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21 F.2d 1003

Docket No. 5153.

Becker v. United States

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Decided October 28, 1927.

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1927-10-28

2 counsel of record

Relies on United States v. Rindskopf

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1927-10-28

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 1965

4 federal appellate · 2 district ·

4019271930194019501960decided

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.

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¶1Internal revenue i@=>25 — Assessment to determine income and profits of business concern held properly made on accrual basis, where method followed failed to disclose income (Revenue Act 1918, § 212 [b], being. Comp. St. § 63361/af).

¶2Under Revenue Act 1918, § 212(b), being Comp. St. § 6336^ f, Commissioner of Internal Revenue was authorized to make assessment for purpose of determining income and excess profits of business concern on an accrual basis, where the company’s method failed to disclose its income, although books were kept on basis of cash received and disbursed.

¶3Appeal from the District Court of tho United States for the Middle District of Georgia; William J. Tilson, Judge.

¶4Suit by the United States against' S. L. Becker. Judgment for the United States, and defendant appeals.

¶5Affirmed.

¶6Roland Ellis and Frank Reagan, both of Macon, Ga., for appellant. 1

¶7Scott Russell, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Macon, Ga.

¶8Before WALKER, BRYAN, and FOSTER, Circuit Judges.

¶9BRYAN, Circuit Judge.

¶10This is a suit by the United States to collect a tax from the income and excess profits of the Union Furniture Company for that part of the year ending September 30, 1918. On or about that date the company was dissolved, and appellant, who was the sole stockholder, sold all its assets and received more than is sought to he recovered. The following facts were either agreed to by stipulation or appear by nncontradieted evidence:

¶11The books of the company were kept on the basis of cash received and disbursed, but they did not correctly reflect the income. The assessment of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue was made on the accrual basis, *1004which is the method generally adopted by accountants, and which- though not exact, was as nearly accurate as it was possible to make from the company’s books, or as is usu- . ally obtained from the books of a small retail business. The company was engaged in selling furniture on the installment plan.

¶12While appellant claims the assessment was erroneous, he fails to show that any part of it should be disallowed. Section 212(b) of the Revenue Act of 1918, 40 Stat. 1064 (Comp. St. § 6336%f) provides: “The net income shall be computed upon the basis of the taxpayer’s annual accounting period · Case Law">annual accounting period (fiscal year or calendar year, as the ease may be) in accordance with the method of accounting regularly employed in keeping the books of such taxpayer; but if no such method of accounting has been so employed, or if the method employed does not clearly refleet the income, the computation shall be made upon such basis and in such manner as in the opinion of the Commissioner does clearly reflect the income.” It follows that, as the company’s method failed to disclose its income, the assessment as made was authorized by law. That assessment was prima facie evidence of the amount due. Upon proof by appellant that it should be reduced by any particular amount, the government would still be entitled to recover the remainder. United States v. Rindskopf, 105 U. S. 418, 26 L. Ed. 1131.

¶13As the assessment was not shown to be incorrect, the prima facie presumption that attached to it was not ovéreome, and the District Court correctly sustained it as made.

¶14The judgment is affirmed.

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