United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Mother Lode Coalition Mines Co. v. Commissioner, 317 U.S. 222 (1942)

Mother Lode Coalition Mines Co. v. Commissioner

No. 94

Argued November 19, 1942

Decided December 7, 1942

317 U.S. 222

Syllabus

1. An income tax return for the year 1934, in which the taxpayer had items of gross income (and related deductions) from a mining property, was the "first return . . . in respect of" the property within the meaning of § 114(b)(4) of the Revenue Act of 1934, and the taxpayer's failure in that return to state whether it elected to have the depletion allowance for such property computed on the percentage basis foreclosed a claim of a percentage depletion allowance in its return for 1935 -- notwithstanding that, in 1934, the taxpayer had no net income and no basis for a depletion allowance. P. 317 U. S. 223.

2. This construction of § 114(b)(4) is in accord with the administrative interpretation evidenced by Article 23(m)-5 of Treasury Regulations 86, which is consistent with the statute and supported also by practical considerations. P. 317 U. S. 224.

125 F.2d 657 affirmed.

Certiorari, 316 U.S. 660, to review the affirmance of a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals, 42 B.T.A. 596, sustaining t;he Commissioner's disallowance of a deduction for depletion in the computation of petitioner's income tax.