Opinion ID: 239157
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sales of the Unimproved Land.

Text: 17 Petitioner bought from time to time undeveloped land. With regard to one block of it, he has had the advantage of the capital gains provisions upon its sale. This was a piece of land which was bought for the development of a shopping center but the plan failed because of zoning restrictions which could not be met. The major portion of the land was sold off in two pieces at a profit. The taxpayer had the advantage of the capital gains provisions. 18 With regard to the other pieces the Commissioner insists that the taxpayer is not entitled to the benefit of the capital gains provisions. There were seventeen pieces held by the taxpayer during the taxable years. The taxpayer made a total of eighteen sales of undeveloped land during this period. Six of them the taxpayer conceded resulted in ordinary income. 19 Here, too, the evidentiary facts are not in dispute. The question is whether the taxpayer was holding this undeveloped land for sale in the ordinary course of its trade or business. The Tax Court believed the 'essential fact seems to be that these properties were acquired for the purpose of re-sale whenever a satisfactory profit could be made.   ' and 'primarily for sale to its customers in the ordinary course of its business   'We do not profess to know precisely what makes one a dealer in undeveloped land. There were, as those things go, quite a number of parcels and the sales were comparatively rapid. There was no such showing of a change in purpose of the taxpayer's activities to induce the sale as we had in the case of the rental properties. We cannot say under these circumstances that the Tax Court was wrong in reaching the conclusion it did. 10 20 The judgment of the Tax Court will be reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. 21