Standard Lumber Co. v. Commissioner

35 T.C. 192, 1960 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 35
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedOctober 31, 1960
DocketDocket No. 77900
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 35 T.C. 192 (Standard Lumber Co. 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
Standard Lumber Co. v. Commissioner, 35 T.C. 192, 1960 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 35 (tax 1960).

Opinion

OPINION.

Black, Judge:

Respondent lias determined deficiencies in the income tax of petitioner for the years 1954 and 1955 as follows:

Tear Deficiency
1954 _$255,939.96
1955 _ 180,397.47

All issues relating to the taxable year 1955 have been settled in the stipulation filed by the parties. Respondent conceded that petitioner was entitled to file a consolidated income tax return with Oregon Fibre Products, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Products, for the year 1955. Petitioner conceded that Products was not entitled to a deduction of $50,000 on amortization of masonite. Effect will be given to this agreement under Rule 50.

Two issues as to the year 1954 are presented:

1. Whether petitioner owned directly stock of Products possessing at least 80 per cent of the voting power so as to entitle the two corporations to file a consolidated income tax return under the provisions of section 1504(a) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

2. Whether, if it be determined that the corporations were not entitled to file a consolidated return, interest in the amount of $92,015 on debentures of Products held by petitioner constituted accrued income taxable to petitioner.

The facts, all of which are stipulated, are included herein by this reference and may be summarized as follows:

Petitioner, formerly Pilot Rock Lumber Co., is a dissolved and liquidated corporation which was organized under the laws of the State of Oregon and had its principal office at Pilot Rock, Oregon. Liquidation of petitioner was completed on June 30, 1956. Products was incorporated under the laws of the State of Oregon, likewise having its principal office at Pilot Rock. Petitioner and Products maintained their books and reported income on an accrual method of accounting by calendar years, and timely filed a consolidated income tax return for 1954 with the district director of internal revenue, Portland, Oregon.

During 1954, Products had two classes of authorized stock, common and preferred. The preferred stock did not possess voting rights and was limited and preferred as to dividends. During the same year, petitioner held approximately 62 per cent of Products’ outstanding common stock, trustees under a voting trust agreement held approximately 25 per cent, and all others held approximately 13 per cent.

The voting trust agreement under which the trustees held approximately 25 per cent of stock of Products outstanding during 1954 was created on November 3,1952, and terminated by consent of all parties thereto by an agreement dated January 1, 1955. The voting trust agreement empowered the trustees to vote all the shares of Products held under the agreement. It further provided that the trust agreement should continue for 20 years from its date.

Section 57.175 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, a part of the Oregon Business Corporation Act which was passed during the 1953 session of the Oregon Legislature and became effective December 31, 1953, provides that a voting trust can be created for a period not to exceed 10 years.

On or about January 1, 1952, Products issued $2,500,000 of 5 per cent sinking fund debentures. Petitioner purchased and held $1,840,000 of these debentures. The debentures read, in material part, as follows:

OREGON FIBRE PRODUCTS, INC. * * * promises to pay * * * on January 1, 1968 * * * the principal sum * * * and to pay interest thereon at the rate of five percent (5%) per annum * * * semi-annually on the 1st day of July and the 1st day of January in each year, until payment of said principal sum has been made or duly provided for, subject to the limitation set forth in the next paragraph in regard to the postponement of interest payments. * * *
Interest shall accrue on this Debenture from the applicable date specified in the preceding paragraph, but payment of such interest may be postponed by the Company in the event, to the extent and during the period that payment of interest on the Debentures is prevented by the terms or operation of any loan, or any modification thereof, senior to the Debentures obtained by the Company (either before or after the date of the Indenture) from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or from any other lender, public or private, for the purpose of financing the construction program under which the Company built and equipped or will build and equip its fibreboard plant. Such postponement of interest payments shall not constitute an Event of Default as defined in the Indenture unless and until the Company does not pay such postponed interest on or before the third interest payment date following the date of the termination of any obstacle to the payment of such interest created by any such loan senior to the Debentures, but such postponed interest shall be paid in any event on or before January 1, 1958, and failure to pay such postponed interest, if any, on or before January 1, 1958, constitutes an Event of Default. Accrued interest, tbe payment of which is postponed in accordance with the foregoing, shall not be due within the meaning of any of the provisions of this Debenture or the Indenture until such time as the postponement of such interest constitutes an Event of Default.

On or about December 31, 1953, petitioner executed a “consent” with regard to the debentures of Products which read, in material part, as follows:

The undersigned holder * * * of Oregon Eibre Products, Inc. Debentures * * * hereby consents to the execution of a Supplemental Indenture containing the provisions set forth below. * * *
(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Indenture, including but not limited to the Events of Default and other provisions contained in Article Six of the Indenture, no principal or interest shall become due and payable upon the Consenting Debenture until the R.F.C. Loan has been fully paid. Until such time the Trustee shall take no action under the Indenture with respect to declaring the principal of any of the Consenting Debentures due and payable, or any other action which might otherwise be taken with respect to the preservation or protection of the rights of the Consenting Debentures. Any interest, the payment of which is postponed under the preceding sentence, shall be paid on or before the third interest payment date following the date upon which the R.F.C. Loan is fully paid, and failure to pay such postponed interest on or before such third interest payment date shall constitute an Event of Default. For the purposes hereof the R.F.C. Loan shall have been fully paid upon the date specified in written notice of such payment delivered to the Trustee by the R.F.C. or by the substitute obligor in the event the R.F.C. Loan has been refinanced. * * *

On or about December 31,1953, petitioners also executed a “standby-agreement” with respect to debentures of Products which, read, in material part, as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
35 T.C. 192, 1960 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/standard-lumber-co-v-commissioner-tax-1960.