Torrington Co. v. United States

149 F. Supp. 172, 137 Ct. Cl. 622, 50 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 1934, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 45
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMarch 6, 1957
DocketNo. 147-52
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 149 F. Supp. 172 (Torrington Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Torrington Co. v. United States, 149 F. Supp. 172, 137 Ct. Cl. 622, 50 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 1934, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 45 (cc 1957).

Opinion

LittletoN, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, a Maine corporation, seeks to recover a refund of income and excess profits taxes paid for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1942. The sole issue to be decided by this court is whether, under § 127 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, the amount of a war loss must be deducted from a taxpayer’s income from sources without the United States for the purpose of determining the limit on the credit against United States taxes for taxes paid or accrued to a foreign country imposed by §§ 131 (b) (2) and 729 (d) (2) of the Code.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1942, plaintiff was the owner of all the capital stock of subsidiary corporations in Canada, England and Germany. Upon the outbreak of war between the United States and Germany plaintiff’s German subsidiary, together with all its assets, was seized by the German Government. As a result of this seizure it is undisputed that plaintiff was deemed to have suffered a war loss in the amount of $46,568.83 for the fiscal year 1942 under the provisions of § 127. During the same fiscal year 1942, plaintiff realized income from dividends on its capital stock in its English and Canadian subsidiaries. Plaintiff claimed and received credit against its United States taxes a portion of the amount of the foreign taxes considered withheld on the dividends received from its English and Canadian subsidiaries. It is the computation of the limit on the foreign tax credit to which plaintiff is entitled that is now in issue.

[624]*624In preparing its income and excess profits tax returns for the fiscal year 1942, plaintiff elected to compute its foreign tax credits with respect to the income and surtax under the provisions of § 131. Section 729 (a) made the provisions of § 131 also applicable to the excess profits tax imposed by Subchapter E of Chapter 2, Internal Eevenue Code of 1939. Section 131 (b) (2), as amended by § 216 (b), Eevenue Act of 1939, 53 Stat. 876, provided the following limitation on the foreign tax credit allowable under § 131:

(2) The total amount of the credit shall not exceed the same proportion of the tax against which such credit is taken, which the taxpayer’s net income from sources without the United States bears to his entire net income, in the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, or to the normal-tax net income, in the case of a corporation, for the same taxable year.

A similar limitation was placed on the allowable foreign tax credit against excess profits taxes by §729 (d) (2). Since the same method of computing the limit on foreign tax credits provided by § 131 (b) (2) is applicable to § 729 (d) (2), we will confine most of our discussion to §131 (b) (2)._ _

_ In arriving at net income from sources without the United States plaintiff did not deduct from its foreign gross income the amount of the § 127 war loss. This resulted in a higher net income from foreign sources and a corresponding increase in the amount of total credit available under the formula provided for in § 131 (b) (2), since the proportion of foreign net income to total net income would be higher. It is not specifically stated in the record that plaintiff deducted the § 127 war loss from its gross income from all sources to arrive at total net income, but it is apparent that this was in fact done.

Subsequent to the filing of its income and excess profits tax return for the fiscal year 1942, the Commissioner of Internal Eevenue conducted an audit of the plaintiff’s tax return for that year. Pursuant to this audit, the Commissioner issued a notice of deficiency which contained various adjustments, one of which was a recomputation of the limit on the total foreign tax credit available to the plaintiff. [625]*625The Commissioner determined that plaintiff, in computing its net income from sources without the United States, for the purpose of the foreign tax credits and limitations thereon, must deduct from gross foreign income the amount of the § 127 war loss. This action of the Commissioner reduced the available foreign tax credit against the excess profits tax by $11,481.74 and the foreign tax credit against the income and surtax by $10,981.69. These amounts, together with the statutory interest due on deficiencies, were paid or satisfied by the plaintiff and it now seeks a refund. Therefore, the only issue for decision by this court is whether the Commissioner was correct in deducting from plaintiff’s income from sources without the United States the $46,568.83 representing the § 127 war loss. We think that the Commissioner was correct for the reasons stated hereinafter.

Section 119 (d) of the Internal Revenue Code, which defines what is to be considered as net income from sources without the United States, reads as follows:

(d) Net Income From Sources Without United States. — From the items of gross income specified in subsection (c) of this section1 there shall be deducted the expenses, losses, and other deductions properly apportioned or allocated thereto, and a ratable part of any expenses, losses, or other deductions which can not definitely be allocated to some item or class of gross income. The remainder, if any, shall be treated in full as net income from sources without the United States.

It is apparent from a reading of this subsection that if we hold a § 127 war loss is a loss within the meaning of § 119 (d) it must be deducted from gross income from sources without the United States in order to arrive at the correct net income from such sources. Plaintiff argues that § 127 war losses were not intended to be deducted from gross income without the United States for the purposes of determining the net income pursuant to § 119(d). It premises its argument on the fact that § 119 (d) was enacted first in 1921, long before the war-loss section and as such could not have been intended to include such losses. Plaintiff also states [626]*626that because § 119 (d) requires that its losses be properly apportioned or allocated, or a ratable part of losses which can not definitely be allocated to some class of income be deducted from income earned without the United States, then only those losses arising from operations that normally produce income are cognizable by the statute. Therefore, plaintiff contends, a war loss, not being a loss arising out of an operation calculated to produce income, should not be deductible.

We do not think that plaintiff is correct in these contentions. In enacting the war-loss section Congress had before it all of the provisions of the Internal Bevenue Code and could have very easily provided that a § 127 war loss would not be considered a loss under § 119 (d). That it failed to do so seems to us to manifest a clear intent that war losses were not to be distinguished from the other losses that were to be taken as deductions in order to arrive at the net income from sources without the United States. Even more pur-suasive is the fact that § 127 states:

§ 127 War Losses
(a) Gases in which loss deemed sustained, a/nd time deemed sustained. For the purposes of this chapter — * * *

The clear and unambiguous meaning of the words, “For the purposes of this chapter” is that for all purposes of the chapter, unless otherwise restricted, a war loss shall be accorded the same treatment as any other loss.

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Bluebook (online)
149 F. Supp. 172, 137 Ct. Cl. 622, 50 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 1934, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/torrington-co-v-united-states-cc-1957.