Louis Visintainer and Lottie Visintainer v. United States

This is an appeal from a judgment denying appellants’ claim to recover allegedly overstated income taxes assessed and collected for the fiscal years ending October 31, 1946 through 1950. The disputed tax liability arose over the valuation of sheep which appellant-taxpayers had on hand on November 1, 1945. Prior to that date, taxpayers had followed an accrual method of accounting wherein they inventoried their purchased and raised animals on a “unit-livestock-price” basis and deducted the difference between their “book-value” and the “cost-price” in the year of purchase. Subsequent to November…