Bercaw v. Commissioner’s Empirical Analysis
165 F.2d 521 · 1948
Citation profile
49 federal appellate · 1 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 92 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2020 · most notably Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. A Stidger (1967), Cockrell v. Commissioner (1963)
49 federal appellate · 1 district ·
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Flowers · Bingham's Trust v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue · Helvering v. Winmill · Barnhill v. Commissioner · Gilman v. Commissioner
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 92 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““(3) A debt is ‘that which is due from one person to another, whether money, goods or services; that which one person is bound to pay to another, or perform for his benefit.’ Webster’s New International Dictionary. ‘In order to create an indebtedness there must be an actual liability at the time, either to pay then, or at some future time.’ Bouv. Law Diet., Vol. 2, page 1531. ‘Every debt must be solvendum in praesenti, or solvendum in futuro— must be certain and in all events payable; whenever it is uncertain whether anything will ever be de-mandable by virtue of the contract, it cannot be called a “debt.” While the sum of money may be payable upon a contingency, yet in such case it becomes a debt only when the contingency has happened, the term “debt” being opposed to “liability” when used in the sense of an inchoate or contingent debt.’ * * * The term ‘indebtedness’ as used in the Revenue Act implies an unconditional obligation to pay. Any definition more flexible would only encourage subterfuge and deception. The ‘notes’ involved in this case did not constitute a debt of the maker because their payment was contingent upon the payees being alive at the maturity of the instruments in 1950.””
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“(A) In general. All the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or business, including a reasonable allowance for salaries or other compensation for personal services actually rendered; traveling expenses (including the entire amount expended for meals and lodging) while away from home in the pursuit of a trade or business; * * *.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The taxpayer was engaged in the business of an Army officer. His place of business was his particular Army post. If his Army duties required him to travel, he would have received a per diem travel allowance * * *. Thus the expendi tures for meals and striker service while at this post were personal living expenses and non-deductible * * #. This conclusion is inescapable when it is remembered that this officer has been paid commutation of quarters and a subsistence allowance, both of which allowances are not considered as income for the purposes of taxation.””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.