 1928
DocketDocket No. 10086.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 10 B.T.A. 601 (Rosenberg 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
Rosenberg v. Commissioner, 10 B.T.A. 601, 1928 BTA LEXIS 4067 (bta 1928).

Opinion

[606]*606OPINION.

Smith:

The petition filed in this proceeding alleges error in that the respondent has denied the petitioner the right to file returns of income under the provisions of Treasury Decision 3071 for the calendar years 1919 and 1920, domicile being claimed in Texas. The notice of deficiency from which this appeal is taken stated:

After consideration of tlie evidence on the first issue, it is the opinion of this office that you are not entitled to file returns on the community property basis. This conclusion has been reached inasmuch as it is apparent you had extensive business activities in New York and had no intention of establishing domicile in the state of Texas.

The respondent submits that there is before the Board only a moot question, inasmuch as the petitioner has alleged nothing more than that his domicile was in the State of Texas during the years 1919 and 1920 and has submitted no other evidence than that calculated by him to establish the fact of his domicile in that State during those years; that the petitioner has not alleged in his petition and has not submitted any evidence to the Board to show that any of the income attributed to him for the years 1919 and 1920 was community property or community income.

The principal part of the evidence of record is concerned with the question whether the petitioner was domiciled in Texas during the taxable years, the respondent contending that he was not domiciled there.

The general rule as to residence and domicile is stated at 9 R. C. L. 539, as follows:

It is customary to distinguish between residence and domicil, on the ground that any place of abode or dwelling place constitutes a residence, however temporary it may be, while the term “ domicil ” relates rather to the legal residence of a person or his home in contemplation of law. As a result one may be a resident of one jurisdiction although having a domicil in another.

“ Residence ” is defined by the laws of Texas as follows:

The “ residence ” of a single man is where he usually sleeps at night; that of a married man is where his wife resides, or if he be permanently separated from his wife, his residence is where he sleeps at night. * * * (Vernon’s Annotated Texas Statutes (Civil Statutes) vol. 9, art. 2958.)

The allegations of the petitioner and the testimony of the petitioner identify and locate the exact spot which the petitioner claims as his domicile as the house upon his farm near Texarkana. Neither [607]*607the petition, the testimony, nor the theory of the case identifies or locates the domicile to be at any other spot.

With respect to the amount of time that Rosenberg spent in Texas during 1919 and the question as to whether his business interests there were increasing or decreasing, Lovelady, his farm and business manager, testified substantially as follows:

That the petitioner made a visit to Texarkana accompanied by his wife in September or October, 1918, and at the same period of the year in 1919 and 1920; that he made only one visit each year; that he was uncertain as to just how long he staj'ed on each visit; that the petitioner and his wife stopped at a hotel in Texarkana, and that during the daytime Rosenberg made trips to his farm; that practically all of Rosenberg’s important business had been away from Texarkana since January 1, 1919; that Rosenberg had offered his farm for sale. As to whether the petitioner was actually in Texas at any time during 1919 or 1920 Lovelady was in doubt. His testimony upon that point was as follows:

Q. On recross-examination yon referred to Ms coming down in 1919 and 1920; I believe yon stated to me that you were not sure he was down here?
A. I wasn’t, and I am not now.
Q. Don’t know whether he did or not, and whether he stayed a week or months?
A. I could not say.
Q. Just one trip a year?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. One trip a year, and you don’t know whether he stayed one month or eight months?
A. Couldn’t say how long he stayed.

The testimony of another witness for the petitioner, Heilbron by name, was direct, specific, unevasive and certain. Heilbron had resided in Texarkana for about 50 years and had known Rosenberg for about 35 years. On cross-examination he testified as follows:

Q. Do you know whether or not he [petitioner] ever resided at Great Neck, New York?
A. Yes.
Q. You know how long he resided there?
A. That is a summer home, and has been for several years, and still is.
Q. Was it in 1919 and 1920?
A. I am not positive.
Q. Did you ever visit in that home?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you visit in 1919 and 1920?
A. I don’t think so.
Q. Do you know whether he owned that home at that time?
A. I think he did, and I think I did visit in 1920.
Q. During the winter months did he have quarters in New York City?
A. Yes.
[608]*608Q. Is that at the St. Regis Hotel?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you Enow whether or not in 1919 and 1920 he resided or lived in Tex-arkana in the sense that it is commonly understood that a man lives in a place?
A. No; he did not.
Q. Do you know how many visits he made to Texarkana in 1919?
A. No.
Q. Do you know whether or not he was here any length of time in 1919?
A. His stay was not long.
Q. Did his wife reside in the house on the farm in 1919 ?
A. I couldn’t say.
Q. Did his wife ever live in it?
A. I don’t know.
Q. Was Rosenberg or his wife in Texarkana any length of time during these years?
A. No.
Q. After January 1, 1919, do you know whether Mr. Rosenberg, or Mr. Rosenberg and his wife had lived or resided on the farm.
A. He did not.
Q. Then his occupancy of the home that you testified about was prior to his marriage?
A. Yes.
Q. His principal occupation, and since his marriage, has been in the cotton business in New York?
A. Yes.
Q. A very little of the cotton business in Texarkana?
A. I am not informed enough to answer-that.
Q.

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Related

Sonkin v. Commissioner
1978 T.C. Memo. 91 (U.S. Tax Court, 1978)
Westervelt v. Commissioner
8 T.C. 1248 (U.S. Tax Court, 1947)
Darsky v. Commissioner
5 T.C.M. 861 (U.S. Tax Court, 1946)
Peeples v. Commissioner
27 B.T.A. 879 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1933)
Rosenberg v. Commissioner
10 B.T.A. 601 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1928)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 B.T.A. 601, 1928 BTA LEXIS 4067, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosenberg-v-commissioner-bta-1928.