Supreme Court of the United States, 1931

Burnet v. Porter

Supreme Court of the United States · Decided April 13, 1931 · Sutherland

283 U.S. 230; 51 S. Ct. 416; 75 L. Ed. 996; 1931 U.S. LEXIS 142; 9 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 1433; 2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 711 (United States Reports)

Counsel

Assistant Attorney General Youngquist, with whom Solicitor General Thacker and Messrs. Sewall Key and A. H. Conner, Special Assistants to the Attorney General, Erwin N. Griswold, and Clarence M. Charest, General Counsel, and Allin H. Pierce, Special Attorney, Bureau of Internal Revenue, were on the brief, for petitioner., Mr. Walter Lee Sheppard, with whom Mr. William C. Alexander, Jr., was on the brief, for respondents.

Cases that cite this one

56 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

Page v. Lafayette Worsted Co. (1st Cir. 1933)
Hartford Electric Light Co. v. Sullivan (Conn. 1971)
Commissioner v. Newport Industries, Inc. (7th Cir. 1941)
Fruehauf Trailer Co. v. Commissioner (United States Tax Court 1964)
Estate of Sower v. Comm'r (United States Tax Court 2017)
Federal National Mortgage Association v. United States (Fed. Cir. 2006)
Robert L. Gray, Mary A. Gray v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (10th Cir. 1997)
Frank C. Howard and Nancy Howard v. United States (7th Cir. 1974)
Gurtman v. United States (District Court, D. New Jersey 1965)
Marvin Sherwin v. United States (9th Cir. 1963)
First National Bank of Montgomery v. United States (United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama 1959)
Charles Sumner Bird v. United States (1st Cir. 1957)
United States v. Ellis (District Court, S.D. New York 1957)
Associated Mutuals, Inc. v. Delaney (5th Cir. 1949)
Berry v. Westover (United States District Court for the Southern District of California 1947)
Gaylord v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (9th Cir. 1946)
United States v. La Societe Francaise De Bienfaisance Mutuelle (9th Cir. 1945)
Chiquita Mining Co. v. Commissioner (9th Cir. 1945)
Knapp-Monarch Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (8th Cir. 1944)
National Rifle Ass'n of America v. Young (D.C. Cir. 1943)
Triplex Safety Glass Co. v. Latchum (United States District Court for the District of Delaware 1942)
New Jersey Worsted Mills v. Gnichtel (District Court, D. New Jersey 1940)
Sharpe v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (3d Cir. 1939)
United States v. Heilbroner (District Court, S.D. New York 1938)
Libby, McNeill & Libby v. United States (Court of Claims 1935)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion

Me. Justice Sutherland

delivered the opinion of the Court.

William W. Porter was a subscriber in the sum of $75,000 to the fund described in our opinion handed down this day in Burnet v. Houston, ante, p. 223. The facts in the present case are the same except that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue first approved the deduction and allowed a claim for refund of the proportional part of the tax, and then some time later reopened the case, disallowed the deduction and redetermined the tax. The court, of appeals sustained the power of the commissioner upon the authority of McIlhenny v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 39 F. (2d) 356; and was clearly right in doing so. That court, however, upon the main point, following its decision in the Houston case, reversed the determination of the Board of Tax Appeals in favor of the government. 39 F. (2d) 360. This is contrary to our decision in the Houston case, and upon that authority the judgment is

Reversed.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.