Smith v. Commissioner

5 T.C. 323, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 136
United States Tax Court·Decided June 27, 1945·No. Docket No. 5505·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

OPINION.

Smith, Judge:

The respondent determined a deficiency in petitioner’s income tax for 1941 in the amount of $1,458.41. The petitioner alleges that the respondent erred in his determination by disallowing the deduction of $9,722.71 claimed to represent a loss sustained by him on the liquidation of his interest in a joint account which had been operated by him and his mother and his two sisters.

The facts have been stipulated.

The petitioner is a resident of New Canaan, Connecticut. He filed his income tax return for the year 1941 with the collector of internal revenue for the third district of New York..

On March 22,1929, Frank Morse Smith died, leaving a substantial personal estate, and on or about March 2, 1933, securities and cash having a total cost basis of $452,518.70 were distributed by the executors of the estate to a joint account in the name of the petitioner for the equal benefit of the petitioner, his mother, Sarah L. Smith, and his sisters, Matilda S. Lyons and Arietta H. Smith. The petitioner alone operated and managed the joint account, collected the dividends and interest on the securities, and sold securities from time to time.

The petitioner’s cost basis for his share of the assets transferred to the joint account on March 2,1933, was $113,129.67. Petitioner’s share of the net gains on the sale of securities in the joint account between March 2, 1933, and January 17, 1941, was $1,095.28, and his share of the dividends and interest received during the same period, after deducting expenses, amounted to $22,628.72. On May 4, 1937, petitioner contributed cash to the joint account in the amount of $6,938.40. Prior to 1941 petitioner received cash distributions from the joint account in the total amount of $77,013:63.

In January 1941 petitioner withdrew from the joint account and there was paid to him at that time from the joint account in cash the amount of $57,066.73 representing the then value of his share of the assets contained in the joint account. Thereupon petitioner ceased to have any interest in the joint account; but the joint account was not liquidated and its operations have continued under the supervision and management of the petitioner. At the time of petitioner’s withdrawal therefrom the other interests in the joint account were still owned by his mother and two sisters.

Petitioner filed a timely income tax return for the calendar year 1941, indicating thereon a tax due in the amount of $228,776.03, which tax was paid in due course, and on the return the petitioner claimed the deduction from gross income of $9,722.71 claimed to represent the excess of petitioner’s cost basis of his interest in the joint account over the amount of the total distributions received by him from the joint account. The deduction claimed should have been in the amount of $9,711.71. The respondent has disallowed this claimed deduction.

On January 7, 1944, pursuant to a waiver of restrictions executed by the petitioner, an additional income tax in the amount of $5,833.63 was assessed against the petitioner in respect of his income tax liability for the calendar year 1941, which tax, together with interest thereon in the amount of $634.58, was paid by the petitioner on January 19, 1944.

In the deficiency notice sent to the petitioner, upon the basis of which this proceeding is brought, it was stated:

The deduction of $9,722.71 claimed by you as representing the loss sustained upon the liquidation of your interest in a Joint venture is disallowed in view of the provisions of Section 24 (b) (1) (A) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code provides in part as follows:

SEC. 24. ITEMS NOT DEDUCTIBLE.
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(b) Losses from Sales oe Exchanges of Property.—
(1) Losses Disallowed. — In computing net income no deduction shall in any case be allowed in respect of losses from sales or exchanges of property, directly or indirectly—
(A) Between members of a family, as defined in paragraph (2) (D):
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(2) Stock ownership, family, and partnership bule. — Por the purposes of determining, in applying paragraph (1), the ownership of stock—
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(D) The family of an individual shall include only his brothers and sisters (whether by the whole or half blood), spouse, ancestors, and lineal descendants; * * *

Section 3797 (a) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code provides that the term “partnership” includes a syndicate, group, pool, joint venture, or other unincorporated organization.

The parties are in agreement that the pooling of the interests of the heirs of the petitioner’s father for the purpose of engaging in the business of buying and selling securities constituted a joint venture and amounted to a partnership within the statutory definition of that term.

It is the contention of the respondent that the transaction by which petitioner received $57,066.73 upon his withdrawal from the joint account was tantamount to a sale or exchange by him of his interest in the joint account to his mother and two sisters and that the deduction of any loss resulting from such sale is prohibited by section 24 (b) (1) (A).

In his income tax return for 1941 petitioner claimed the deduction of a loss of $9,722.71 as a result of his withdrawal of his interest in the joint account operated by him on behalf of himself, his mother, and his two sisters. He now claims that the correct amount of his loss is $9,711.71, computed as follows:

Original' investment-$113,129.67
Subsequent cash investment- 6,938.40
Interest and dividends on his one-fourth share- 22,628. 72
Gain from sales on his one-fourth share- 1,095.28
Total_ 143,792.07
Cash distributions-$77,013. 63
Cash on withdrawal_ 57, 066. 73 134,080.36
Loss_ 9, 711.71

The claimed loss apparently results from a shrinkage in the value of the securities in the joint account from the date of acquisition to the date of petitioner’s withdrawal.

If the joint account had been terminated by a distribution to each of the joint venturers of the assets in kind, none of them would have sustained a deductible loss for income tax purposes. Instead, each would have taken his share of the assets at the basis which those assets had in the joint account. Annie Laurie Crawford et al., Executors, 39 B. T. A. 521.

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Smith v. Commissioner, 5 T.C. 323, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 136 (tax 1945).

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