Tebb v. Commissioner

27 T.C. 671, 1957 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 281
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 18, 1957
DocketDocket Nos. 54161, 57171, 57172
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 27 T.C. 671 (Tebb 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
Tebb v. Commissioner, 27 T.C. 671, 1957 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 281 (tax 1957).

Opinion

Rice, Judge:

This proceeding involves the following deficiencies in tax:

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The issues to be decided are: (1) Whether the respondent erred in his determination of the fair market value of certain closely held corporate common stock, owned by decedent, Thomas W. Tebb, at the time of his death; (2) whether the shares of such stock, which were received by petitioners, Fred R. and Neal A. Tebb, upon decedent’s death, constituted taxable income to them; and (3) whether petitioner estate was entitled to the marital deduction as claimed by it on the estate tax return for the interest in decedent’s estate which passed to his wife.

Concessions were made with respect to other issues which will be taken into account in a Rule 50 computation.

Some of the facts were stipulated.

GENERAL FINDINGS OF FACT.

The stipulated facts are so found and are incorporated herein by this reference.

Thomas W. Tebb (hereinafter referred to as the decedent) died testate, a resident of Sumner, Washington, on June 28, 1950. His widow, Grace Tebb, is the executrix of his estate. Fred R. and Neal A. Tebb were decedent’s sons. Fred and his wife, Claire F, Tebb, were residents of Sumner, Washington, in 1950; Neal and his wife, Helen R. Tebb, were residents of Sumner, Washington. The Federal estate tax return and the joint income tax returns of the individual petitioners for 1950 were filed with the former collector of internal revenue for the district of Washington.

Fair Market VaVae of Pacifie Stoek.

FINDINGS OF FACT.

At the time of his death, and for a number of years prior thereto, decedent was president of Pacific Lumber Agency (hereinafter referred to as Pacific), a Washington corporation organized in 1910. Its place of business was located in Sumner, Washington. Pacific’s authorized capital stock consisted of 1,500 shares of $100-par-value common stock, which was the only class of stock issued and outstanding. During 1940 and 1941, it had 668 shares outstanding. In 1942 and 1943 it had 750 shares outstanding. In 1944 the issued and outstanding stock was increased to 1,500 shares by the payment in that year of a stock dividend of 750 shares. Prior to the decedent’s death on June 28, 1950, Pacific’s stock was held as follows:

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Pacific’s business was the so-called remanufacture of lumber, which involved drying, regrading, dressing, and resawing cut lumber to the specific size and shapes required to fill its orders. About 85 per cent of its production was Sitka spruce products. Pacific neither owned nor controlled timberlands. Its lumber supply was obtained from primary lumber producers and was purchased in the open, competitive market. While the primary producers of Sitka spruce lumber preferred not to market such lumber in a remanufactured state, nothing was done by Pacific in the remanufacture of such lumber which could not have been done by others who did some lumber remanufacturing but who did not specialize in remanufacturing as such.

Pacific sold its products on a competitive basis in the open market, directly and through retail and wholesale distributors located in the midwestern and eastern portions of the United States. Pacific’s principal customers were industrial users of Sitka spruce products such as manufacturers of airplane materials, overhead door companies, furniture concerns, ladder manufacturers, sash and door makers, and others. Pacific established and maintained contact with its customers through personal trips by its officers or employees, and by telephone, telegraph, and letter. Many of Pacific’s regular customers had been doing business with it for many years prior to 1950. Some of Pacific’s customers purchased a portion of the remanufactured lumber used by them from sources other than Pacific.

Pacific’s business was built up over a long period of time by decedent and his sons, petitioners Fred II. and Neal A. Tebb. At the time of his death, decedent had been in the lumber business for more than 50 years and had been associated with Pacific for a great portion of that time. Fred was associated continuously with Pacific since 1923 and Neal since 1941.

For a 2- or 3-year period .immediately preceding 1940, one Walter Wiebenson owned the majority of Pacific’s stock, which he had acquired from an estate. During that period he directed the management of Pacific. He had had no prior experience in the lumber business and under Ms management the business experienced a marked decline. As a consequence, Wiebenson, during 1939, disposed of his stock and severed his connection with Pacific. Thereupon the business again came under the experienced management of the Tebbs and began to improve.

Pacific’s physical assets comprised 12 acres of land and certain buildings thereon in Sumner, Washington, including 6 dry kilns with boiler and facilities appurtenant thereto, planing mill, ripsaw, machinery and equipment, and sorting tables. Pacific did not operate an ordinary sawmill and was not equipped to handle logs.

Following is a statement of Pacific’s net sales, net profit before deduction of Federal income tax, percentage of net profit to net sales, earnings after deduction of Federal income taxes, and earnings per share after deduction of Federal income tax for the indicated years:

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Pacific paid the following salaries to its officer-stockholders during the indicated years:

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The book value per share of Pacific’s stock at the end of indicated years was as follows:

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Following is a statement of the total dividends paid by Pacific, and the rate of return which such dividends represented on outstanding capital invested in the company during the indicated years:

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At the time of the decedent’s death, June 28, 1950, Pacific’s business was well established and had favorable prospects for the future. Prior to decedent’s death, as well as since, all of Pacific’s stock was held by members of the Tebb family. Pacific’s stock was never listed on any exchange, nor quoted for sale through security brokers. There were no arm’s-length sales of the stock within recent years.

The 511 shares of stock in Pacific owned by the decedent at the time of his death were reported in the estate tax return by his estate at a fair market value of $100.77 per share. The respondent determined that the stock had a value of $146 per share at the time of the decedent’s death.

OPINION.

The valuation of corporate stock which is closely held by members of a single family is a question of fact.

The petitioners selected the book value of the stock at the close of 1949 as the fair market value on the date of decedent’s death some 6 months later. We think they have entirely failed to show that such book value should be substituted for the respondent’s determination.

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Tebb v. Commissioner
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Bluebook (online)
27 T.C. 671, 1957 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 281, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tebb-v-commissioner-tax-1957.