Ruben v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

22 Citing cases

  1. Hirsch v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

    115 F.2d 656 (7th Cir. 1940)   Cited 31 times

    Bowers v. Kerbaugh-Empire Co., 271 U.S. 170, 46 S. Ct. 449, 70 L.Ed. 886. A transaction whereby nothing of exchangeable value comes to or is received by the taxpayer does not give rise to, or create, taxable income. Eisner v. Macomber, 252 U.S. 189, 40 S.Ct. 189, 64 L.Ed. 521, 9 A.L.R. 1570; Ruben v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 97 F.2d 926. In the latter case, the court commented that taxation remains a practical matter dealing with realities. It being apparent, said the court, that instead of being a harvest time of profits for the taxpayer, the year 1929, on the showing in that case, was just the opposite, and to say that anything moved to him by way of gains, profits, or income was "simply paradoxical."

  2. State v. Gulf Oil Corp.

    47 Ala. App. 434 (Ala. Civ. App. 1971)   Cited 5 times

    Code 1940, Recompiled 1958, Title 51, Sections 373, 384, 400, 401; State v. Flenner, 236 Ala. 228, 181 So. 786; Hendler v. United States, 58 S.Ct. 655, 303 U.S. 564, 82 L.Ed. 1018; Id. 58 S.Ct. 940, 304 U.S. 588, 82 L.Ed. 1548; Clarke v. U.S., 189 F.2d 101, at page 104; Wall v. U.S., 164 F.2d 462, at page 464; Guarantee Title Trust Co. v. C.I.R., C.A.Ohio 1963, 313 F.2d 225; Claridge Apts. Co. v. C.I.R., 65 S.Ct. 172, 323 U.S. 141, 89 L.Ed. 139; Helvering v. A. L. Killian Co., C.C.A. 1942, 128 F.2d 433; Kohler-Campbell Corp. v. U.S., C.A.N.C. 1962, 298 F.2d 911; Burleson v. Mays, 189 Ala. 107, 66 So. 36; Ruben v. Commissioner, 97 F.2d 926; 26 U.S.C.A. 61 and annotations and cases cited thereunder 20 Am.Jur. "Evidence," Section 183, p. 189. Douglas Arant and William L. Hinds, Jr., Birmingham, for appellee.

  3. Sinyard v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

    268 F.3d 756 (9th Cir. 2001)   Cited 13 times   1 Legal Analyses
    Holding that attorney's fees paid on prevailing party's behalf pursuant to court order approving settlement of Age Discrimination in Employment Act class actions are income to prevailing party

    The Sinyards have scoured the reports to find cases supporting their contention. What they have found, for example, are a corporation's arrangement to make payments to preserve its franchise, Tucker v. Commissioner, 226 F.2d 177 (8th Cir. 1955); a trust in lieu of alimony, Stern v.Commissioner, 137 F.2d 43 (2d Cir. 1943); and a corporation's settlement of a suit also affecting the taxpayer, Ruben v. Commissioner, 97 F.2d 926 (8th Cir. 1938). These cases rest on facts peculiar to themselves, in contexts very different from that provided by a fee-shifting statute.

  4. C.I.R. v. Makransky

    321 F.2d 598 (3d Cir. 1963)   Cited 48 times
    Explaining that a transaction is a loan only if entered into with intention that money advanced would be repaid; if the borrower was unable to repay when the funds were advanced, it suggests that the parties did not intend a bona fide loan

    We have no such problem here with reference to the trust. On the other hand, the trustees urge that any such conception of income should be limited in accordance with Ruben v. Commissioner, 8th Cir. 1938, 97 F.2d 926, reversing 36 B.T.A. 604. There, a corporation used its funds to settle a judgment against itself, and thereby relieved the taxpayer, a major shareholder, of secondary liability on the same judgment. The Court of Appeals concluded that the entire transaction, from the incurrence of liability through its discharge with corporate funds, resulted in no gain to the taxpayer.

  5. Sheaffer's Estate v. C.I.R

    313 F.2d 738 (8th Cir. 1963)   Cited 20 times

    Petitioners assert that the grantors, donee and gift assets all became liable for gift taxes at the time that the gift was made; that it cannot realistically be contended that liability of the grantors for such tax is primary and that of the donee and others secondary and tertiary. From this premise petitioners argue for application of the rule that where more than one person is responsible for a debt, payment by one of them does not give rise to income on the part of the others. Petitioners cite non-trust cases, holding that payment of an obligation by one party having a financial interest in a transaction does not create income to another also financially interested, e.g., Tucker v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 226 F.2d 177 (1955); Ruben v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 97 F.2d 926 (1938). At the outset we once again observe that the Tax Court's findings are presumptively correct — the burden rests upon petitioners to show that the findings upon which the Tax Court based its decision are clearly erroneous — and unless the findings are against the clear weight of the evidence or are induced by an erroneous view of the law, we are not, as a reviewing court, at liberty to disturb such findings on appeal. Sachs v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 277 F.2d 879, 881 (1960), cert. denied, 364 U.S. 833, 81 S.Ct. 63, 5 L.Ed.2d 59 (1960); Estate of Craig M. Smith v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 313 F.2d 724.

  6. Sachs v. C.I.R

    277 F.2d 879 (8th Cir. 1960)   Cited 78 times   1 Legal Analyses
    Holding that corporate payments to third parties for the personal debts of a shareholder are constructive dividends

    Under these facts, we do not understand how petitioner can seriously argue that he received no economic benefit by reason of the corporate payment of his fine. Petitioner relies strongly upon Ruben v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 8 Cir., 97 F.2d 926, which involved settlement of a suit against a corporation and its shareholders. There, although the settlement and payment by the corporation in turn released the shareholder from any further claim and liability to the plaintiff in the action, the court found that no taxable benefit accrued to the shareholder, inasmuch as the corporation acted for itself, and entirely in its own interest in making payment on the claim.

  7. Tucker v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

    226 F.2d 177 (8th Cir. 1955)   Cited 12 times

    We find no adequate basis in the evidence for the ruling of the Tax Court that Cox's income from his contract with the Universal Motor Company during the years in suit was legally taxable to Tucker, who did not receive it, could not have received it, and was certainly not benefited by the payments made by the company to Cox to any greater extent than were John R. Fleck and his wife and the company itself. Cases having some analogy in principle to the instant problem are: Nelson v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 6 Cir., 203 F.2d 1; Ruben v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 8 Cir., 97 F.2d 926. The decision of the Tax Court is reversed.

  8. Birmingham v. Bartels

    157 F.2d 295 (8th Cir. 1947)   Cited 15 times

    Taxation is a practical matter dealing with realities and the power of taxation is not to be restricted by mere legal fictions, but substance rather than form controls in applying tax laws. Ruben v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 97 F.2d 926; Helvering v. Tetzlaff, 8 Cir., 141 F.2d 8; Paschal v. Blieden, 8 Cir., 127 F.2d 398; Weiss v. Stearn, 265 U.S. 242, 44 S.Ct. 490, 68 L.Ed. 1001, 33 A.L.R. 520. Congress imposed a social security tax upon employers and any contractual devices seeking to shift that tax from the class designated by Congress must at least be subjected to scrutiny to determine whether the law is being circumvented.

  9. Gooch Milling Elevator v. C.I.R

    133 F.2d 131 (8th Cir. 1943)   Cited 15 times

    Under the circumstances disclosed the Board should prevent respondent from taking advantage of a correction in a bookkeeping entry as the basis for a tax where none was due. As said by Judge Woodrough, speaking for this court in Ruben v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 97 F.2d 926, 928, "taxation remains a practical matter." In Helvering v. Gordon, Cir., 87 F.2d 663, 666, we said "substance and not form should control in the application of tax laws".

  10. Helvering v. A.L. Killian Co.

    128 F.2d 433 (8th Cir. 1942)   Cited 20 times

    But in determining what constitutes income, substance rather than form must be given controlling weight. Bowers v. Kerbaugh-Empire Company, 271 U.S. 170, 46 S.Ct. 449, 70 L.Ed. 886; Hirsch v. Commissioner, 7 Cir., 115 F.2d 656; Ruben v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 97 F.2d 926. The transaction out of which the supposed income arises must be viewed in its entirety. "The mere diminution of loss is not gain, profit, or income."