Udolpho Wolfe Co. v. Commissioner
United States Board of Tax Appeals
1. Court costs and attorneys' fees assessed against the petitioner by a court of equity in the circumstances herein held to be deductible from gross income in 1920 as ordinary and necessary business expenses incurred and paid in such year. 2. Attorneys' fees incurred in connection with the reincorporation of the petitioner are not deductible from gross income as ordinary and necessary expense in 1923.
1Opinion of the Court
*489OPINION.
Lansdon:
The parties agree that the amount of $29,273.38 was disbursed by the petitioner in 1920, in the circumstances set forth in our findings of fact. There is, of course, no doubt that petitioner’s income for 1920, available for surplus purposes or for the payment of dividends to its shareholders, was reduced by the amount of the payment in controversy.
The petitioner contends that the payment in question was an expense that it could not avoid, since it was incurred in an action in equity to which it was a party, and was paid in conformity with the decree of a court of equity…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Kornhauser v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1928
- Burrill v. GarstSupreme Court of Rhode Island · 1895
3Cited by1 opinion
- Udolpho Wolfe Co. v. CommissionerUnited States Board of Tax Appeals · 1929