Opinion

Wheelock v. Commissioner

  • 10 B.T.A. 540
  • 1928 BTA LEXIS 4085
Court
United States Board of Tax Appeals
Filed
Feb 6, 1928
Status
Published
Author
Lansdon
On the bench
Lansdon, Steenhagen, Only
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 66.0%

The opinion

*541 OPINION.

Lansdon :

The only controversy here relates to the year in which operating expenses which the parties agree are deductible from gross income shall be so deducted. There is no dispute. over the *542 facts. The petitioner is a member of a contracting partnership that keeps its books on the closed-job basis, as set forth in onr findings of fact. The respondent contends that the expenses in question should be deducted from gross income in the respective years in which they are charged to profit and loss. The petitioner maintains that regardless of the methods of bookkeeping employed by the partnership, expenses are deductible from income in the year in which they are paid or incurred.

The administrative regulations permit contractors to make their returns on the so-called closed-job or long-time-contract basis, on the theory that it is only when a project is completed and payment therefor received that income can be determined. The petitioner’s contention in effect is that the partnership is entitled to deduct expenses as incurred, regardless of when resulting income is realized. We are not able to adopt this view. The partnership, having decided to keep its books on a basis that takes income into profit and loss only as and when projects are completed, we think that the expenses incident to the production of such income are deductible at the same time.

Reviewed by the Board.

Judgment will be entered for the respondent.

Steenhagen concurs in the result only.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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