Thompson Lumber Co. v. Commissioner
United States Board of Tax Appeals
Petitioner's principal business was buying and selling lumber and building materials. Occasionally it was required to take over real estate to prevent or minimize a loss upon an account for lumber or materials. Its charter authorized it to acquire, hold, and dispose of real estate, but it maintained no real estate department and purchased no real estate except for the purpose referred to above.
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Petitioner's principal business was buying and selling lumber and building materials. Occasionally it was required to take over real estate to prevent or minimize a loss upon an account for lumber or materials. Its charter authorized it to acquire, hold, and dispose of real estate, but it maintained no real estate department and purchased no real estate except for the purpose referred to above. Held, such real estate did not constitute "property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of its trade or business" and loss sustained upon sale is deductible as a capital loss…
1Opinion of the Court
*728OPINION.
Mellott:
The question is the narrow one: Was the loss sustained through the sale of capital assets, as such term is defined in section 117 (b) of the Revenue Act of 1936,1 or was it an ordinary loss, *729deductible from gross income in its entirety? There is no dispute as to the amount of the loss.
It can not be gainsaid that the real estate constituted “property held by the taxpayer.” Petitioner does not contend that it was “stock in trade” or “properly of a kind which would properly be included in * * * inventory * * * if on hand at the close of the taxable year.” It argues only that it…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Helvering v. HammelSupreme Court of the United States · 1941
3Cited by16 opinions
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- Guthrie v. JonesDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma · 1947
- Trapp v. United StatesDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma · 1948
- Gutowsky v. JonesDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma · 1951
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