Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Higgins v. Commissioner

312 U.S. 212

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1941-03-03
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • holding that taxpayer’s activities of keeping records and collecting interest and dividends from his securities, regardless of the size of the estate and the amount of managerial attention required, were insufficient as a matter of law to constitute a trade or business
  • holding in another context that merely keeping records and collecting interest and dividends did not amount to "carrying on a business"
  • managing securities investments and collecting income therefrom generally is not a trade or business, regardless of the amount invested, continuity of effort, or amount of time devoted to the activity
  • “Management of one’s own securities” is not a business for purposes of deducting ordinary and necessary expenses
  • taxpayer’s managerial activities in connection with collecting interest and dividends on securities held for investment did not amount to carrying on a business for purposes of deducting associated expenses
  • managerial attention held not to constitute a trade or business, despite fact that investments were made according to taxpayer’s “personal[,] detailed instructions”
  • “merely [keeping] records and [collecting] interest and dividends from his securities, through managerial attention for his investments,” is insufficient to constitute trading activity
  • to determine whether taxpayers are carrying on a business, must consider taxpayers’ activities

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed Higgins v. Commissioner. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Authority status
pending
Cited by
680 opinions
Distinguished
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Headnotes

  1. Tax Law — Deductions Salaries and other expenses incident to looking after one's own investments in bonds and stocks are not deductible under § 23(a) of the Revenue Act of 1932 as expenses paid or incurred in carrying on a "trade or business." 312 U.S. at 214
  2. Tax Law — Administrative Construction — Congressional Reenactment Rulings of less dignity than regulations or Treasury Decisions, made in individual cases and favorable to the taxpayer, are not determinative; unless an administrative practice is long continued and substantially uniform in the Bureau and without challenge by the Government before the Board of Tax Appeals and in the courts, it should not be assumed that Congressional reenactment of language so construed was an adoption of that construction. 312 U.S. at 215
  3. Tax Law — Deductions The proposition that the management of one's own securities may constitute a "business" where there is sufficient extent, continuity, variety, and regularity is supported by no fixed administrative construction. 312 U.S. at 216
  4. Tax Law — Deductions Whether a taxpayer's activities constitute "carrying on a business" requires an examination of the facts in each case; merely keeping records and collecting interest and dividends from securities through managerial attention to one's investments is not sufficient as a matter of law to establish carrying on a business, no matter how large the estate or how continuous or extended the work required. 312 U.S. at 217–218
  5. Tax Law — Deductions For purposes of deduction, the portion of a taxpayer's expenses attributable to the management of his real estate business may be segregated and allocated from the portion paid for the care of his bond and stock investments, which are not attributable to carrying on a business. 312 U.S. at 218
HIGGINSv. COMMISSIONER,312 U.S. 212(1941)
61 S.Ct. 475
HIGGINSv. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE.
CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT.
No. 253.
Argued January 10, 13, 1941.
Decided February 3, 1941.
1. Salaries and other expenses incident to the looking after one's own investments in bonds and stocks are not deductible under § 23(a) of the Revenue Act of 1932 as expenses paid or incurred in carrying on a "trade or business." P. 214. 2. In this connection, "carrying on a business," has not been interpreted by any regulation or by rulings approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. Certain rulings of less dignity, favorable to the taxpayer, made in individual cases, are not determinative. P. 215. Unless the administrative practice is long continued and substantially uniform in the Bureau and without challenge by the Government before the Board of Tax Appeals and in the courts,Page 213it should not be assumed that Congressional reenactment of language so construed by rulings of the Board was an adoption of the construction. 3. The proposition that the management of one's own securities may be a "business" where there is sufficient extent, continuity, variety and regularity, is supported by no fixed administrative construction. P. 216. 4. For the purpose of deduction, the part of the taxpayer's expense attributable to the management of his real estate business may be segregated from the part paid for the care of his bond and stock investments. P. 218.111 F.2d 795, affirmed.
CERTIORARI,311 U.S. 626, to review the affirmance of a ruling
of the Board of Tax Appeals,39 B.T.A. 1005, which sustained the
Commissioner's refusal to allow certain deductions in an income
tax return.
Mr. Selden Bacon, with whomMr. Orwill V.W. Hawkinswas on the brief, for petitioner.Mr. Arnold Raum, with whomSolicitor General Biddle,Assistant Attorney General Clark, andMessrs. Sewall KeyandLee A. Jacksonwere on the brief, for respondent.Messrs. Rollin Browne, John G. Jackson, Jr., andGeorgeCravenfiled a brief, asamici curiae, urging reversal.
MR. JUSTICE REED delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner, the taxpayer, with extensive investments in real estate, bonds and stocks, devoted a considerable portion of his time to the oversight of his interests and hired others to assist him in offices rented for that purpose. For the tax years in question, 1932 and 1933, he claimed the salaries and expenses incident to looking after his properties were deductible under § 23(a) ofPage 214the Revenue Act of 1932.1The Commissioner refused the deductions. The applicable phrases are: "In computing net income there shall be allowed as deductions: (a)Expenses. — All the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or business . . ." There is no dispute over whether the claimed deductions are ordinary and necessary expenses. As the Commissioner also conceded before the Board of Tax Appeals that the real estate activities of the petitioner in renting buildings2constituted a business, the Board allowed such portions of the claimed deductions as were fairly allocable to the handling of the real estate. The same offices and staffs handled both real estate and security matters. After this adjustment there remained for the year 1932 over twenty and for the year 1933 over sixteen thousand dollars expended for managing the stocks and bonds.

Petitioner's financial affairs were conducted through his New York office pursuant to his personal detailed instructions. His residence was in Paris, France, where he had a second office. By cable, telephone and mail, petitioner kept a watchful eye over his securities. While he sought permanent investments, changes, redemptions, maturities and accumulations caused limited shiftings in his portfolio. These were made under his own orders. The offices kept records, received securities, interest and dividend checks, made deposits, forwarded weekly and annual reports and undertook generally the care of the investments as instructed by the owner. Purchases were made by a financial institution. Petitioner did not participate directly or indirectly in the management of the corporations in which he held stock or bonds. The method of handling his affairs under examination had been employed by petitioner for more than thirty years.Page 215No objection to the deductions had previously been made by the Government.

The Board of Tax Appeals3held that these activities did not constitute carrying on a business and that the expenses were capable of apportionment between the real estate and the investments. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed,4and we granted certiorari because of conflict.5

Petitioner urges that the "elements of continuity, constant repetition, regularity and extent" differentiate his activities from the occasional like actions of the small investor. His activity is and the occasional action is not "carrying on business." On the other hand, the respondent urges that "mere personal investment activities never constitute carrying on a trade or business, no matter how much of one's time or of one's employees' time they may occupy."

Since the first income tax act, the provisions authorizing business deductions have varied only slightly. The Revenue Act of 19136allowed as a deduction "the necessary expenses actually paid in carrying on any business." By 1918 the present form was fixed and has so continued.7No regulation has ever been promulgated which interprets the meaning of "carrying on a business," nor any rulings approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, i.e., Treasury Decisions.8Certain rulings of less dignity, favorable to petitioner,9appeared in individual cases butPage 216they are not determinative.10Even acquiescence11in some Board rulings after defeat does not amount to settled administrative practice.12Unless the administrative practice is long continued and substantially uniform in the Bureau and without challenge by the Government in the Board and courts, it should not be assumed, from rulings of this class, that Congressional reenactment of the language which they construed was an adoption of their interpretation.

While the Commissioner has combated views similar to petitioner's in the courts, sometimes successfully13and sometimes unsuccessfully,14the petitioner urges that the Bureau accepted for years the doctrine that the management of one's own securities might be a business where there was sufficient extent, continuity, variety and regularity. We fail to find such a fixed administrative construction in the examples cited. It is true that the decisions are frequently put on the ground that the taxpayer's activities were sporadic but it does not follow that had those activities been continuous the Commissioner would not have used the argument advanced here, i. e., that no amount of personal investment management would turn those activities into a business. Evidently such was the Government's contention in theKalesPage 217case,15where the things the taxpayer did met petitioner's tests, and inFossv.Commissioner16andWashburnv.Commissioner17where the opinions turned on the extent of the taxpayer's participation in the management of the corporations in which investments were held.18

Petitioner relies strongly on the definition of business inFlintv.Stone Tracy Company:19"`Business' is a very comprehensive term and embraces everything about which a person can be employed." This definition was given in considering whether certain corporations came under the Corporation Tax law which levies a tax on corporations engaged in business. The immediate issue was whether corporations engaged principally in the "holding and management of real estate"20were subject to the act. A definition given for such an issue is not controlling in this dissimilar inquiry.21

To determine whether the activities of a taxpayer are "carrying on a business" requires an examination of the facts in each case. As the Circuit Court of Appeals observed, all expenses of every business transaction are not deductible. Only those are deductible which relate to carrying on a business. The Bureau of Internal Revenue has this duty of determining what is carrying on a business, subject to reexamination of the facts by the Board of Tax Appeals22and ultimately to review on the law by thePage 218courts on which jurisdiction is conferred.23The Commissioner and the Board appraised the evidence here as insufficient to establish petitioner's activities as those of carrying on a business. The petitioner merely kept records and collected interest and dividends from his securities, through managerial attention for his investments. No matter how large the estate or how continuous or extended the work required may be, such facts are not sufficient as a matter of law to permit the courts to reverse the decision of the Board. Its conclusion is adequately supported by this record, and rests upon a conception of carrying on business similar to that expressed by this Court for an antecedent section.24

The petitioner makes the point that his activities in managing his estate, both realty and personalty, were a unified business. Since it was admittedly a business in so far as the realty is concerned, he urges, there is no statutory authority to sever expenses allocable to the securities. But we see no reason why expenses not attributable, as we have just held these are not, to carrying on business cannot be apportioned. It is not unusual to allocate expenses paid for services partly personal and partly business.25Affirmed.Page 219
  1. Page 21447 Stat. 169, c. 209. ↩
  2. Page 214 Cf.Pinchotv.Commissioner,113 F.2d 718. ↩
  3. Page 21539 B.T.A. 1005. ↩
  4. Page 215111 F.2d 795. ↩
  5. Page 215Kalesv.Commissioner,101 F.2d 35;DuPontv.Deputy,103 F.2d 257. ↩
  6. Page 21538 Stat. 167, § II B. ↩
  7. Page 21540 Stat. 1066, § 214(a)(1). ↩
  8. Page 215 Cf.Helveringv.New York Trust Co.,292 U.S. 455,467-468. ↩
  9. Page 215 O.D. 537, 2 C.B. 175 (1920); O.D. 877, 4 C.B. 123 (1921); I.T. 2751, XIII-1 C.B. 43 (1934). See also 1934 C.C.H. Federal Tax Service, Vol. 3, ¶ 6035, p. 8027. ↩
  10. Page 216Biddlev.Commissioner,302 U.S. 573,582. Cf.Estate ofSanfordv.Commissioner,308 U.S. 39,52. But seeHelveringv.Bliss,293 U.S. 144,151, andMcFeelyv.Commissioner,296 U.S. 102,108. ↩
  11. Page 216 Kisselv. Commissioner,15 B.T.A. 1270, acquiesced in VIII-2 C.B. 28 (1929); Crokerv. Commissioner,27 B.T.A. 588, acquiesced in XII-1 C.B. 4 (1933). ↩
  12. Page 216Higginsv.Smith,308 U.S. 473,478-479. ↩
  13. Page 216Bedellv.Commissioner,30 F.2d 622,624;Monellv.Helvering,70 F.2d 631;Kanev.Commissioner,100 F.2d 382. ↩
  14. Page 216Kalesv.Commissioner,101 F.2d 35;DuPontv.Deputy,103 F.2d 257,259, reversed on other grounds,308 U.S. 488. ↩
  15. Page 217Kalesv.Commissioner,34 B.T.A. 1046,101 F.2d 35. ↩
  16. Page 21775 F.2d 326. ↩
  17. Page 21751 F.2d 949,953. ↩
  18. Page 217 Cf. Roeblingv. Commissioner,37 B.T.A. 82; Heilbronerv. Commissioner,34 B.T.A. 1200. ↩
  19. Page 217220 U.S. 107,171. ↩
  20. Page 217Id. 169. ↩
  21. Page 217Cohensv.Virginia, 6 Wheat, 264, 399;Puerto Ricov.Shell Co.,302 U.S. 253,269. ↩
  22. Page 217 Revenue Act of 1932,47 Stat. 169, § 272; Internal Revenue Code, §272. ↩
  23. Page 218 Internal Revenue Code, § 1141. ↩
  24. Page 218Van Wartv.Commissioner,295 U.S. 112,115. ↩
  25. Page 218 3 Paul Mertens, Law of Federal Income Taxation § 23.65; cf.National Outdoor Advertising Bureauv.Helvering,89 F.2d 878,881. ↩