Legal Opinion

Lucas v. Commissioner

United States Tax Court

Decided September 26, 1972No. Docket No. 6691-70PublishedCited by 61 opinions

T purchased an accounting practice from X at a stated purchase price of $ 40,000. The contract of sale contained no covenant against competition by X; and although T was interested in preventing competition by X until T had sufficient opportunity to establish himself with X's clients, the parties deliberately decided not to include any such covenant in the contract.

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T purchased an accounting practice from X at a stated purchase price of $ 40,000. The contract of sale contained no covenant against competition by X; and although T was interested in preventing competition by X until T had sufficient opportunity to establish himself with X's clients, the parties deliberately decided not to include any such covenant in the contract. X treated the proceeds of the sale as capital gain, but T attempted to treat $ 20,000 of the purchase price as a consideration for a covenant against competition, and proceeded to amortize that amount over a period of 4 years.…

1Opinion of the Court

OPINION

Baum, Judge:

The contract of sale, pursuant to which petitioner purchased Bell’s accounting practice in 1964, contained no provision for a covenant not to compete on Bell’s part in accordance with the specific agreement reached by the parties to the agreement that such a covenant would not be part of the contract. The petitioners, however, argue that such a covenant in reality existed by virtue of the interrelation of Bell’s employment contract and the contract of sale, and that $20,000 of the purchase price of the accounting practice was allocable thereto. The petitioners therefore…

2Cases cited28 opinions

  1. Danielson v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1965
  2. Ullman v. CommissionerCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1959
  3. Hamlin's Trust v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Nowel's Estate v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · 1954
  4. Schulz v. CommissionerCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1961
  5. Schmitz v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1968

23 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.

3Cited by61 opinions

  1. Major v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1981
  2. Danenberg v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1979
  3. Peterson Machine Tool, Inc. v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1982
  4. Spector v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1979
  5. Kinney v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1972

56 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.

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