Stern Bros. & Co. v. Commissioner

16 T.C. 295, 1951 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 282
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedFebruary 8, 1951
DocketDocket No. 19579
StatusPublished
Cited by85 cases

This text of 16 T.C. 295 (Stern Bros. & 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
Stern Bros. & Co. v. Commissioner, 16 T.C. 295, 1951 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 282 (tax 1951).

Opinion

OPINION.

Hill, Judge:

The first question for our determination arises from two contentions made by petitioner concerning the computation of its excess profits net income for the taxable years 1942 through 1945. Petitioner, which computed its excess profits credit based on invested capital, claims first that dividends received on certain of its securities in each of these years should be allowed as a credit in computing its excess profits net income for that year. Furthermore it claims that gains realized from sales and liquidating dividends of certain of its securities in each of these years should be excluded in computing its excess profits net income for that year.

Section 711 (a) (2) (A) of the Code, as amended by section 211 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1942, states that “The credit for dividends received shall apply, without limitation, to all dividends on stock of all corporations, except that no credit for dividends received shall be allowed with respect to * * * dividends on stock which is not a capital asset” in computing excess profits net income. Section 711 (a) (2) (D) of the Code, as amended by section 207 (e) of the Revenue Act of 1942, states that “There shall be excluded gains and losses from sales or exchanges of capital assets held for more than 6 months” in computing excess profits net income. Thus the question before us is whether certain securities from which petitioner received dividends and on which it realized gains during the taxable years were “capital assets” within the meaning of section 117 (a) (1) of the Code. Section 117 (a) (1) defines “capital assets” in material part as constituting

* * * property held by the taxpayer * * *, but does not include stock in trade of the taxpayer or other property of a kind which would properly be included in the inventory of the taxpayer if on hand at the close of the taxable year, or property held by the taxpayer primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of his trade or business * * *,

Petitioner contends that it acquired and held all the securities in controversy on its own account as investments rather than for sale to customers, and consequently that they were capital assets during the taxable years. On the other hand, respondent argues that the securities in question were not held as investments but were a part of petitioner’s stock in trade as a dealer in securities, and thus they were not capital assets during the taxable period in question.

At the outset we note that this Court has consistently held that a taxpayer may be a dealer as to some securities and he may also hold similar securities for investment or some other purpose than for sale to customers. As to the latter securities they properly constitute capital assets within the meaning of section 117 (a) (1). E. Everett Van Tuyl, 12 T. C. 900, Carl Marks & Co., 12 T. C. 1196, and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., 13 T. C. 755. Furthermore, a dealer in securities may acquire securities for the purpose of sale to customers and later change his purpose and hold them for investment. Carl Marks & Co., supra. Finally, it is well established that a dealer may transfer securities actually held for investment out of inventory into a separate account without obtaining permission from the Commissioner to do so. Carl Marks & Co., supra, and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., supra.

Whether petitioner held the securities at issue primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business or on its own account for some other purpose, such as investment, is essentially a question of fact to be determined in view of all the circumstances surrounding each security. No one element is normally decisive in itself. The purpose for which each security was held during the taxable years involved is the critical factor in determining its character. Carl Marks & Co., supra. A dealer’s expressed intent to hold certain securities for purposes other than sale must be supported by conduct on his part in regard to such securities which is clearly consistent with that intent. The dealer’s treatment of securities held on his own account for investment must differ materially from his treatment of securities held for sale to customers. In many instances this has been accomplished by some form of segregation, on the books or physically or both'. While the lack of any such segregation has great significance, yet it would be exalting one factor for consideration into a sine qua non to say that the absence of such segregation in itself conclusively shows the securities in question were not held for investment.

Turning to the 36 securities at issue, petitioner has sought to distinguish the particular shares of stock and bonds involved from those it held for sale to customers by asserting that they were never carried on its position sheets in the trading department as available for sale. While there is considerable testimony to this effect, we can not rely on this test, first, because the position sheets used during the taxable years are not in evidence to support this testimony and, secondly, because petitioner’s president testified that the reason for estab-lisbing an investment account was that securities held for investment, which were not listed on position sheets, were mistakenly sold to customers.

The variation in the treatment of these 36 securities by petitioner makes it impossible to categorize them generally as primarily held for sale to customers or otherwise. The manner in which they were handled on petitioner’s books does serve to divide them into four main groups for purposes of discussion, namely, securities acquired by petitioner prior to March 20, 1943, which were transferred from inventory to the investment account on that date; securities acquired by petitioner prior to March 20, 1943, which were transferred from inventory to the investment account subsequent to that date during the taxable years; securities acquired by petitioner prior to March 20, 1943, which were never transferred from inventory throughout the taxable years, and securities acquired by petitioner after March 20, 1943, which were placed in the investment account at once.

We turn first to the group of securities acquired by petitioner prior to March 20, 1943, which were transferred from inventory to the investment account on that date. Petitioner received its dividends or gains from several of these securities only in 1944 and/or 1945. The 1,650 shares of Series A, common stock of Long Bell Lumber, the 386 shares of Oregon Lumber, the 586 shares of Orpheum Theatre Corporation, and the 1,184 shares of Pickering Lumber common stock meet this test. Due to this fact we are not concerned with whether they were acquired and held for sale to customers or for some other purpose prior to March 20, 1943, but need only determine their character during the taxable years 1944 and 1945. By their transfer from the inventory account to the investment account petitioner clearly segregated these shares of .stock from its dealer business and they were not available for sale to customers thereafter. We thus found as a fact that the above securities were held for investment during the taxable years 1944 and 1945. We now hold that they were capital assets during these 2 years.

In the case of one security, bonds of St. Louis Railway, petitioner received its only income, therefrom during the taxable period on January 28,1943, when it sold $10,000 par value of such bonds to a broker.

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Bluebook (online)
16 T.C. 295, 1951 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stern-bros-co-v-commissioner-tax-1951.