Supreme Court of the United States, 1940

Crane-Johnson Co. v. Helvering

Supreme Court of the United States · Decided November 12, 1940 · Black

311 U.S. 54; 61 S. Ct. 114; 85 L. Ed. 35; 1940 U.S. LEXIS 1198; 2 C.B. 180; 24 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 1054 (United States Reports)

Counsel

Mr. John E. Hughes for petitioner., Mr. Richard H. Demuth, with whom Solicitor General Biddle, Assistant Attorney General Clark, and Mr. Sewall Key and Miss Helen R. Carloss were on the brief, for respondent., By leave of Court, Mr. Thomas H. Remington filed a brief on behalf of Bastian Brothers Company, as amicus curiae, in support of petitioner.

Cases that cite this one

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

C. George Swallow v. United States (10th Cir. 1963)
Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Erie Forge Co. (3d Cir. 1948)
Chiquita Mining Co. v. Commissioner (9th Cir. 1945)
Great Lakes Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. Commissioner (7th Cir. 1945)
Great Lakes Coco-Cola Bottling Co. v. Commissioner (7th Cir. 1943)
Guanacevi Mining Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (9th Cir. 1942)
Paris & M. P. R. Co. v. Commissioner (United States Board of Tax Appeals 1942)
Mills v. Commissioner (5th Cir. 1942)
Warren Tel. Co. v. Commissioner (6th Cir. 1942)
Commonwealth Theatres Corp. v. Commissioner (8th Cir. 1942)
Cumberland Portland Cement Co. v. Commissioner (United States Board of Tax Appeals 1941)
Cumberland Portland Cement Co. v. Commissioner (United States Board of Tax Appeals 1941)
Boyd v. Comm'r (United States Tax Court 2001)
Adams v. Commissioner (United States Tax Court 1985)
United States v. Ogilvie Hardware Co. (Supreme Court of the United States 1947)
Sweets Co. of America, Inc. v. Commissioner (United States Tax Court 1947)
Guanacevi Mining Co. v. Commissioner (United States Board of Tax Appeals 1941)
Inland Investors, Inc. v. Commissioner (United States Board of Tax Appeals 1941)
Midland Cooperative Wholesale v. Commissioner (United States Board of Tax Appeals 1941)
Western Adjustment & Inspection Co. v. Commissioner (United States Board of Tax Appeals 1941)
Gary G. Boyd v. Commissioner (United States Tax Court 2001)
Wilson v. Commissioner (United States Tax Court 1976)
International Paper Co. v. United States (Court of Claims 1950)
United Cooperatives, Inc. v. Commissioner (United States Tax Court 1944)
Pittsburgh Steel Foundry Corp. v. Commissioner (United States Board of Tax Appeals 1942)

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

Mr. Justice Black

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Because of a previously existing deficit, petitioner corporation was prohibited by state law 1 from distributing as dividends its profits earned in 1936. Notwithstanding this state prohibition, the Commissioner held respondent liable under the 1936 Revenue Act 2 for surtax on undistributed profits. The Board of Tax Appeals sustained *55 the Commissioner, 3 and the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. 4 On a similar state of facts the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held undistributed profits exempt from surtax. 5 We granted certiorari in both cases to resolve this conflict. 6 The legal questions here presented are in all respects the same as those presented in Helvering v. Northwest Steel Rolling Mills, ante, p. 46, and on the authority of that case the decision below is

Affirmed.

“The directors of corporations must not make dividends except from the surplus profits arising from the business thereof ...” N. D. Comp. Laws (Supp. 1925) § 4543.

49 Stat. 1648, 1655.

38 B. T. A. 1355.

105 F. 2d 740.

Northwest Steel Rolling Mills v. Commissioner, 110 F. 2d 286.

309 U. S. 692; post, p. 629.

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