Silverman & Sons Realty Trust v. Commissioner

1979 T.C. Memo. 404, 39 T.C.M. 266, 1979 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 124
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedSeptember 25, 1979
DocketDocket No. 12254-77.
StatusUnpublished

This text of 1979 T.C. Memo. 404 (Silverman & Sons Realty Trust 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
Silverman & Sons Realty Trust v. Commissioner, 1979 T.C. Memo. 404, 39 T.C.M. 266, 1979 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 124 (tax 1979).

Opinion

SILVERMAN & SONS REALTY TRUST, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Silverman & Sons Realty Trust v. Commissioner
Docket No. 12254-77.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1979-404; 1979 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 124; 39 T.C.M. (CCH) 266; T.C.M. (RIA) 79404;
September 25, 1979, Filed
Bernard A. Dwork and Myron Greenside, for the petitioner.
Barry J. Laterman, for the respondent.

RAUM

MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION

RAUM, Judge: The Commissioner determined a deficiency of $6,944 in petitioner's income tax for the taxable year ended March 31, 1975. The question presented is whether rental income derived from a corporate*126 lessee is personal holding company income if the controlling shareholders of the lessor are also substantial shareholders of the lessee corporation.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Most of the facts have been stipulated.

Silverman & Sons Realty Trust, the petitioner, is a Massachusetts trust with transferable shares; it is taxable as a corporation pursuant to section 7701(a)(3), I.R.C. 1954. Its principal office was in Boston, Massachusetts, at the time the petition was filed. Petitioner's principal business activity is the rental of real estate. In 1957, petitioner acquired a building. This building and cash (including a certificate of deposit) were the only assets of consequence owned by petitioner during the taxable year ended March 31, 1975. The building was occupied during that year by Joseph Silverman & Co., Inc., a Massachusetts corporation which was engaged in business as a wholesale dealer in floor coverings. During the taxable year petitioner received $38,900 in rent from Joseph Silverman & Co., Inc., for such occupancy. The only other income received by it was interest in the amount of $13,169 earned on a certificate of deposit.

During the taxable*127 year, one-half of petitioner's shares were owned by Donald Silverman, and the other one-half by his brother, Alan Silverman. The stock of Joseph Silverman & Co., Inc., was owned largely by Donald and Alan Silverman, each of whom owned 36.6 percent of the corporation's stock. The remaining 26.8 percent of the corporation's stock was owned by six persons who are sufficiently related to Alan and Donald Silverman that the stock of those persons is deemed constructively owned by Alan and Donald Silverman under section 544(a)(2), I.R.C. 1954.

The Commissioner determined that the $38,900 rentals received by petitioner constituted personal holding company income within section 543(a)(6), I.R.C. 1954, and, since it had other personal holding company income (interest) in excess of 10 percent of its ordinary gross income, it was subject to the personal holding company tax imposed by section 541.

OPINION

Section 541 provides that a tax of 70 percent of undistributed personal holding company income shall be imposed on all personal holding companies. 1 A corporation will be a personal holding company if two conditions are met.2 First of all, *128 more than one-half of the value of the outstanding stock of the company must be owned by no more than five persons. This condition is met here, since Alan and Donald Silverman own all of petitioner's shares. Secondly, 60 percent of the company's income must be "personal holding company income". The interest received by petitioner is personal holding company income under the provisions of section 543(a)(1), I.R.C. 1954. And the Commissioner has determined in the notice of deficiency that the remainder of its income, $38,900 in rent, constitutes personal holding income under section 543(a)(6), I.R.C. 1954. 3 The basis for this position is that the owners of petitioner and the corporation are substantially the same. Therefore, the Commissioner concludes, the rent received from the corporation is personal holding company income to petitioner because its shareholders are entitled to the use of the leased property under an "other arrangement", within the parenthetical provision of section 543(a)(6)(A). If this is the case, then all of petitioner's income will be personal holding company income, and it will be taxable as a personal holding*129 company.

*130 Section 543(a)(6), I.R.C. 1954

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Bluebook (online)
1979 T.C. Memo. 404, 39 T.C.M. 266, 1979 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/silverman-sons-realty-trust-v-commissioner-tax-1979.