Putnam v. Commissioner’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

237 federal appellate · 21 district · 19 state decisions

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 686 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““In computing net income there shall be allowed as deductions: “(k) Bad debts. “(1) General rule. Debts which become worthless within the taxable year; or (in the discretion of the Commissioner) a reasonable addition to a reserve for bad debts; and when satisfied that a debt is recoverable only in part, the Commissioner may allow such debt, in an amount not in excess of the part charged off within the taxable year, as a deduction. This paragraph shall not apply in the case of a taxpayer, other than a bank, as defined in section 104, with respect to a debt evidenced by a security as defined in paragraph (3) of this subsection. This paragraph shall not apply in the case of a taxpayer, other than a corporation, with respect to a non-business debt, as defined in paragraph (4) of this subsection. * * * * *•*>!«** “(4) Non-business debts. In the case of a taxpayer, other than a corporation, if a non-business debt becomes worthless within the taxable year, the loss resulting therefrom shall be considered a loss from the sale or exchange, during the taxable year, of a capital asset held for not more than 6 months. The term ‘non-business debt’ means a debt other than a debt evidenced by a security as defined in paragraph (3) and other than a debt the loss ¡rom the worthlessness of which is incurred in the taxpayer’s trade or business.” [Emphasis added.]”

   19 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Gulledge v. Commissioner · Holtz v. Commissioner

2. ““The familiar rule is that, m stanter upon the payment by the guarantor of the debt, the debtor’s obligation to the creditor becomes an obligation to the guarantor, not a new debt, but, by subrogation, the result of the shift of the original debt from the creditor to the guarantor who steps into the creditor’s shoes. Thus, the loss sustained by the guarantor unable to recover from the debtor is by its very nature a loss from the worthlessness of a debt. This has been consistently recognized in the administrative and the judicial construction of the Internal Revenue laws which until the decisions of the Courts of Appeals in conflict with the decision below, have always treated guarantors’ losses as bad debt losses. The Congress recently confirmed this treatment in the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 by providing that a payment by a noncorporate taxpayer in discharge of his obligation as guarantor of certain noncorporate obligations ‘shall be treated as a debt.’ ””

   11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Pontiac v. Commissioner · Maryland Savings-Share Insurance v. United States

3. “a loss attributable to the worthlessness of a debt shall be regarded as a bad debt loss, deductible as such or not at all.”

   11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Meyer v. Commissioner · Bernstein v. Commissioner