return
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 280 U.S. 453 - Florsheim Bros. Drygoods Co. v. United States · 1930Most cited · 526 citing opinions
tax
The word 'return' is not a technical word of art... a defective or incomplete return purports to be a specific statement of the items of income, deductions, and credits in compliance with section 239. And, to have that effect, it must honestly and reasonably be intended as such.
How the Supreme Court has restated “return”
Each Supreme Court definition of “return,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “return”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “return” — 1,384 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1930–1940
Perfect accuracy or completeness is not necessary to rescue a return from nullity, if it purports to be a return, is sworn to as such...and evinces an honest and genuine endeavor to satisfy the law.
It cannot be said that the petitioner, whether treated as a corporation or not, made no return of the tax imposed by the statute. Its return may have been incomplete in that it failed to compute a tax, but this defect falls short of rendering it no return whatever.
income tax