Hort v. Commissioner

We must determine whether the amount petitioner received as consideration for cancellation of a lease of realty in New York City was ordinary gross income as defined in § 22 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1932 (47 Stat. 169,178), and whether, in any event, petitioner sustained a loss through cancellation of the lease which is recognized in § 23 (e) of the same Act (47 Stat. 169, 180).

Petitioner acquired the property, a lot and ten-story office building, by devise from his father in 1928. At the time he became owner, the premises were leased to a firm which had sublet the main floor to the Irving…