Schmitt v. Commissioner

30 T.C. 322, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 188
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 20, 1958
DocketDocket No. 60267
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 30 T.C. 322 (Schmitt v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schmitt v. Commissioner, 30 T.C. 322, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 188 (tax 1958).

Opinion

Respondent determined deficiencies in petitioners’ income tax for the years 1949, 1950, and 1951 in the amounts of $31.44, $9,357.72, and $2,643.40, respectively.

The issues, reduced to two by the parties, are first, whether certain transactions resulted in the sale or exchange of a capital asset, and second whether certain payments made by petitioner qualify as deductions.

FINDINGS OF FACT.

Some of the facts were stipulated and are so found.

Petitioners Joe L. Schmitt, Jr. (hereinafter sometimes referred to as petitioner), and Helen M. Schmitt are, and were during the years 1949, 1950, and 1951, husband and wife. They filed joint income tax returns for those years with the then collector of internal revenue at Phoenix, Arizona.

Petitioner has engaged in accounting work since 1925. He and his wife reside in Phoenix, Arizona, and over the years his accounting work has been done in and around that city. In the course of his work he developed a procedure which converted, through the use of tabulating cards and certain machines manufactured by Remington Rand Incorporated (hereinafter referred to as Remington Rand), single-entry bookkeeping records into double-entry records. Remington Rand did not manufacture these machines specifically to meet petitioner’s needs. The machines were adapted to meet those needs by a wiring unit developed by petitioner, which was also manufactured by Remington Rand. He has not changed the procedure since 1947.

Petitioner named his procedure the Exact-O-Matic System. In April 1950 he applied to the United States Patent Office for the registration of two service marks and designs in connection with the Exact-O-Matic System. They were registered in December 1951.

Petitioner obtained copyrights to the following three pamphlets connected with his Exact-O-Matic System:

Title Year of Copyright
Bookkeeping for Small Business_^_1946
Selling Exact-O-Matic System_1948
Exaet-O-Matic System (Manual of Procedure)_1949

Petitioner made three applications for patents. Two of his applications listed his invention as a “Mechanical Method of Double Entry Bookkeeping.” The third application concerned the same procedure. These applications were made in 1948,1949, and 1952.

Remington Rand publicized petitioner’s procedure. The petitioner did not solicit sales of the Exact-O-Matic System.

During the years 1949, 1950, and 1951 petitioner entered into a total of 11 substantially similar agreements (hereinafter called territorial assignments), the relevant provisions of which follow:

TERRITORIAL ASSIGNMENT OF PATENT

* * * * * * •

WITNESSETH:

In consideration of the sum of Ten Dollars ($10.00), and other good and valuable consideration, paid to Assignor by Assignee, the parties have agreed as follows:—
(1) Assignor covenants that he is the owner of the entire right, title and interest in and to those certain United States Patents, Patents pending, Registrations and Copyrights hereinafter referred to as “Exact-O-Matic System,” and that he has not mortgaged, pledged, hypothecated, or otherwise encumbered the same or any right, title, or interest therein in any manner whatsoever.
(2) Assignor hereby grants unto Assignee the exclusive right, privilege and franchise to use and sell the said Exact-O-Matic System, (District, Unit A and Unit B) throughout the Territorial area described as follows:—
All of the State of Oregon in addition to the counties of Cowlitz, Clark, Franklin, Walla Walla, Columbia, and Benton of the State of Washington,
(3) Assignee agrees to use their best efforts to establish and or sell District, Unit A and Unit B franchises, throughout the Territorial area, and to that end agrees to divide the Territorial area into Districts, and to grant licenses to operate said Exact-O-Matic System in said District, upon the conditions hereinafter set forth.
Assignee agrees to create and establish District No. 1 Franchise, either in their own name or by the assignment of the District to a corporation controlled by them within thirty (30) days from the date of this agreement, such District to embrace the State of Oregon, Counties of Multnomah, Washington, Clack-amas, Clatsop, Marion, Polk, Columbia, Yamhill, Tillamook and Lincoln, and the State of Washington, Counties of Clark and Cowlitz.
It is further understood and agreed that Assignee shall produce a minimum of sales of District Licenses, according to the following schedule:—
On or before one year from the date of this Territorial Assignment, Assignee shall establish or sell a second District License, and every six months thereafter one additional District License, until a total of three District Licenses have been sold. The attached form of District License marked “Schedule A” shall be used in establishing said District Franchises.
Any sale of a District License, Unit “A” or Unit “B” License, to use said System shall be subject to approval of the Assignor, insofar as the competency and financial ability and integrity of the franchise applicant is concerned. All District License, Unit “A” and Unit “B” Licenses, shall be granted by the Assignee, subject to the conditions of that form of license marked “Schedule A, B, or 0”.
(4) Assignee agrees that in granting Licenses for District, Unit “A” or Unit “B” Licenses, they will use the same form of contract hereto attached (Schedule A, B, C) unless the parties hereto shall mutually agree upon a different form of contract.
The conditions of paragraph three (3) and four (4), as above stated, are for the protection of all other Territorial Assignees and to further insure an adequate sale price to the Assignor.
(5) Assignee shall have the right to fix prices for the sale of all Licenses within their territory, but agrees not to sell any District License for less than three thousand dollars ($3,000.00), excepting however the assignment of District No.

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Related

Weimer v. Commissioner
1987 T.C. Memo. 390 (U.S. Tax Court, 1987)
Taylor v. Commissioner
1970 T.C. Memo. 325 (U.S. Tax Court, 1970)
Rodgers v. Commissioner
51 T.C. 927 (U.S. Tax Court, 1969)
Roob v. Commissioner
50 T.C. 891 (U.S. Tax Court, 1968)
Moberg v. Commissioner
35 T.C. 773 (U.S. Tax Court, 1961)
Wing v. Commissioner
33 T.C. 110 (U.S. Tax Court, 1959)
Schmitt v. Commissioner
30 T.C. 322 (U.S. Tax Court, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
30 T.C. 322, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmitt-v-commissioner-tax-1958.