Wusich v. Commissioner

35 T.C. 279, 1960 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 24
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedNovember 16, 1960
DocketDocket No. 72843
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 35 T.C. 279 (Wusich 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
Wusich v. Commissioner, 35 T.C. 279, 1960 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 24 (tax 1960).

Opinion

OPINION.

Turner, Judge:

The first question is whether the petitioner is entitled to deduct as ordinary and necessary business expenses3 amounts paid by him to a bonding company in 1953 and 1954 in satisfaction of his liability to the bonding company.

At the trial and on brief, the petitioner has made the contention that the amounts paid to the bonding company are deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses. It is the respondent’s position that the payments resulted from the petitioner’s criminal activity which was outside the scope of his business or employment, and that the allowance of the deductions would frustrate the public policy embodied in sections 656 and 1005 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

To be deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense, the expense must be both ordinary and necessary. One without the other is not enough. Lloyd v. Commissioner, 55 F. 2d 842, 844. As the Supreme Court stated in Deputy v. du Pont, 308 U.S. 488, 497, “Congress has not decreed that all necessary expenses may be deducted. Though plainly necessary they cannot be allowed unless they are also ordinary.” There is to our knowledge no “verbal formula that will supply a ready touchstone” for determining whether an expense is ordinary and necessary. Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111, 115. And since the decided cases appear to turn on their own particular facts, a review of the great number of such cases would be burdensome rather than helpful.

The words “ordinary and necessary” must be interpreted in their usual and everyday connotation, because “when it comes to construction of the statutory provision under which the deduction is sought, the general rule that ‘popular or received import of words furnishes the general rule for the interpretation of public laws’ * * * is applicable.” Deputy v. du Pont, supra at 493.

The answer to the question whether petitioner’s payments to the bonding company were ordinary must be found in the facts leading np to the payments and supplying the basis therefor. “One of the extremely relevant circumstances [in determining whether an expense is ordinary] is the nature and scope of the particular business out of which the expense in question accrued. The fact that an obligation to pay has arisen is not sufficient. It is the kind of transaction out of which the obligation arose and its normalcy in the particular business which are crucial and controlling.” Deputy v. du Pont, supra,.

The petitioner’s liability had its origin in his dealings with Walk-ington wherein the petitioner made out deposit slips indicating deposits which had not in fact been made, honored checks on an account lacking funds to pay them, and falsified bank records to conceal the shortage. As a result of these acts, the petitioner was indicted, and pleaded guilty to three counts alleging violation of sections 656 and 1005 of Title 18 of the United States Code. Two of the counts charged that the petitioner “with the intent then and there to injure and defraud said national bank, did unlawfully and wilfully misapply the moneys of said bank.” It is well settled that the words “willfully misapplies” used in section 656 do not mean a mere act of maladministration such as neglect of official duty or indifference to the interests of the bank, an act which might subject the wrongdoer to personal liability for damages suffered by the bank or its shareholders. United States v. Britton, 108 U.S. 199, 206. Instead, there must be a willful misapplication with intent to injure and defraud the bank. Evans v. United States, 153 U.S. 584; United States v. Meyer, 266 F. 2d 747; Seals v. United States, 221 F. 2d 243; United States v. Matsinger, 191 F. 2d 1014; Johnson v. United States, 95 F. 2d 813; and Dow v. United States, 82 F. 904. There being no evidence to the contrary, and petitioner having pleaded guilty to counts in the indictment charging him with an intent to injure and defraud the bank, we have found as a fact that such was the case.

It does not seem to us ordinary for a bank manager to defraud his employer by crediting a depositor’s account with fictitious deposits and by honoring overdrafts. These practices evidently were not approved of by the petitioner’s employer and were not within the scope of his authority, otherwise there could not have been the conviction for violating section 656. See United States v. Klock, 210 F. 2d 217. Since the respondent’s determination is entitled to a presumption of correctness, the petitioner has the burden of proving that his actions were ordinary in the light of banking practice generally. This he has failed to do. Consequently, we hold that his payments to the bonding company are not deductible under section 162(a) of the 1954 Code or its predecessor in the 1939 Code, section 23(a) (1), regardless of whether or not they may have been “necessary” within the meaning of those sections.

The petitioner relies heavily upon Commissioner v. Eeininger, 320 U.S. 467, to demonstrate that the payments are deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses. In that case, a dentist who operated a mail-order ’business was allowed to deduct his legal expense in unsuccessfully resisting the issuance of a civil fraud order by the Postmaster General barring him from using the mails. Unlike the petitioner here, the taxpayer in the Eeininger case was seeking to defend his business against a court order which would have in effect destroyed it. The importance of this factor was recognized by the Supreme Court in the following discussion:

The government does not deny that the litigation expenses would have been ordinary and necessary had the proceeding failed to convince the Postmaster General that respondent’s representations were fraudulent. Its argument is that dentists in the mail order business do not ordinarily and necessarily attempt to sell false teeth by fraudulent representations as to their quality; that respondent was found by the Postmaster General to have attempted to sell his products in this manner; and that therefore the litigation expenses, which he would not have incurred but for this attempt, cannot themselves be deemed ordinary and necessary. We think that this reasoning, though plausible, is unsound in that it fails to take into account the circumstances under which respondent incurred the litigation expenses. * * * Upon being served with notice of the proposed fraud order respondent was confronted with a new business problem which involved far more than the right to continue using his old advertisements. He was placed in a position in which not only his selling methods but also the continued existence of his lawful business were threatened with complete destruction. So far as appears from the record, respondent did not believe, nor under our system of jurisprudence was he hound to believe, that a fraud order destroying his business was justified by the facts or the law. Therefore he did not voluntarily abandon the business but defended it by all available legal means. * * * [Emphasis supplied.]

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1978 T.C. Memo. 233 (U.S. Tax Court, 1978)
Bixby v. Commissioner
58 T.C. 757 (U.S. Tax Court, 1972)
O'Brien v. Commissioner
36 T.C. 957 (U.S. Tax Court, 1961)
Wusich v. Commissioner
35 T.C. 279 (U.S. Tax Court, 1960)

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Bluebook (online)
35 T.C. 279, 1960 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wusich-v-commissioner-tax-1960.