Sacramento Medico Dental Building Co. v. Commissioner

47 B.T.A. 315
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJuly 14, 1942
DocketDocket No. 102466
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 47 B.T.A. 315 (Sacramento Medico Dental Building Co. 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
Sacramento Medico Dental Building Co. v. Commissioner, 47 B.T.A. 315 (bta 1942).

Opinion

[325]*325OPINION.

Kern:

The first issue for our determination is whether the petitioner corporation acquired the land and building pursuant to a plan of reorganization as that term is defined in section 112 (g) of the Revenue Act of 1934, thereby entitling petitioner to use as its basis for depreciation on the building, and fixtures the adjusted cost basis thereof to the old corporation.

Since the parties to this proceeding filed their briefs the Supreme Court has handed down five important opinions concerning “reorganizations.” Those opinions are to be found in Commissioner v. Alabama Asphaltic Limestone Co., 315 U. S. 179; Palm Springs Holding Corporation v. Commissioner, 315 U. S. 185; Commissioner v. Southwest Consolidated Corporation, 315 U. S. 194; and Commissioner v. Marlborough Investment Co., 315 U. S. 189; and Helvering v. Cement Investors, Inc., 316 U. S. 527.

[326]*326Many of the contentions made by both parties to the instant controversy are considered in those cases and finally disposed of, and therefore it is unnecessary for us to consider them in this opinion.

It is obvious that if the transaction here in question is to be treated as a reorganization within the meaning of the statute, it must be by virtue of section 112 (g) (1) (B) of the Revenue Act of 1934.1

The transaction can not be considered a reorganization within the meaning of this section under the rule enunciated by the Supreme Court in the Southwest Consolidated Corporation case, supra. In addition to the voting stock (see Federal Grain Corporation, 18 B. T. A. 242), an amount of cash and bonds were also exchanged by the petitioner in return for the property acquired by it. The plan recognized the probability that there would be nondepositing bondholders. In fact, there were. According to the plan they were to be paid off by Santa Inez, which was to be repaid by petitioner. While this is the effect of what happened, the plan called for a series of intricate steps to bring about both the payment and repayment-Santa Inez paid the money to the committee, which paid it to Batt-son, the trustee under the original bond indenture, as part of the purchase price and he, in turn, paid it to the nondepositors. The repayment to Santa Inez was accomplished by the issuance of certain bonds by the new corporation in the face amount of $38,300 which Santa Inez was required to turn over immediately to the committee, the committee being required to pay Santa Inez therefor the sum of $16,950 ($9,185.38 of which represented the cash advanced by Santa Inez to pay off the nondepositors). The committee was then required to turn in these special bonds to the petitioner; they were to be immediately canceled; and the committee -was to receive nothing in exchange therefor. In the Southwest Consolidated Corporation case certain security holders of the old corporation were paid off in cash,, which was raised during the reorganization on a loan assumed by the respondent. The Court said:

⅜ * * in substance the transaction was precisely the sanie as if respondent had paid cash plus voting stock for the properties. * * * The rights of security holders against the old corporation were drastically altered by the sale-made pursuant to the plan. The sale not only removed the lien from the property and altered the rights of the security holders in it; it also limited and defined the rights of the individual creditors if they elected to take cash rather than participate in the plan. * * •

[327]*327Although Santa Inez was actually paid by tbe committee, the committee was acting as the agent of the petitioner and the petitioner stood behind the committee’s obligation. The several steps were mere “intermediate procedural devices utilized to enable the new corporation to acquire all the assets of the old one pursuant to a single reorganization plan.”1 Commissioner v. Alabama Asphaltic Limestone Co., supra. The fact that Santa Inez was one of the depositing bondholders rather than an outsider is immaterial. It can not be said that the assets of the old corporation were exchanged solely for voting stock, as required under clause B, and, therefore, we must conclude that the assets in question were not acquired under a tax free “reorganization” as that term is defined in section 112 (g).

It is, therefore, unnecessary to discuss the other contentions of respondent with regard to the same question.

Having concluded that petitioner did not acquire the assets in question as the result of a “reorganization” as that term is defined in section 112 (g) of the Revenue Act of 1934, we are now faced with the further issue of what basis to apply to the newly acquired property for depreciation or for gain or loss in the hands of the petitioner. The adjusted cost basis of the old corporation, which would have been the permissible basis only if we had concluded that the transaction was a “reorganization”, may not be used by petitioner* Petitioner must be considered as having acquired the property from the bondholders’ committee, which, in turn, had acquired it upon foreclosure. Upon the transfer of this property to petitioner by the committee, the depositing bondholders represented by the committee became entitled to voting trust certificates representing only 45 percent of the common stock of petitioner. The other 55 percent of the beneficial interest in the common stock was represented by voting trust certificates issued to the stockholders of the old corporation which had been placed in escrow and were subject to cancellation in the event defaults occurred under the deed of trust securing the bonds of the new corporation. Therefore, the transfer by the committee to petitioner was not one covered by section 112 (b) (5) of' the Revenue Act of 1934,2 since, by reason of section 112 (h),3 the [328]*328transferors were not in control of the transferee corporation immediately after the exchange.

Since no provision of section 112 is applicable, the basis of the property in the hands of petitioner corporation is the cost of such property to petitioner. Sec. 113 (a), Revenue Act of 1934. In return for the property acquired petitioner issued its promises to pay certain amounts, in the form of bonds. The face amount of the bonds issued by petitioner for the property in question must sbe considered as the cost of the property, since it represented the sum which petitioner was obligated to pay therefor. Cf. Consolidated Coke Co. v. Commissioner, 70 Fed. (2d) 446.

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Related

The Montana Power Company v. United States
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121 F. Supp. 577 (D. New Jersey, 1954)
Sacramento Medico Dental Bldg. Co. v. Commissioner
47 B.T.A. 315 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1942)

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Bluebook (online)
47 B.T.A. 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sacramento-medico-dental-building-co-v-commissioner-bta-1942.