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38 T.C. 44

Lingenfelder v. Commissioner

United States Tax Court

Decided April 10, 1962

United States Tax Court · decided 1962-04-10

The petitioners claimed certain deductions for gifts to religious organizations and declined to substantiate them, contending that the provision of the Internal Revenue Code requiring substantiation… Held: Even if the provision of the statute requiring verification of charitable contributions were invalid because contrary to the Constitution, the petitioners would not be entitled to the deductions without substantiation.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decision will be entered under Rule 50 · Decided 1962-04-10

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently December 1986

1 federal appellate ·

40196219701980decided

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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¶1OPINION.

Fat, Judge:

¶2The petitioners contend that they are entitled to the deduction claimed for contributions to religious groups without substantiating them because a requirement that they reveal the recipients of such contributions would interfere with the free exercise of their religion under the first amendment of the Constitution.

¶3However, we need not decide whether there is any repugnancy between the first amendment and a taxing scheme which requires the revelation of the recipients of religious contributions in order to qualify for a deduction. Even if there were such a repugnancy, it would not benefit the petitioners.

¶4Section 170(a) (1) of the Internal Eevenue Code of 1954 provides, in part, as follows:

(a) Allowance of Deduction.—
(1) General bule. — There shall be allowed as a deduction any charitable contribution … payment of which is made within the taxable year. A charitable contribution shall be allowable as a deduction only if verified under regulations prescribed by the Secretary or his delegate.

¶5It is evident that the verification of charitable contributions is an integral part of the legislative provision allowing for the deduction of such contributions. Therefore, if it were to be held that the requirement for verification of religious contributions was invalid, it would be necessary to go further and strike down the entire provision insofar as it grants a deduction for contributions to religious groups. Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 288, 312-313 (1936). This would in no sense further the petitioners’ cause.

¶6Decision will be entered under Buie 50.

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