Lazard v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

McCORD, Circuit Judge.

This appeal involves income taxes for the years 1940 and 1941.

The question presented: Was income in the form of royalties from oil property which was the separate property of the taxpayer community income, only one-half of which is taxable to her, or separate income taxable in full to the taxpayer under Section 22(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C.A. Int.Rev.Code, § 22(a) ?

Mrs. Rosemary Herold Lazard, the taxpayer, was married in 1927 to Jules C. Lazard, the marriage terminating only by the death of the husband in March, 1944.

In the year 1940, the taxpayer…