Bankers Pocahontas Coal Co. v. Burnet, 287 U.S. 308 (1932)

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Bankers Pocahontas Coal Co. v. Burnet

No. 104

Argued November 18, 1932
Decided December 5, 1932
287 U.S. 308

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. Royalties based on coal production, which were received by a lessor of coal land in 1920-1926 under leases executed before the date of the Sixteenth Amendment, held not converted capital taxable only by apportionment, but income taxable under the Revenue Act of 1918, whether title to the coal passed to the lessee upon the making of the leases before the coal was severed, or only as the coal was mined. Burnet v. Harmel, ante, p. 103. P. 310.

2. Section 234(a)(9) of the Revenue Act of 1918, and regulations thereunder, require depletion allowances upon bonus and royalty payments received by the lessor of mineral lands, sufficient to provide for a return in full of invested capital, and these provisions have been continued with the later Revenue Acts. Murphy Oil Co. v. Burnet, ante, p. 299. P. 311.

3. A point affecting tax liability, decided in a suit against a collector of taxes, is not res judicata against the Commissioner of Internal Revenue or the United States in litigation respecting later taxes. P. 311.

4. Rule 50 of the Board of Tax Appeals, which forbids the raising of new issues when the Board has determined a tax liability and the hearing is to compute the amount, is a proper exercise of the power of the Board to prescribe the practice in proceedings before it. P. 312.

5. The Board cannot be held to have abused its discretion in denying a taxpayer a rehearing on a new issue when it does not appear that the evidence tendered was not available to the taxpayer in ample time to present it before the Board had made and filed its findings of fact and opinion. P. 313.

55 F.2d 626 affirmed.

Certiorari to review the affirmance of a ruling, 18 B.T.A. 901, sustaining an increased assessment of income and profits taxes.