United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Germantown Trust Co. v. Commissioner, 309 U.S. 304 (1940)

Germantown Trust Co. v. Commissioner

No. 462

Argued February 8, 1940

Decided February 26, 1940

309 U.S. 304

Syllabus

A trust company, which held and administered a fund enabling its patrons to invest small amounts in securities, filed with a collector for the district where it conducted its business a fiduciary return setting forth the gross income of the fund, deductions, net income, etc. -- all the information necessary to the calculation of any tax that might be due -- and attached a list of the beneficiaries of the fund and their shares of the income. The beneficiaries included these shares in their individual returns. The Commissioner made an additional return for the fund and assessed a deficiency which the Board of Tax Appeals set aside as too late.

Held:

1. The venue for review was in the circuit in which the fiduciary return was filed. Rev.Act, 1926, § 1002(a), as amended by the Rev.Act, 1932, § 519. P. 309 U. S. 308.

2. The assessment was barred under the Rev.Act, 1932, § 276(a), two years after the fiduciary return was filed. P. 309 U. S. 309.

3. Sec. 275(c), providing a four-year limitation if a corporation makes "no return of the tax imposed," and § 276(a), providing that, in case of failure to file a return, the tax may be assessed "at any time," are inapplicable. P. 309 U. S. 309.

106 F.2d 139 reversed.

Certiorari, 308 U.S. 544, to review a judgment which reversed a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals holding an income tax assessment barred by limitations.

Page 309 U. S. 305