Bobsee Corporation v. United States

GEWIN, Circuit Judge:

The appellants are four separately incorporated citrus groves which brought suit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida seeking a refund of allegedly excessive and unlawfully collected income taxes paid for their respective fiscal years ended in 1961. The principal questions before the district court were whether the corporate surtax exemption could be disallowed on the basis of section 269 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, and if so, whether the principal purpose for creating the appellants was tax avoidance. The court held as a matter…