United Gas Improv. Co. v. Commissioner

25 T.C. 229, 1955 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 59
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedOctober 31, 1955
DocketDocket No. 39315
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 25 T.C. 229 (United Gas Improv. 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
United Gas Improv. Co. v. Commissioner, 25 T.C. 229, 1955 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 59 (tax 1955).

Opinion

opinion.

Mulroney, Judge:

The respondent determined deficiencies in income tax of petitioner for the taxable year 1947 in the sum of $711.20, and 1948 in the sum of $242,058.95. The petitioner seeks a determination that there is no deficiency but overpayments instead.

Petitioner, a Pennsylvania corporation, holding company, with its principal place of business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, filed its consolidated Federal income tax returns for the years 1947 and 1948 with the then collector of internal revenue for the first district of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia.

The facts were all stipulated and are found accordingly. The parties are agreed there are but two issues remaining in the case: (1) Whether a gain should be recognized where a debenture, together with accrued interest, is exchanged in a section 112 (g) reorganization for new securities, and (2) whether payments made under a guaranty contract arising out of a stock purchase plan are deductible as losses or ordinary and necessary business expenses, or nondeductible as a capital expenditure.

On December 19, 1906, petitioner, a holding company, became the owner of certain 4 per cent debentures of the Consolidated Railway Company at a total cost of $873,240. The debentures were not in default as to interest. On September 18,1947, pursuant to the terms of a plan of reorganization of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, under section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act, petitioner surrendered the said debentures. The interest then in default on such debentures amounted to $149,370. Petitioner received in return for the old securities new securities having a fair market value of $528,531.60 and cash in the sum of $45,960. On June 1, 1948, respondent issued a ruling with respect to the taxable status of said reorganization and, pursuant thereto, petitioner reported the sum of $66,091.97 for 1947 as taxable interest income and now claims this sum as part of its refund claim.

Very little need be said in answer to this first issue. The petitioner is entitled to the decision on this point. We held in William W. Carman, 13 T. C. 1029, affd. 189 F. 2d 363, that a claim for interest is an integral part of a bond or other evidence of indebtedness and that both the principal debt and the interest may be deemed a “security” within the meaning of section 112 (b) (3) of the 1939 Code; no gain would be realized where a debenture, together with accrued interest, was exchanged in a section 112 (g) reorganization for new securities. Respondent admits the rule of the Carman case supports the petitioner but states he does not agree with the decision or the cases that follow it. The Carman case was followed in McDonald v. Commissioner, 217 F. 2d 475, Morris Shanis, 19 T. C. 641, affirmed on other issues 213 F. 2d 151, and in Estate of William Bernstein, 22 T. C. 1364. Respondent cites no authority, and in fact makes no argument, except to say the Carman case and the cases that follow it have been “incorrectly decided as a matter of law.” We adhere to the opinion in the Carman case for the reasons set forth therein in both the opinion of this Court and the opinion of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The first issue is decided in favor of petitioner.

The facts with respect to the second question raised by petitioner relate to a guaranty agreement and the payments made pursuant thereto. In 1926 a holding company known as the Connecticut Gas & Coke Securities Company, herein called Securities Company, was organized. It was organized at the instance of the Koppers Company, herein called Koppers, as a holding company for various operating utility companies. The proposed capitalization of Securities Company was 200,000 shares of no-par nonvoting, cumulative preferred stock, and 300,000 shares, no-par voting common stock. The preferred stock was entitled to a cumulative preferred dividend of $3 per share. On or about September 1, 1926, Koppers made a written offer for 200,000 shares of the common stock of Securities Company agreeing to transfer in exchange stock of certain operating utilities and further agreeing “to guarantee the dividends on the preferred stock of the holding company (Securities Company) for a period of 25 years.” The offer was accepted as of October 1, 1926, and the exchange of stock was made and the terms of the guaranty were endorsed on the certificates of the preferred stock issued by Securities Company.

We need not follow the corporate maneuverings or the name changes in Koppers Company that occurrred in the next few months. It is enough to say that on July 11,1927, the petitioner holding company acquired Koppers’ common stock in Securities (204,481 shares) under the terms of a written agreement between Koppers and petitioner wherein petitioner gave in exchange certain shares of stock and wherein petitioner agreed to “indemnify and save Koppers harmless on account of its above recited guarantee of dividends on the preferred stock of Securities.” At first one of petitioner’s subsidiaries was substituted for Koppers on the guaranty. Later, on January 11,1985, by a supplemental written agreement between petitioner and Koppers Company, petitioner was substituted in place of its subsidiary on the guaranty. The next year, 1936, liability began to develop on the guaranty obligation. It was stipulated that, from March 9,1936, through September 30,1947, petitioner transferred to Securities Company amounts totaling $1,376,233.66 ($69,648.95 of the aforesaid amount being paid in 1947), all of which were used by Securities Company to pay dividends on its preferred stock.

On May 6, 1947, petitioner, a registered holding company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, 15 U. S. C. A. section 79, herein called the Act, and its subsidiary holding company, Securities Company, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, hereinafter called the Commission, a certain plan of divorcement pursuant to section 11 (e) of the Act. On December 9, 1947, the Commission approved the plan and on January 19, 1948, the plan was approved by the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, and the parties ordered to carry out its terms. The plan called for petitioner to deliver cash and securities to Securities Company in extinguishment of its future liability under the guaranty contract which ran until 1951. The cash and securities petitioner was to deliver had a market value on January 19, 1948, of $605,147.38. They were delivered by petitioner in 1948 and taken as a deduction by petitioner in its 1948 consolidated income tax return. Kespondent in his notice of deficiency disallowed the claimed deduction.

Petitioner makes certain general and specific claims based upon the above fact situation. Its general claim is, it was entitled to a deduction, either as a loss or expense, of the amounts it had to pay Securities Company, pursuant to its guaranty of the preferred stock dividends. Respondent’s position is that the guaranty was given as part of the consideration for Securities Company common stock; that the payments made under the guaranty were part of the cost to petitioner of Securities Company common stock and are, therefore, not allowable as deductions for bad debts or expenses.

The case is ruled by Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Co., 31 B. T. A. 730, 745-747, affd. 81 F. 2d 309, certiorari denied 298 U. S. 656. There the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company received the entire issue of A. B. & C.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Flint & Fulton, Inc. v. Commissioner
1956 T.C. Memo. 252 (U.S. Tax Court, 1956)
Bessemer Limestone & Cement Co. v. Commissioner
1956 T.C. Memo. 250 (U.S. Tax Court, 1956)
United Gas Improv. Co. v. Commissioner
25 T.C. 229 (U.S. Tax Court, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 T.C. 229, 1955 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-gas-improv-co-v-commissioner-tax-1955.