Case Name: Appeal of A. MAYNARD STEARNS, Administrator of the Estate of ALBERT H. STEARNS
Court: United States Board of Tax Appeals
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1925-05-26
Citations: 1 B.T.A. 1252
Docket Number: Docket No. 2055
Parties: Appeal of A. MAYNARD STEARNS, Administrator of the Estate of ALBERT H. STEARNS.
Judges: Before James, LittletoN, and Tkussell.
Reporter: Reports of the United States Board of Tax Appeals
Volume: 1
Pages: 1252–1253

Head Matter:
Appeal of A. MAYNARD STEARNS, Administrator of the Estate of ALBERT H. STEARNS.
Docket No. 2055
Submitted April 16, 1925;
decided May 26, 1925.
O. R. Folsom-Jones, Esq., for the taxpayer.
L. 0. Mitchell, Esq., for the Commissioner.
Before James, LittletoN, and Tkussell.

Opinion:
OPINION.
James :
The taxpayer bases his entire claim for a valuation of $300 on the average dividends declared and paid from 1913 to 1923. The corporation, however, has declared over that period only approximately 63 per cent of its net profits in dividends, and the balance sheet as of the close of 1921 shows an actual net worth in capital stock, surplus, and surplus reserves of $871,962.80, or $581.31 per share.
The company, has followed a conservative policy in respect of the payment of dividends, and, under such circumstances, the dividends paid are only one, and in this particular' case a somewhat unim-Eortant, criterion of the value of the stock. The value determined y the Commissioner is fully warranted by the facts.