Service Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

165 F.2d 75, 36 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 645, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3931
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 5, 1948
Docket13638
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 165 F.2d 75 (Service Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Service Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 165 F.2d 75, 36 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 645, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3931 (8th Cir. 1948).

Opinion

THOMAS, Circuit Judge.

This case is presented here on the petition of a taxpayer to review a decision of The Tax Court. The proceeding involves deficiencies in income and excess profits taxes for the years 1940, 1941, and 1942, aggregating $2,355.59. It will be unnecessary to detail the items in dispute because the parties have agreed upon the amount of the deficiencey due the government in the event the decision of The Tax Court is affirmed or if it should be reversed.

The problem for solution is whether the petitioner, a corporation, received the property of its wholly owned subsidiary, Farmers Gin Company, in a tax-free liquidation of the subsidiary under the provisions of I 112(b) (6) of the Internal Revenue Code,' 26 U.S.C.A. Int.Rev.Code, § 112(b) (6), so that the basis of the petitioner for depreciation of the property received was the same as that of the Gin Company as transferor instead of the fair market value of the property when received.

The facts were stipulated by the parties and found accordingly by The Tax- Court.

The petitioner is an Arkansas corporation organized in 1898, with its principal place of business at Forrest City, Arkansas. Prior to 1930 it owned a gin. In that year a group of farmers organized and proposed to construct a competing gin. To avoid the threatened competition petitioner sold its *76 gin to the group for which it received 200 shares of stock in the new corporation known as the Farmers Gin Company; and by 1940 it had acquired all of the outstanding stock of that Company.

On November 6, 1940, there was prepared and executed by the stockholders of the Gin Company a consent to dissolution which reads:

“We, the undersigned, being all of the stockholders of record of the Farmers Gin Company, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Arkansas, with its domicile at Forrest City, Arkansas, having full voting power on a proposition to dissolve the said corporation hereby consent in writing to a dissolution of said corporation and the request the said Farmers Gin Company by and through its duly authorized officers to file the within consent to dissolve with the County Clerk of St. Francis County and with the Secretary of State of the State of Arkansas, and secure said certificate of dissolution from the said Secretary of State of Arkansas.

“Witness our hands this 6th day of November, 1940.”

On November 9, 1940, the consent was filed with the Secretary of State of Arkansas, and on the same date the Secretary of State issued a certificate of dissolution.

On November 13, 1940, the Gin Company filed with the collector Treasury Department Form 966, being a return of information under § 148(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C.A. Int.Rev.Code, § 148(d), in which it was stated that the “Date of adoption of resolution or plan of dissolution” was “Nov. 6, 1940.”

On November 9, 1940, entries were made in the books of the Gin Company closing out the capital stock account; and “as of” the same date entries were made on its books showing the cost of the property to it and the fair market value of such properties as of the date of dissolution. These entries were made by petitioner’s accountant sometime in the spring of 1941.

On March 12, 1941, petitioner filed its 1940 return claiming a long-term capital loss from the- liquidation of the Gin Company; and on September 11, 1941, the Gin Company filed its return for the period from'July 1, 1940, to November 9, 1940, showing that it’dissolved on November 9, 1940, and that its property was distributed to its sole stockholder, The Service Company, petitioner here.

After the dissolution of the Gin Company petitioner continued the operation of the gin.

Paragraph 1 of the Stipulation of Facts reads:

“On November 9, 1940, the Farmer’s Gin Company, a corporation of Forrest City, 'Arkansas, was dissolved and its assets distributed to its sole stockholder, the petitioner herein, in complete liquidation of the former, in exchange for its stock then held and owned by the latter, which stock was cancelled.”

In harmony with the stipulation The Tax Court’s Findings of Fact concludes as follows :

“The distribution of all of the assets of Farmers Gin Company was pursuant to, and was made within the taxable year during which there was adopted, a resolution or plan by petitioner, as sole shareholder, for the liquidation of the Gin Company, under which the transfer of all the property was to be completed forthwith.”

The undisputed facts require consideration of the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code to determine whether gain or loss was sustained by the petitioner for income and excess profits tax purposes. The Internal Revenue Code provides:

“§ 115. Distribution by corporations

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“(c) Distributions in liquidation. Amounts distributed in complete liquidation of a corporation shall, be treated as in full payment in exchange for the stock, * * * The gain or loss to the distributee resulting from such exchange shall be determined under: section 111,'but shall be recognized only to the extent provided in section 112. * * *”

“§ 111. Determination of amount of, and recognition of, gain or loss

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“(c) Recognition of gain or loss. In the case of a sale or exchange,, the extent to *77 which the gain or loss determined under this section shall be recognized for the purposes of this chapter; shall be determined under the provisions of section 112.”

“§ 112. Recognition of gain or loss—

“(a) General rule. Upon the sale or exchange of property the entire amount of the gain or loss, determined under section 111, shall be recognized, except as hereinafter provided in this section.

“(b) Exchanges solely in kind — ■

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“(6) Property received by corporation on complete liquidation of another. No gain or loss shall be recognized upon the receipt by a corporation of property distributed in complete liquidation of another corporation. For the purposes of this paragraph a distribution shall be considered to be in complete liquidation only if—

“(A) the corporation receiving such property was, on the date of the adoption of the plan of liquidation, and has continued to be at all times until the receipt of the property, the owner of stock (in such other corporation) possessing at least 80 per centum of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote and the owner of at least 80 per centum of the total number of shares of all other classes of stock (except nonvoting stock which is limited and preferred as to dividends), and was at no time on or after the date of the adoption of the plan of liquidation and until the receipt of the property the owner of a greater percentage of any class of stock than the percentage of such class owned at the time of the receipt of the property; and

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Bluebook (online)
165 F.2d 75, 36 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 645, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3931, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/service-co-v-commissioner-of-internal-revenue-ca8-1948.