Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Commissioner of Int. Rev.

• Decision Date: 06 January 1936
• Docket Number: 3896.,No. 3895,3895
• Citation: 81 F.2d 309
• Parties: ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE. CAROLINA, C. & O. RY. v. SAME.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

81 F.2d 309 (1936)

ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE.^*

CAROLINA, C. & O. RY. v. SAME.

Nos. 3895, 3896.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

January 6, 1936.

Nathan L. Miller, of New York City (Carl H. Davis, of Wilmington, N. C., Edward C. Bailly, of New York City, and Robert R. Faulkner, of Washington, D. C., on the brief), for petitioners.

Morton K. Rothschild, Sp. Asst. to the Atty. Gen. (Frank J. Wideman, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Sewall Key, Sp. Asst. to the Atty. Gen., on the brief), for respondent.

Before PARKER, NORTHCOTT, and SOPER, Circuit Judges.

SOPER, Circuit Judge.

Two questions are presented by the petition for review in these cases: (1) Whether either the lessor or the lessee is entitled to a deduction for depreciation under section 23 (k) of the Revenue Act of 1928, 45 Stat. 791, 799, when one railroad company leases equipment from another for 999 years and agrees to maintain, repair, and renew the property during the term of the lease; and (2) whether a railroad company which acquires the common stock of another in exchange for a stated consideration, including a guaranty to pay dividends on the other's preferred stock, and makes payments under its guaranty, is entitled to deduct the amounts paid as ordinary and necessary expenses or losses under section 23 (a) and (f) of the Revenue Act of 1928. Income taxes for the years 1928, 1929, and 1930 are involved.

Under a lease of October 16, 1924, the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway, hereinafter called the Carolina Company, and its subsidiaries, leased all their properties to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, hereinafter called the Coast Line, and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, jointly, for a period of 999 years. The Coast Line owns 51 per cent. of the stock of the Louisville & Nashville. The lease provided for the payment by the lessees of money rental in stated amounts, certain corporate expenses of the lessors, interest on outstanding obligations of the lessors, and all taxes upon the lessors or the leased property, including federal income taxes. In addition thereto, the lessees agreed at their own expense to maintain, repair, renew, and replace the leased property so that the same should at all times be in substantial repair, working order, and condition, but with the right in their discretion to replace with other property of equal value; to make such additions and betterments as in their judgment should be advisable at their own expense and accept the bonds or other obligations of the lessors therefor; during the term of the lease, to assume all liability of the lessors in respect to maturing obligations as set out in the lease, with the right only to receive new bonds of the lessors payable in effect at the end of the lease and without interest; during the term of the lease to abide by, keep, and perform all agreements and covenants binding on the lessors under any of their mortgages, deeds of trust, and equipment trust agreements; and to return the leased property at the end of the term or upon earlier termination of the lease in good order and condition, ordinary wear and tear excepted.

Since the effective date of the lease, the accounts of all the railroad companies involved have been kept in accordance with the uniform system of accounts prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission pursuant to the authority vested in it by the Interstate Commerce Act. In accordance with this system, no charge has been made on the books of the lessors on account of depreciation computed on the leased equipment, but depreciation has been computed thereon and currently accrued on the books of the lessees.

The taxpayers concede that their tax liability is not controlled by the system of accounts established in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Interstate Commerce Commission; but the Coast Line, one of the taxpayers, seeks to deduct from its gross income an allowance for depreciation with respect to the property in which it had no capital investment, but which it held under the lease for 999 years. The Carolina Company, the other taxpayer, seeks in the alternative to deduct from its gross income an allowance for said depreciation on the same property which during the term of the lease, the Coast Line was obliged to retain, repair, and renew. In our opinion neither position is tenable. It has been uniformly held that where property is leased for a long term of years and the lessee covenants to maintain, repair, and renew the property, the lessee is not entitled to an allowance for depreciation because it has invested no capital in the property. See Weiss v. Wiener, 279 U.S. 333, 49 S.Ct. 337, 73 L. Ed. 720; Belt Ry. Co. v. Lucas, Commissioner, 59 App.D.C. 137, 36 F.(2d) 541, certiorari denied, 281 U.S. 742, 50 S.Ct. 348, 74 L.Ed. 1155; Tunnel R. R. Co. v. Commissioner (C.C.A.) 61 F.(2d) 166, certiorari denied, 288 U.S. 604, 53 S.Ct. 396, 77 L.Ed. 979. In respect to the lessor under such a lease, the decisions are also unanimous to the effect that it is not entitled to an allowance for depreciation because it has sustained no loss, in view of the fact that the lessee has assumed an obligation to maintain, repair, and renew. Commissioner v. Terre Haute Elec. Co. (C.C.A.) 67 F.(2d) 697; Georgia Ry. & Electric Co. v. Commissioner (C.C.A.) 77 F.(2d) 897, certiorari denied October 14, 1935, 56 S.Ct. 117, 80 L.Ed. ___.

It is suggested by the taxpayers that in none of the cases in which these questions have been considered did the court have before it at the same time both the lessor and lessee railroad, and therefore did not meet the alternative propositions that the allowance for depreciation with respect to the property should be made either to one or the other. The contention that the allowance must be made to one or the other of the parties to such a lease was, however, considered and rejected in New York Central Railroad Co. v. Commissioner (C.C.A.) 79 F.(2d) 247, 250, certiorari denied (56 S.Ct. 370, 80 L.Ed. ___) December 23, 1935, in the following language: "The petitioner argues that either the lessor or the lessee of property should have a right to deduct a reasonable amount for exhaustion and depreciation, that under the facts at bar the lessor sustains no loss of capital, since he will receive equivalent property upon the termination of the lease, and that therefore the loss falls upon the lessee who has the burden of restoring the property's value. The Commissioner relies upon Weiss v. Wiener, 279 U.S. 333, 49 S.Ct. 337, 73 L.Ed. 720, as did the Board, as establishing that the claimed deductions should not be allowed. There the taxpayer was engaged in the business of taking 99-year leases, renewable forever, and subletting. He claimed a deduction for depreciation of the buildings, which, it was assumed for purposes of the decision, he undertook to keep up to their present condition. In disallowing the deduction, Mr. Justice Holmes pointed out that the lessee had not yet made any capital investment, and concluded that `it is not enough that he has made a contract that very possibly may not be carried out to replace that capital at some future time.' 279 U.S. 333, at page 336, 49 S.Ct. 337, 338, 73 L.Ed. 720. Despite possible verbal differences in the leases, we think Weiss v. Wiener is controlling and requires affirmance of the Board on this issue. In the case at bar the lessee made no capital investment in the leased property."

The facts with regard to the second question raised by the Coast Line relate to an agreement of February 23, 1926, between the Coast Line and a committee representing the bondholders of the Atlantic, Birmingham & Coast Railroad Company which was placed in receivership in 1915, and operated by the receiver up to and including the year 1926. During the taxable years involved, all of its stock was owned by the Coast Line and its income tax returns were included in the consolidated returns filed by the latter. The agreement of February 23, 1926, provided that a new company should be organized to acquire the property of the company in receivership which should have a capitalization of $5,200,000 par value preferred stock entitled to 5 per cent. cumulative dividends, payable semiannually, and 150,000 shares of no par value common stock; that the preferred stock should have no power to vote except in case of a continuing default in the payment of two semiannual dividends, in which event the preferred stock should have exclusive voting power so long as the default continued; that the dividends of the preferred stock should be guaranteed by the Coast Line; that the Coast Line should provide cash for certain specified requirements in the total amount of approximately $3,600,000 and that the Coast Line should be entitled to receive the entire issue of common stock in exchange for the cash so provided. The agreement was performed and the stock of the company distributed as therein provided. During each of the years 1928, 1929, and 1930, the Coast Line, in compliance with its guaranty, paid the dividends on the preferred stock, including the sum of $257,059 to owners thereof other than the Coast Line itself. In its returns for these years, it claimed the said sum as a deduction, but it was disallowed by the Commissioner.

The taxpayer contends that the obvious purpose of this agreement was to place it in a position to maintain and exercise continuous control of the properties of the A. B. & C....