Fernández v. Secretary of the Treasury
Fernández v. Secretary of the Treasury
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The question in issue here is the nature, for the purpose of imposing income tax, of withdrawals of funds made periodically by the president and chief stockholder of a corporation, and charged to his personal account. The taxpayer maintains that such withdrawals should be considered as loans made by him from the corporation;
Edmundo B. Fernández, Inc., is a close family corporation, the capital stock of which is held by appellant, Ed-mundo B. Fernández, who controls about 60 percent of the outstanding shares, and by his seven sons, who hold equal shares in the remainder. The corporate business consists of
On January 1, 1957, the "personal account of Mr. Fer-nández revealed a debit, balance of $40,362.08. During the four subsequent years he continued making periodical withdrawals to meet his personal obligations, and at the end of the fiscal year .the aforementioned -.annual salary was credited to him. The following table, shows a summary of his personal:account:. .. . ...
Year Debits Credits Annual Balance General Balance
1956 " ’ ($40,362.08).
1957 $19,160.00 $18,000 ($1,160.00) ($41,522.08).
1958 $ 9,850.82 $18,000 $8,149.18- . ($33,372.90). '-
1959 $11,972.30 $18,000 ' $6,027.70 . . ($27,165.30)
1960 $54,596.16 $18,000 ■ ($36,596.16) , ,($63,761.46)..
Upon making the withdrawals, appellant did not sign any document in behalf of the corporation;■ the cheeks .generally issued in his name did not reveal the specific item of the withdrawal; he did not pay interest nor was it charged to him; the credits were, limited to accrediting in the books the amount of his annual salaries; the creditor corporation did not take any steps to recover the money during the years in which this situation prevailed. It.is proper to note that no evidence was introduced, .either by copies of the minutes of the corporation -or in. any other way, to justify such an unusual conduct. ' - • ■.
Applying this set of rules to the facts in the present case, we are constrained to hold that it is not a question of loans to a stockholder, but rather of disguised dividends. As we set forth, the appellant paid no interest, nor made partial payments except the accreditation of his salaries, nor
2. A withdrawal of $25,000 made on June 21, 1960, used to acquire a parcel of 2.50 cuerdas by purchase from De-metrio Latoni, requires separate consideration. On the previous November 20, at the annual meeting of the stockholders, appellant Fernández had been authorized to make the deal in his name in order to transfer it later to the corporation. The minutes read: “Before the meeting was adjourned, stockholder Edmundo B. Fernández reports that he has agreed to purchase the properties belonging to Demetrio Latoni, adjacent to those of this corporation, and.that because of special considerations of the transaction the corporation cannot directly make the purchase, for which reason he requests the Board’s authorization to purchase them in his name, and then, after some time, to transfer them to the corporation and for that purpose he requests the corporation to authorize him to withdraw funds for such purposes. Considering the reasons set forth . . . and said property being necessary for the extension of the corporation’s business ... it was approved ... to authorize the withdrawals of fund
By . deed No. 16 of January 21, 1960, executed before Notary José R. Fournier, after the proper segregation, the sale was carried out and recorded on May 19, 1961. The price of $26,000 was paid by a check for $25,000 issued in favor of Demetrio Latoni, against the checking account of the corporation in the First National City Bank of New York, stating that it was for the “Purchase of old house ‘Santa Ana’ and parcel of 2 1/2 cuerdas (charged to. Edm. B. Fernández’ personal account)” and the remaining $1,000 was kept by the purchaser as the price of a parcel of one-half cuerda sold by Fernández to Latoni. On January 3 of the following year the taxpayer segregated a property of 5.05 cuerdas which included the 2.50 cuerdas acquired from Latoni, and transferred it to the corporation for the price of $37,000 which was declared as received prior to the execution, but which according to the testimony given at the trial was accredited to appellant’s personal account.
The trial court upon analyzing the transaction believed that the long period of time elapsed between the approval by the Planning Board on January 27, 1960, of the segregation of the 2.50 cuerdas and the conveyance to the corporation, controverted the explanation offered by the taxpayer— “difficulties with the Planning Board” — to acquire in his name the aforementioned parcel.
The judgment rendered by the Superior Court, San Juan Part, on November 14, 1963 will be modified in order to exclude the amount of $25,000 charged against appellant as disguised dividend in the year 1960, and as thus modified, it will be affirmed.
Section 403 of the General Corporation Law in force, 14 L.P.R.A. § 1403, proscribes the granting of loans to officers and directors of corporations, except in the case of those having a limited number of stockholders.
On November 20, 1959, the surplus amounted to $126,198.29. On that date a stock dividend was authorized up to the sum of $100,000.
The trial court said:
“Plaintiff alleged that the transaction was not directly made with the corporation because there were difficulties with the Planning Board. No evidence other than his own testimony was offered by plaintiff to support his statement. It appears from plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 2 that the Planning Board approved the segregation of two and a half cuerdas of Latoni’s farm’ on January 27, 1960. That was a little more than two months after the purchase of the land was approved by the stockholders of the corporation. The deed of segregation, sale, and consolidation of the parcels of one-half cuerda and two and a half cuerdas was executed on January 21, 1960, six days before the Planning Board approved the
The corporation’s property was separated from the parcel of 2.50 cuerdas by a private road called Santa Ana. From the transcript we have not been able to determine with certainty to whom said road belongs, whether to Fernández or to Central Juanita, Inc., or whether it constitutes the right of way in favor of Central Juanita, Inc., to which the title documents refer.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.