Stallforth v. Commissioner

6 T.C. 140, 1946 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 308
United States Tax Court·Decided January 29, 1946·No. Docket No. 5926·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinion

OPINION.

Disney, Judge:

The petitioner contends that compensation received by him in 1941 for services rendered over a period from September 3,1935, to January 10,1941, was, in determining the deficiency for 1941, erroneously included in gross income and that his tax liability should be computed under the provisions of section 107 (a), Internal Revenue Code.1 The respondent contends that petitioner’s tax liability is not determinable under section 107 (a) because the compensation received in 1941 was not in payment of services covering a period of sixty calendar months or more as required by that section, but that the services for which the compensation was paid in 1941 began in November 1935 and terminated on or about July 26, 1939, and hence the services covered a period of only forty-five months.

In his 1941 income tax return the petitioner reported no income whatever. In determining the deficiency the Commissioner included in taxable income $150,645.36 ($168,645.36 gross income, less $18,000 deductible expenses) as compensation received and allowed a deduction of $2,230.26 interest paid.

The amount received by petitioner as compensation in 1941 is not in dispute, nor is it disputed that the amount received was compensation for personal services rendered by him, and that the amount received in 1941 represented at least 75 per centum of the total compensation received. The parties disagree as to the period during which his services were rendered.

That petitioner’s services began in November 1935 and that such month is includible in determining the period fixed by the statute is conceded by the respondent. In our opinion the evidence would not support a finding that petitioner’s employment commenced prior to November 1935.

In support of his contention that petitioner’s services for which the compensation was paid in 1941 were concluded in July 1939, the respondent states, among other things, that the compensation was paid under the last agreement of July 26, 1939; that such agreement did not require the performance of further or additional services; that the German Government never contested the decision of the Mixed Claims Commission of June 15, 1939, or the awards made pursuant thereto; that nothing resulted insofar as the sabotage claims were concerned from the conversations and conferences which petitioner held in Rome and in Berlin in 1940; that in 1939 Europe was in a state of war and petitioner was in no position to negotiate any further with the German Government with respect to the sabotage claims; that petitioner performed no services in obtaining evidence of any kind and submitting the same to the Commission; and that in view of the favorable decision of the Mixed Claims Commission of June 15,1939, its awards on October 30,1939, and the certification of the awards by the Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Treasury on October 31, 1939, there was nothing which the petitioner could have done thereafter toward settling the sabotage claims.

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Stallforth v. Commissioner, 6 T.C. 140, 1946 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 308 (tax 1946).

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