Reilly v. Commissioner’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate ·

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

1. “It is a cardinal principle of the taxing statutes that the method of accounting employed shall clearly reflect the income; and a taxpayer may not compute its income partly on one basis and partly on another, as it is apparent is contemplated by tlie suggested method, for the very reason that income is not thereby clearly reflected. To treat the collections made during the year, on installment sales of prior years, as income for the years in which such sales were made, while at the same time returning as income for 1919 only the profits upon the sales made in that year which are actually reduced to possession, is, in effect, an accounting for the income on sales of prior years on the accrual basis, and for the income on sales made in 1919 on the installment sales basis. Both methods cau not be used in computing the income of one year; one must give way to the other. * * *”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Acme Lumber Co. v. Commissioner