United Gas Improv. Co. v. Commissioner

47 B.T.A. 715, 1942 BTA LEXIS 656
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedSeptember 22, 1942
DocketDocket No. 106504.
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 47 B.T.A. 715 (United Gas Improv. Co. v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Gas Improv. Co. v. Commissioner, 47 B.T.A. 715, 1942 BTA LEXIS 656 (bta 1942).

Opinion

[722]*722OPINION.

Smith :

The petitioner alleges in its petition to this Board that in the determination of the deficiency for 1937 the respondent made the following errors:

(a) The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, * * * erroneously disallowed deductions of a loss in the amount of $2,473,062.52, which loss petitioner sustained in the year 1937 through bankruptcy of Nashville Gas and Heating Company, a Tennessee corporation, to which corporation petitioner had loaned large sums of money and in the preferred and common stocks of which corporation petitioner had invested large sums of money.
(b) The said Nashville Gas and Heating Company was also indebted to petitioner on two other items — one for an account receivable in the amount of $200.22, and the other for accrued interest in the amount of $333.34 — both of which sums of money petitioner lost through the same bankruptcy proceedings and both of which the Commissioner of Internal Revenue erroneously disallowed as a deduction when computing petitioner’s net income for the year 1937.

The alleged loss of $2,473,062.52 is composed of the following items:

Investment in the preferred stock- $726, 860. 67
Investment in the common stock- 188,140. 35
Loans to company from 10/9/21 to 1/1/22, the aggregate of which was charged off on the petitioner’s books of account in 1922 but not claimed as a deduction from gross income of that year_ 1, 036, 336. 50
.Loans to company which had not been charged off at date of bankruptcy proceedings- 522, 225. 00
2,473, 062. 52

The account receivable of the Nashville Gas & Heating Co. of $200.22 and, the item of accrued interest of $333.34 were not affected by the plan of reorganization. That plan specifically provided that the liabilities of Nashville Gas & Heating Co., other than those spe[723]*723cifically mentioned in the plan of reorganization, were not to be affected. The petitioner has offered no evidence in support of its claim for the deduction of these two items and it will be considered that the petitioner has waived its claim thereto.

The respondent’s position is that the petitioner sustained no recognizable loss on the transactions in question, since it turned in to the corporation its obligations to petitioner, and other property, and received in exchange therefor all of the capital stock and some bonds of the reorganized corporation. Eespondent further contends in the alternative that the stock and securities, as well as the indebtedness of the Nashville Gas & Heating Co., became worthless, if at all, prior to the taxable year 1937. In his answer in which' he makes such alternative contention the respondent alleges that upon payment of the guaranteed bonds of the Nashville Gas & Heating Co. petitioner became subrogated to the rights of the bondholders and that in effect petitioner surrendered such bonds, together with those which it already owned, for the common stock of the reorganized corporation of a greater value, thereby realizing a taxable gain of over $1,300,000.

The material provisions of the statute (Eevenue Act of 1936) read as follows:

SEC. 112. RECOGNITION OP GAIN OR LOSS.
(a) General Rule. — Upon the sale or exchange of property the entire amount of the gain or loss, determined under section 111, shall be recognized, except as hereinafter provided in this section.
(b) Exchanges Solely in Kind.—
⅜ ***** *
(3) Stock for stock on reorganization. — No gain or loss shall he recognized if stock or securities in a corporation a party to a reorganization are, in pursuance of the plan of reorganization, exchanged solely for stock or securities in such corporation or in another corporation a party to the reorganization.
* ***** *
(g) Definition of Reorganization. — As used in this section and section 113—
(1) The term “reorganization” means (A) a statutory merger or consolidation, or (B) the acquisition by one corporation in exchange solely for all or a part of its voting stock; of at least 80 per centum of the voting stock and at least 80 per centum of the total number of shares of all other classes of stock of another corporation; or of substantially all the properties of another corporation, or (C) a transfer by a corporation of all or a part of its assets to another corporation if immediately after the transfer the transferor or its stockholders or both are in control of the corporation to which the assets are transferred, or (D) a recapitalization, or (E) a mere change in identity, form, or place of organization, however effected.

It should be observed that we are not dealing here with a merger or consolidation of corporations. The Nashville Gas & Heating Co. had the same assets after the reorganization as it had before. Its liabili[724]*724ties were reduced. It was the same corporate entity as before. Even if none of the other requirements of a reorganization as defined in section 112 (g) was met, there was certainly a “recapitalization” of the Nashville Gas & Heating Co. under section 112 (g) (1) (D). See Benjamin W. Fredericks, 21 B. T. A. 433; affd., Kistler v. Burnet, 58 Fed. (2d) 687; Walter F. Haas, 29 B. T. A. 900; affirmed without opinion (C. C. A., 6th Cir.), Jan. 14, 1936; Hoagland Corporation, 42 B. T. A. 13; affd., 121 Fed. (2d) 962; Helvering v. Alabama Asphaltic Limestone Co., 315 U. S. 179; Edith M. Greenwood, 41 B. T. A. 664; Daniel MacDougald, 44 B. T. A. 1046.

At the beginning of the reorganization proceedings under section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act petitioner owned practically all of the Nashville Gas & Heating Co.’s common stock (15,834.4 shares out of 16,000), all of its outstanding preferred shares, $37,000 of its guaranteed bonds, and $40,000 of its unguaranteed bonds. At the conclusion of the reorganization proceedings, and upon consummation of the plan of reorganization, petitioner owned all of the corporation’s common stock (it had no issued preferred stock) and $40,000 of its new bonds. Petitioner argues, however, that under the reorganization plan there was no exchange of the old shares for the new shares within the meaning of section 112 (b) (3), but that the new shares were issued to it solely in consideration for the cash payment of $1,968,207.86 which petitioner furnished to pay off the guaranteed bonds.

While the reorganization plan expressly provided that the holders of the old stock, both common and preferred, would turn those shares in to the trustee for cancellation and would receive nothing in exchange for them, we do not think that this determines what- was actually done in the reorganization, or the tax consequences thereof.

In the first place, it is obvious that the petitioner was the principal party interested in the reorganization of the Nashville Gas & Heating Co., since it owned practically all of its capital stock, was the guarantor of most of its outstanding bonds, and was its principal creditor.

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United Gas Improv. Co. v. Commissioner
47 B.T.A. 715 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1942)

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Bluebook (online)
47 B.T.A. 715, 1942 BTA LEXIS 656, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-gas-improv-co-v-commissioner-bta-1942.