Mason v. Routzahn

Mr. Justice Brandéis

delivered the opinion of the Court;

Section 31 (b), .which was added to the Revenue Act of 1916 by the Revenue Act of 1917, October 3, 1917, c. 63,. Title XII, 40 Stat. 300, 338, provides that any “ distribution made to the shareholders . . in the year nineteen hundred and seventeen, or subsequent tax years, . ’ . shall constitute a part of the annual income of the distributee for the year in which received,” but that it “ shall be deemed , to have been made from the most recently accumulated undivided profits or surplus . . . and shall be taxed to the distributee at the…