Winnsboro Granite Corp. v. Commissioner

32 T.C. 974, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 118
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJuly 29, 1959
DocketDocket Nos. 67661, 67662, 69640
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 32 T.C. 974 (Winnsboro Granite Corp. 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
Winnsboro Granite Corp. v. Commissioner, 32 T.C. 974, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 118 (tax 1959).

Opinion

Fisher, Judge:

In these consolidated proceedings, respondent determined deficiencies in income tax for the above petitioners for the taxable years and in the amounts as follows:

Docket No. Petitioner 1951 1952 1953

67661 Winnsboro Granite Corporation_ $4,350.90 $3,500.98

67662 Winnsboro Granite Corporation and Affiliate, Eion Crush Stone Corporation. $1,010.73

69640 Eion Crush Stone Corporation_ 3,116.48

The issues presented for decision are (1) whether transportation costs incurred in shipping granite and crushed stone to the railhead or jobsite are properly includible in the “gross income from the property” as defined in section 114(b) (4) (B) of the Code of 1939 2; (2) whether the basis of a rock quarry is to be properly reduced by the amount of the percentage depletion deductions allowable in prior years.

FINDINGS OF FACT.

Some of the facts have been stipulated, and, to the extent so stipulated, are incorporated herein by this reference.

Winnsboro Granite Corporation (hereinafter called Winnsboro) was incorporated under the laws of South Carolina on February 17, 1925, for the purpose of operating a granite quarry.

Eion Crush Stone Corporation (hereinafter called Eion) was incorporated under the laws of South Carolina on March 28,1939, with authorized capital stock of $100,000, consisting of 1,000 shares of $100 par value stock. Since 1942, the total capital stock in this amount has been owned by the Winnsboro Granite Corporation.

Federal corporation income tax returns, Form 1120, were filed by Winnsboro for the calendar years 1951 and 1952 and by Eion for the calendar year 1952, with the district director of internal revenue at Columbia, South Carolina.

Winnsboro and Eion filed a consolidated tax return for the calendar year 1953 with the district director of internal revenue for the district of South Carolina. Winnsboro and Eion each maintained its records and prepared its income tax returns on an accrual method of accounting.

Winnsboro is a wholesaler of monumental stone. Eough granite blocks are extracted from its quarry, known as Anderson Quarry, and are shipped to customers by rail. The stone is loaded on cars at Anderson Quarry and secured on the cars by Winnsboro. Winnsboro pays the Eockton & Eion Eailway, a small intrastate carrier, to carry the stone to the interstate outlet point, Bockton, on the Southern Nail-way in Fairfield County, South Carolina, and all interstate shipments are made f.o.b. Bockton. The Bockton & Bion Bailway operates between Bockton and Bion, a distance of 4 miles. A spur track extends from Bion to Anderson Quarry, a distance of 11 miles.

As only rough blocks are produced by Winnsboro, no processing of the stone by Winnsboro takes place after it is loaded for shipment at Anderson Quarry. Any processing necessary to convert the rough stone into monuments is applied by the purchaser or consignee of the stone after it has been received from Winnsboro.

Anderson Quarry is located approximately 15 miles west-southwest of Bockton, South Carolina, which is located on the Southern Bail-way, a recognized interstate carrier. The quarry lies in a valley and has two paved roads leading to it. Approximately 10 to 15 per cent of the stone sold by Winnsboro is transported from the quarry by trucks.

When sales of stone are made at the quarry, the stone is loaded on the trucks by employees of Winnsboro. The stone so transported by truck is considered to be small pieces, ranging from 1 to 3 tons in weight.

In interstate shipments by Winnsboro, the granite blocks are hauled from Anderson Quarry to Bockton via Bockton & Bion Bailway, for delivery to the Southern Bailway. The empty flatcars are placed on the siding of the Bockton & Bion Bailway by locomotives of the Southern Bailway. The Bockton & Bion Bailway is paid by Winns-boro, on interstate shipments, on the load each car carries from Anderson Quarry to Bockton. The flatcars used by Bockton & Bion Bail-way in transporting granite from Anderson Quarry are the property of the Southern Eailway.

Winnsboro bills its customers on interstate shipments f.o.b. Bockton which is on the Southern Bailway and is designated as the point of origin on the bill of lading. Winnsboro includes the freight in the sales price of the stone. Winnsboro is billed separately by the Bock-ton & Bion Bailway for freight charges on stone transported from Anderson Quarry to the f.o.b. point of shipment.

In each of the years 1951, 1952, and 1953, Winnsboro computed its depletion allowance under the percentage method authorized by section 114(b) (4) of the Code of 1939, by applying a rate of 5 per cent to the gross sales of stone reported on its return. In determining the gross sales of stone, WinnBboro included the freight charges paid to the Bockton & Bion Bailway for transporting granite from Anderson Quarry to the f.o.b. point of shipment.

Sales of stone reported, deduction for depletion, and the amount of freight paid to Bockton & Bion Bailway for transporting granite from Anderson Quarry to the f.o.b. point of shipment by Winnsboro for the years 1951,1952, and 1953 are as follows:

Year Sales of stone reported Depletion deducted, J* Freight (included in sales of stone)

1951. $290,279.15 $14,513.96 $12,952.61

1952. 311,547.19 16,577.40 12,561.56

1953. 285,210.81 14,260.54 12,595.60

Bion, a wholly owned subsidiary of Winnsboro, owns and operates a stone quarry at Bion, South Carolina. Its business consists of removing rough stone from the quarry, crushing the stone into aggregates, and selling the product for use principally in highway construction and paving. Bids on crushed stone for use by paving and building contractors, the South Carolina Highway Department, and other political subdivisions, generally require that prices include transportation to the location of use or jobsite. Bion sold the greater portion of its products at prices which included cost of delivery to the customer’s jobsite. Generally, bids are submitted by Bion on an f.o.b. destination basis. In those cases where Bion sold crushed stone f.o.b. plant, the freight was billed separately to the customer.

For the year 1952, Bion computed its depletion allowance under the percentage method authorized by section 114(b) (4) of the Code of 1939 by applying a rate of 5 per cent to sales of crushed stone in the amount of $452,679.72, which represented gross sales of $458,568.88 less freight billed to customers in the amount of $5,889.16 on crushed stone which was sold f.o.b. Bion’s plant. The sales of crushed stone used in determining the depletion deduction included $60,608.98 for “Freight Out” which represented the cost of shipping crushed stone to customers on sales made f.o.b. jobsite.

On the consolidated Federal corporation income tax return filed by Winnsboro and Bion for the year 1953, a net taxable loss was reported on the activities of Bion in the amount of $58,628.71.

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Winnsboro Granite Corp. v. Commissioner
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Bluebook (online)
32 T.C. 974, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winnsboro-granite-corp-v-commissioner-tax-1959.