Gray v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

• Decision Date: 21 August 1950
• Docket Number: No. 13120.,13120.
• Citation: 183 F.2d 329
• Parties: GRAY et al. v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

183 F.2d 329 (1950)

GRAY et al. v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE.

No. 13120.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

July 14, 1950.

Rehearing Denied August 21, 1950.

Thad T. Hutcheson, Houston, Tex., for petitioner.

Sumner M. Redstone, Ellis N. Slack and Helen Goodner, Sp. Assts. to Atty. Gen., Theron Lamar Caudle, Asst. Atty. Gen. and Charles Oliphant, Chief Counsel, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bernard D. Daniels, Special Attorney, Washington, D. C., for respondent.

Before McCORD, BORAH and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges.

McCORD, Circuit Judge.

This appeal involves income taxes for the years 1943 and 1944 as to William D. Gray and his wife, Fannie M. Gray, and for the fiscal years ending July 31, 1942, and July 31, 1944, as to R. J. Wolfe and wife, Nona Hobbs Wolfe. The four cases presented have been consolidated in the Tax Court, and will be considered jointly on this appeal. 13 T.C. 265.

The ultimate question presented for our consideration is whether the Tax Court correctly held that taxpayers reserved an economic interest in certain oil and gas leases which they assigned, so that the assignments constituted subleases rendering the amounts received thereunder taxable as ordinary income, or whether such assignments actually were sales of the leases involving no taxable gain.

The material facts, briefly stated, reveal that William D. Gray and R. J. Wolfe were equal co-partners in a firm known as Gray & Wolfe, with office and principal place of business in Houston, Texas. The partnership was engaged in drilling operations and oil and gas production. It kept books and filed returns on the accrual basis of accounting.

In the fall of 1941 and the spring of 1942, and within the fiscal year ending July 31, 1942, Gray & Wolfe acquired certain oil and gas leases covering approximately 1,800 acres of land located in the Pinehurst field, in Montgomery County, Texas. The leases were acquired at a cost of $45,000.00, plus a drilling obligation incurred under certain of the lease contracts.

On May 25, 1942, Gray & Wolfe entered into certain written contracts with the La Gloria Corporation, under which the oil and gas rights in the above leases were assigned. Two assignment contracts were executed, the first covering the oil and gas rights on 1,640 acres of the lands leased, and the second agreement covering an assignment of the remaining 156.6 acres.¹ These agreements specifically excepted and reserved to the partnership, Gray & Wolfe, certain interests in both the oil and gas rights conveyed. In substance, they provided for an overriding royalty of one-fifth of all oil produced from the leased lands, with a limitation that this royalty would be reduced to one-tenth when the oil no longer flowed naturally unless Gray & Wolfe contributed a pro rata share of the cost of recovering the oil by mechanical means. With reference to the gas rights, the assignment contracts expressly provided that after the La Gloria Corporation had recovered any operating costs incurred in developing the leases, the amounts received from the sale of gas and its byproducts would be divided between Gray & Wolfe and the La Gloria Corporation, the former retaining a one-fifth interest and La Gloria Corporation a four-fifths interest therein.² The assignment contracts thus reserved to Gray & Wolfe a twenty per cent interest in the net profits to be derived from the sale of gas and gasoline products.

The supplemental agreement, or Gas Production Contract, contained a provision that, in the event the La Gloria Corporation elected to construct a gas processing and cycling plant, twenty per cent of the stock and interest in such plant would be reserved for and conveyed to Gray and Wolfe.³ In general, the contracts further required the La Gloria Corporation to furnish Gray & Wolfe with monthly statements as to the development and operating costs, the amounts of oil and gas recovered, the disposition of the gas and its products, and a statement as to how the proceeds were distributed. They also contained certain provisions for arbitration of any controversies or disputes which might arise between the parties.

The partnership returns of Gray & Wolfe for the fiscal years ending July 31, 1942, and July 31, 1943, as well as the individual returns of the taxpayers and their wives during the same period, did not show as income any portion of the amounts received from the La Gloria Corporation in 1942 and 1943, as consideration for the assignment of the oil and gas leases. The Commissioner accordingly increased the partnership income for the fiscal year 1942 by $45,000.00, and for 1943 by $6,971.95, which amounts represent the actual cash received from La Gloria Corporation by Gray & Wolfe during the tax years involved. Statutory notices of...