Uranga v. Commissioner

1983 T.C. Memo. 373, 46 T.C.M. 567, 1983 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJune 22, 1983
DocketDocket Nos. 6441-80, 9483-80.
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1983 T.C. Memo. 373 (Uranga 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
Uranga v. Commissioner, 1983 T.C. Memo. 373, 46 T.C.M. 567, 1983 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420 (tax 1983).

Opinion

JOEL AND ANN URANGA, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Uranga v. Commissioner
Docket Nos. 6441-80, 9483-80.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1983-373; 1983 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420; 46 T.C.M. (CCH) 567; T.C.M. (RIA) 83373;
June 22, 1983.
Towner Leeper and David Leeper, for the petitioners.
John F. Eiman,David W. Johnson, and Sheri A. Wilcox, for the respondent.

GOFFE

MEMORANDUM FINDING OF FACTS AND OPINION

GOFFE, Judge: In these consolidated cases, the Commissioner determined deficiencies in petitioners' Federal income taxes as follows:

YearDeficiency
1974$173,203.50
1975119,764.70
197652,303.00

The issues for decision are (1) whether advances to Joel Uranga and Chateau Le Grande*421 Apartments from Paso Del Norte Oil Company, Inc., during the taxable years 1974, 1975, and 1976 in the amounts of $237,397, $124,711, and $194,268, respectively, constitute taxable distributions; (2) whether payments of petitioners' personal expenses during the taxable years 1974 and 1975 in the amounts of $98,162.52 and $129,409.80, respectively, by Paso Del Norte Oil Company constitute taxable distributions; and (3) whether the Commissioner abandoned his original determination by issuing a subsequent statutory notice which adopted a position inconsistent with his position in prior statutory notices.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found. The stipulation of facts and exhibits attached thereto are incorporate herein by this reference.

The petitioners, Joel and Ann Uranga, husband and wife, resided in El Paso, Texas, during the taxable years in issue. All references to petitioner in the singular will refer to Joel Uranga since it is his business dealings with which we are concerned.

From 1967 to 1978, petitioner was principal shareholder, president, and operating manager of Paso Del Norte Oil Company, Inc. (Paso). Paso was a corporation*422 primarily engaged in wholesale butane-propane gathering. It transported liquefied petroleum (LP) gases into the El Paso area and then distributed them for use as fuel throughout Mexico and Latin America. Later, Paso expanded into retail and for this purpose formed a subsidiary, the Texas Energy Company. During the period of petitioner's ownership, average sales were between $15-17 million. For the taxable years in issue Paso did not declare or pay any formal dividends, nor did petitioners report any dividend income from Paso.

Paso reported taxable income on its Federal corporate income tax returns as follows:

FYE Sept. 30Amount
1974$176,760.22 
197532,724.00 
1976(397,517.00)
1977(634,464.00)
1978(839,899.00)

Paso sustained net operating losses of:

FYE Sept. 30Amount
1976$397,517
1977461,676
1978521,285

Paso had retained earnings, exclusive of dividends, of:

FYE Sept. 30Amount
1974$346,040
1975488,569
1976

Petitioner received a salary from paso of:

Petitioner's
Taxable yearAmount
1974$53,400
197583,000
197672,000

Petitioners owned the Chateau Le Grande*423 Apartments, located in Houston, Texas, from April 1973 to June 1976. These were rental apartments for which the petitioners reported the income and claimed the deductions on their individual income tax returns for the taxable years in issue.

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Related

Matter of Otis & Edwards, PC
55 B.R. 185 (E.D. Michigan, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
1983 T.C. Memo. 373, 46 T.C.M. 567, 1983 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/uranga-v-commissioner-tax-1983.