American Automobile Association v. United States

Decision Date02 March 1960
Docket NumberNo. 311-58.,311-58.
PartiesAMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION v. UNITED STATES.
CourtU.S. Claims Court

Fleming Bomar, Washington, D. C., for the plaintiff. Joseph E. McAndrews and Ivins, Phillips & Barker, Washington, D. C., were on the brief.

Jerry M. Hamovit, Washington, D. C., with whom was Asst. Atty. Gen., Charles K. Rice, for the defendant. James P. Garland and Lyle M. Turner, Washington, D. C., were on the brief.

JONES, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff, a motor club, seeks to recover Federal income taxes and assessed interest paid for the calendar years 1952 and 1953. The issue to be decided here involves the tax treatment to be accorded the prepaid income of an accrual basis taxpayer. The problem arises because club membership dues are paid to the taxpayer for 12 months in advance.

Plaintiff is a national organization which renders services to affiliated local automobile clubs and their members and performs services of a public nature in fields relating to motoring and travel. In addition to its activities as a national organization, the plaintiff operates directly, as divisions, ten local automobile clubs. A substantial portion of the annual gross income of plaintiff is derived from dues, prepaid for one year in advance, received from members of the automobile clubs operated as divisions of the plaintiff.

Plaintiff provides services for the members of the local divisions over the 12-month period following payment of dues. These services, although not completely uniform, generally included the following: (a) A travel service which included trip planning, tour books, accommodation directories, maps and recommended routes; (b) emergency road service which consisted of towing, changing tires, replacing batteries and other minor repairs; the road service was provided by plaintiff through contracts made with garages and service stations in the areas served by its divisions; (c) bail bond protection up to $5,000 through contracts made by the plaintiff with bondsmen; (d) personal automobile accident insurance; (e) a theft reward offered by the plaintiff for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person stealing a member's car; (f) in addition, the plaintiff, in one or more of its divisions, provided other personal services for members which included procuring motor licenses, notarial services, brake and headlight adjustments, and advice on how to prepare and file papers in small claims courts.

The prepaid dues collected from members of its divisions were deposited in plaintiff's bank accounts with no restrictions as to their use for any of its corporate purposes. However, the dues upon collection were reflected in a liability account designated "Deferred Revenue— Membership Dues." Thereafter, a pro rata part of the dues was removed from the liability account and reflected in an "income" account. Dues collected from members who joined in the month of January were recognized as income in January only to the extent of 1/24 (a half of 1/12) of such collections, on the assumption that the average or mean date of the January collections would be the middle of the month.1 Thereafter, 1/12 of the dues collected in January was taken out of the liability account and credited to income in each of the following 11 months (i.e., February through December). The remaining 1/24 of the dues collected in January was kept as a liability in the "Deferred Revenue—Membership Dues" account on December 31, but was subsequently recognized as income for January of the following year.

Dues collected in each of the other months of the calendar year were treated in the same manner. That is, 1/24 of each month's collections was recognized as income in the first month of membership, 1/12 of the amount paid was recognized as income in each of the following eleven months, and the remaining 1/24 was allocated to income in the month when membership expired. Commencing in 1954, the plaintiff, in order to simplify internal accounting detail, changed its procedure in the monthly accounting for dues by assigning 50 percent of the dues to income for the current year and allocating the other 50 percent as a liability which matured as income in the following tax year.

In preparing its income tax returns for the years in suit, plaintiff, an accrual basis taxpayer, excluded from the income received in each year that portion of membership dues which remained in the liability account ("Deferred Revenue —Membership Dues") at the end of the taxable year. It thus treated dues as income ratably over the 12-month period of membership, whether or not such period extended beyond the close of its taxable year.

Expenses which plaintiff considered to fall within the category of prepaid membership costs, e. g., salesmen's commissions and the cost of accident insurance covering the period of a membership, even though paid by plaintiff, were not deducted entirely in the taxable year paid or incurred, but instead were deducted ratably over the same periods of time that dues were recognized as income.

The income reported by plaintiff in its tax return for the calendar year 1953 attributable to dues received from members of its divisions was $3,337,813.44, representing $1,562,042.23 of prepaid dues collected in 1952 but not recognized as income until 1953, plus $1,775,771.21 of dues collected in 1953 and recognized as income in that year.

For 1954, dues reported by plaintiff as income for purposes of the Federal income tax totaled $3,794,672.20, representing $1,755,407.46 of advance dues collected in 1953 but not recognized as income until 1954, plus $2,039,264.74 of dues collected in 1954 and recognized as income in that year.

Plaintiff claimed that as a result of a 1954 net operating loss in the amount of $289,967.67, it was entitled to a net operating loss carryback deduction in 1952 in the amount of $154,411.11, and a net operating loss carryback deduction in 1953 in the amount of $135,556.56. Upon examination of the plaintiff's Federal income tax returns for the calendar years 1952, 1953, and 1954, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue disallowed plaintiff's deferral of income from one year to another, for years subsequent to 1953, thereby increasing plaintiff's 1954 net operating income from $353,279.09 to $481,557.59 and reducing plaintiff's 1954 net operating loss from $289,967.67 to $14,412.49. The net effect of the Commissioner's determination was to reduce plaintiff's net operating loss carryback deduction to $14,412.49 in 1952 and to eliminate entirely any net operating loss carryback deduction in 1953.

The issue to be decided by this court is whether the Commissioner of Internal Revenue correctly determined that plaintiff's method of accounting—with respect to dues received from members of its divisions—does not clearly reflect plaintiff's income within the meaning of § 41 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, 26 U.S.C.A. § 41, and § 446 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S. C.A. § 446. Section 41 required that "the net income shall be computed * * * in accordance with the method of accounting regularly employed in keeping the books * * * but * * * if the method employed does not clearly reflect the income, the computation shall be made in accordance with such method as in the opinion of the Commissioner does clearly reflect the income * * *."2

The Commissioner of Internal Revenue disallowed the deferral of income from one year to another on the ground that prepaid dues received under a "claim of right," without restriction as to their disposition, represents income in the year of receipt and should be taxed in that year regardless of the method of...

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7 cases
  • American Automobile Association v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • June 19, 1961
  • Nigra v. Commissioner
    • United States
    • U.S. Tax Court
    • November 27, 1968
    ...taxpayers. Cf. American Automobile Assn. v. United States 61-2 USTC ¶ 9517, 367 U. S. 687 (1961), affirming 60-1 USTC ¶ 9301 181 F. Supp. 255 (Ct. Cl. 1960); Bressner Radio, Inc. v. Commissioner 59-2 USTC ¶ 9496, 267 F. 2d 520 (C. A. 2, 1959), reversing Dec. 22,377 28 T. C. 378 (1957); Comm......
  • Franklin Life Insurance Company v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • August 30, 1968
    ...conflict between Bressner Radio, Inc. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 2 Cir., 267 F.2d 520, and American Automobile Association v. United States, 181 F.Supp. 255, 149 Ct.Cl. 324, and the conflict was resolved against Bressner. Consequently, we are not persuaded by the decisions upon wh......
  • New Jersey Automobile Club v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. Claims Court
    • March 2, 1960
    ...automobile club membership dues used by the plaintiff in the case at bar.3 For the reasons stated in American Automobile Association v. United States, Ct.Cl., 181 F.Supp. 255, we hold that the Court's decision in Automobile Club of Michigan precludes us from overruling the Commissioner's de......
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