Dezendorf v. Commissioner
Dezendorf v. Commissioner
Opinion of the Court
The petitioners, Edwin M. Dezendorf and Florence L. Dezendorf, his wife, seek
In the taxpayer’s return for 1952 a deduction of $15,128 was claimed for the abandonment of five marble quarries. The Commissioner disallowed the deduction. The Tax Court sustained the Commissioner and found that the. evidence did not establish that the quarries were abandoned in 1952, and that there was an absence of evidence as to the cost or other basis of the quarries which the taxpayer claimed were abandoned in 1952. All but one of these quarries were on leased land. The taxpayer could not say when the leaseholds were acquired or state the considerations given for them. The amount spent on the leases was estimated for the purpose of determining the abandonment deduction. The taxpayer was uncertain as to when the several quarries were abandoned but his testimony was that it was around 1950 or 1951. In only one instance did he mention 1952. In his answer to a question as to when he permitted a quarry lease to lapse, he stated, “Around 1950, ’51 or ’52.” To establish an abandonment it is necessary that there be an intention to abandon and some act evidencing that intention, and the taxpayer must not only show the intention coupled with the act but must prove that the abandonment occurred in the tax year for which the deduction is claimed. Reg. 118, § 39.23(e)-3(a); Mertens, Law of Federal Income Taxation §§ 28.17-28.18; Forman v. United States, 9th Cir.1958, 261 F.2d 181; Tala-che Mines v. United States, 9th Cir.1954, 218 F.2d 491, cert. den. 350 U.S. 824, 76 S.Ct. 51, 100 L.Ed. 736. There is no sufficient showing either of an abandonment or of the appropriate year of claiming the deduction.
In the 1952 return the taxpayer claimed a deduction for depreciation in the amount of $16,053.70. The depreciation was computed on a straight-line method by which the cost of the assets was divided by the estimated years of useful life and the quotient was used as the amount of annual depreciation. The Commissioner found that in determining depreciation salvage value should be taken into consideration. The depreciation was refigured and the deduction was disallowed to the extent of $2,259.45. The Tax Court sustained the action of the Commissioner. The taxpayer contended that salvage had been a factor in determining the figure against which the depreciation rate was applied. Its showing was vague and inadequate and the Tax Court properly held against it on the fact question. In the computation of the depreciation allowance, recovery is permitted only of the cost of the asset less its salvage or resale value. United States v. Massey Motors, Inc., 364 U.S. 92, 80 S.Ct. 1411, 4 L.Ed.2d 1592; Hertz Corporation v. United States, 364 U.S. 122, 80 S.Ct. 1420, 4 L.Ed.2d 1603. There is no error in the Tax Court’s depreciation adjustment.
Bilbrough became dissatisfied with his salary and expressed this dissatisfaction in November of 1952. The taxpayer submitted two documents to Bilbrough;
The taxpayer signed some sort of an agreement on January 1, 1953, but it was not signed by Bilbrough and was not satisfactory to Bilbrough. It was not regarded by the taxpayer as a final agreement. Bilbrough, his wife, and their lawyer, as late as the latter part of 1953, were objecting to the taxpayer’s terms. By the taxpayer’s testimony, because of “the squabble going on and changing this and that it was January 4th [1954] before it was finally rewritten and signed to suit them but the business was in his hands all of ’53.” On January 15, 1954, there was a closing of the sale of the marble business from the taxpayer to Bilbrough for a stated consideration of $320,000, deeds and a bill of sale were executed and delivered by the taxpayer conveying to Bilbrough the real estate and personal property used in the business, and the Bilbroughs gave back a mortgage which recited that “This agreement shall be effective as of January 1, 1953, and all transactions herein referred to shall, for all legal purposes, be treated as though they occurred January 1, 1953.” The mortgage was given to secure $300,000 principal payable on January 1, 1973, with interest at six per cent payable monthly.
In January of 1954 entries were made in the books of the business allocating $19,200 of the taxpayer’s 1953 withdrawals to interest on a $320,000 sale price, and the remainder of $15,800 was allocated to a principal down payment of the sale price. Also in January of 1954, Bilbrough borrowed money from a bank and paid the taxpayer the balance of the $20,000 down payment, the taxpayer surrendered the trade name of Dezendorf Marble Company and a certificate for the assumed name was filed by Bil-brough. On February 1, 1954, the authority of the taxpayer and his wife to sign checks on the business bank account was terminated. In the tax return for 1953, the taxpayer did not report the sale of Dezendorf Marble Company. He did report interest income from that Company in the amount of $19,200. The Commissioner, in determining a tax deficiency of the taxpayer for 1953, decided that the sale of the business was not made in 1953, as contended by the taxpayer, and that taxable income from the earnings of the business in the amount of $33,949 had been realized during 1953. The taxable income was increased in the Commissioner’s determination of a deficiency. This conclusion resulted in the elimination from taxable income of the reported $19,200 as interest. The taxpayer urges that there is no basis for not believing the testimony of Dezendorf and Bilbrough that the sale was made in 1953. They urge that a parole contract is not void but merely unenforceable.
The principle for which the taxpayer contends, that a parole sale of real estate is valid as between the parties under the law of Texas, is not applicable to the facts here established, however sound it may be as an abstract rule
Our conclusions are in accord with those of the Tax Court. Its decision is
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Edwin M. DEZENDORF and Florence L. Dezendorf v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. Edwin M. DEZENDORF and Florence L. Dezendorf
- Cited By
- 14 cases
- Status
- Published