Fifteen Hundred Walnut Street Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 237 F.2d 933, 3rd Cir. (1956)
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Scribd Government DocsFifteen Hundred Walnut Street Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 237 F.2d 933, 3rd Cir. (1956)
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Scribd Government Docs237 F.
2d 933
FIFTEEN HUNDRED WALNUT STREET CORPORATION,
Petitioner,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.
No. 11882.
United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.
Argued September 25, 1956.
Decided October 31, 1956.
Rehearing Denied December 4, 1956.
Thomas Raeburn White, Bernard V. Lentz, Philadelphia, Pa. (Mervin M.
Wilf, Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), White, Williams & Scott,
Philadelphia, Pa., for petitioner.
Charles B. E. Freeman, Washington, D. C. (Charles K. Rice, Asst. Atty.
Gen., Lee A. Jackson, Robert N. Anderson, Attys., Dept. of Justice,
Washington, D. C., on the brief), for respondent.
Before BIGGS, Chief Judge, and GOODRICH and HASTIE, Circuit
Judges.
GOODRICH, Circuit Judge.
The sole question involved in this tax case is when the taxpayer realized
income. The taxpayer is the successor to the previous owner of premises known
as Fifteen Hundred Walnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These
premises had for several years been occupied in part by the First National Bank
of Philadelphia which had a lease expiring in 1948. There was an option to
renew this lease for an additional two years. In the meantime the bank found
that it needed additional quarters and made an arrangement with Drexel &
Company which occupied a building on the other side of Walnut Street to buy
its building. Drexel was thereupon to move into the quarters in 1500 Walnut
Street then occupied by the bank. This sublease, however, had to be approved
by the landlord corporation.
In 1942 and 1943 agreements were entered into between the landlord (taxpayer
here) and the bank. These agreements will be discussed later. Drexel &
Company took up its quarters in the building and occupied them during the
years 1948, 1949 and 1950 which was the period covered by the extension of
the original lease.
The controversy between the Commissioner and the taxpayer turns on the
question whether the transactions culminating in 1943 constituted income to the
taxpayer at that date or whether income was realized during the years 1948,
1949 and 1950. There is no dispute that income was realized; the controversy
turns upon the time.
Taxpayer bottoms its case upon the holding of the Ninth Circuit in
Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Lyon, 9 Cir., 1938, 97 F.2d 70. The
proposition stated in that case is that "where under the terms of a lease a sum is
paid on the execution thereof entirely without restriction as to its disposition it
is taxable in the year of its receipt." At page 73. This proposition is not disputed
by the Commissioner. His argument is that in this instance there was no cash
payment made to the taxpayer in 1943 and that what the parties did was not
equivalent to a cash payment so as to make the Lyon decision applicable.
Counsel for the respective parties agreed at the argument that, if the situation in
this case is like Lyon, the taxpayer received income in 1943 and not in 1948,
1949 and 1950. In several of the cases involving the effect of an advance cash
payment of rent the court has examined the circumstances surrounding the
transaction and the agreement executed by the parties to determine what the
legal consequence of the payment of money was. It is not alone the declaration
of intent of the parties, if any, but the sum total of the facts which determine
whether the situation is one comparable to that presented in Lyon. See, for
instance, Hyde Park Realty, Inc., v. Commissioner, 2 Cir., 1954, 211 F.2d 462;
Hirsch Improvement Co. v. Commissioner, 2 Cir., 1944, 143 F.2d 912; Astor
Holding Co. v. Commissioner, 5 Cir., 1943, 135 F.2d 47; Clinton Hotel Realty
Corp. v. Commissioner, 5 Cir., 1942, 128 F.2d 968.
Following that technique we look at the facts and circumstances here. It is to be
noted that the taxpayer itself did not treat the payments herein involved as
income in 1943, the year of the transaction. This is not conclusive, but has some
significance.
In 1943 the taxpayer was considerably indebted to the bank. The bank held a
note 1 as well as unpaid debenture interest coupons of both this Corporation and
its predecessor arising out of debts owed to the bank by the taxpayer's
predecessor. The bank wanted to occupy other quarters; the taxpayer had to
give permission for any sublease. Just what the arrangements were between the
bank and Drexel we do not know and the matter does not concern us. We do
know what happened on August 21, 1943, pursuant to an agreement of
September 4, 1942, and another agreement on May 28, 1943. The taxpayer
executed a note to the bank which reads as follows:
8
"$122,500.00 Philadelphia, Pa., August 21st, 1943.
"On Demand, Fifteen Hundred Walnut Street Corporation promises to pay to
The First National Bank of Philadelphia One Hundred and Twenty-Two
Thousand, Five Hundred Dollars ($122,500.00) without interest.
10
"* * * it being intended that the within note shall evidence all of the
outstanding indebtedness [arising from named debentures of taxpayer and its
predecessor and from a recited promissory note of taxpayer referred to in
footnote 1.] * * *
11
"* * * the entire principal amount of the within note shall be used and applied
solely to the payment of rent during such extended term of two years from June
15, 1948, in the same manner as coupons are to be applied for such purpose as
provided in said lease as supplemented, and when and as the principal amount
of this note is applied to the payment of such rent during such extended term,
such payment shall be noted hereon, and at the expiration of said extended term
this not[e] shall be cancelled and returned to Maker."
12
Taxpayer urges that all of the obligations consolidated in the above note were
currently due and collectible on August 21, 1943, the date of the note.
However, a 1936 supplement to the lease, which is referred to in the last quoted
paragraph of the note, provided that some $85,000. then due to the bank on
unpaid debenture interest coupons of taxpayer's predecessor, plus all interest
which should accrue on those debentures after the 1936 agreement date should
be applied only as rental payments on any extension to be made on the original
lease. This substantial obligation, not due and collectible in 1943, was also
consolidated in the above note. 2
13
We do not think this document which is called a note is equivalent to an
unincumbered deposit of cash by the payee. We think it amounts to a
substitution of the obligation here for the obligations which the parties had
between them prior to its execution rather than a cancellation as contended by
taxpayer.3 The note itself as well as taxpayer's supporting journal entries recited
that the note was "intended to evidence all outstanding indebtedness * * *"
(emphasis added) between the parties. The phrase used was, we think, an
accurate description of what the parties were doing. Even if we grant that an
unconditional cancellation of indebtedness is as good as an advance payment of
money which the landlord is to use "without restriction" as said in Lyon, we do
not see such unconditional cancellation in the facts here.
14
We think that what the transaction amounted to is this: the taxpayer promises to
give space to the bank's assignee and the bank promises to credit a portion of
the amount of the note month by month until the two years are up.4 The
promises are conditional; each is under obligation to perform for the period.
The crediting called for on the part of the bank constitutes income to the
landlord over the period of two years. The beginning and end of the transaction
make the tax liability fall into the years 1948, 1949 and 1950. This was the
view of the Tax Court and we think it was right.
15
The decision of the Tax Court will be affirmed.
Notes:
1
This note was given to the bank in 1943 in return for the bank's satisfaction of a
1943 judgment of like amount against taxpayer. Pursuant to an agreement of
Sept. 4, 1942, the note provided:
"May 28, 1943.
"On demand [taxpayer] * * * promises to pay [bank] * * * Fifty-three
Thousand, Eight Hundred Sixty-eight Dollars * * * without interest. * * * [This
note] shall be used and applied * * * to the payment of rent during the extended
term of Lease [from 1948 to 1950]. * * * [Bank] further agrees to cancel and
return to [taxpayer] any balance of such promissory note which shall not be
required for the payment of rent during such extended term."
2
The note referred to in footnote 1 supra was also not due and collectible at the
time of the August 21, 1943, note into which it was consolidated. However, this
earlier note merely replaced a judgment and was part of a plan to substitute a
duty to supply space in 1948 to 1950 in return for all other obligations which
taxpayer owed to the bank
An inter-office memorandum signed by the bank's officer who had negotiated
with the taxpayer described the August 12, 1943, note as being "In exchange
for * * *" various prior obligations of taxpayer or its predecessor which were
surrendered
4
This the bank did by crediting the portion month by month on the back of the
note
