Lewyt Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (349 U.S. 237)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 23, 1955 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 349 U.S. 237 · 75 S. Ct. 736
- Decided
- May 23, 1955
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Federal Taxation
- Disposition
- Affirmed and reversed (or vacated) in part
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court. This case is a companion case to United States v. Olympic Radio & Television, Inc., ante, p. 232. The main point in the two cases is the same — whether a taxpayer on the accrual basis can, in computing its net operating loss for one year, deduct the amount of excess profits taxes which were paid in that year but had accrued in an earlier year. The years 1944 and 1945 were years of profit for the taxpayer. For the years 1946 and 1947, the taxpayer incurred net operating losses which were allowed by the Commissioner as carry-back deductions to the years 1944 and 1945. The taxpayer sought to augment its net operating loss for 1946 by the amount of excess profits taxes which it paid in 1946 on account of its 1945 excess profits tax liability. The Commissioner disallowed the deduction and the Tax Court sustained the Commissioner. 18 T. C. 1245. The Court of Appeals affirmed. 215 F. 2d 518. The case is here on a petition for certiorari which we granted (348 U. S. 895) to resolve the conflict with the Olympic Radip case. Our views, as expressed in the latter case, coincide with those of the Court of Appeals. Accordingly, we affirm that part of the judgment. There is present in this case a point not involved in the Olympic Radio case. The question is whether the excess profits tax that may be offset against 1944 net income is…
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