Gilbert v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

MORTON, District Judge.

These are appeals from a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals (Revenue Act of 1926, c. 27, §§ 1001-1003, 44 Stat. 9, 109, 110 [26 USCA §§ 1224 and note, 1225, 1226]). Both cases involve the same question, whether a certain loss sustained by the respective appellants in 1926 was an income loss or a capital loss. The Board ruled that it was a capital loss, and the petitioners appealed.

The petitioners were partners in the engineering and contracting business. They made a contract with a third party for the construction of an apartment house in Boston, and they agreed to…