Court Opinion

ID: 6804409
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-23 18:45:02.016965+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:03:22.700363
License: Public Domain

*934OPINION.
Smith :
Although the petitioner received $9,121.47 in royalties in the year 1921 he did not report any part of this amount as net taxable income by reason of having deducted therefrom the full amount for depletion. The deduction of the depletion was disallowed by the respondent upon the ground that—
* * * It is held by this office [Commissioner’s office] that since you [the petitioner] are neither the lessor nor the lessee and have no interest in the mining lease, no depletion is allowable. The income received from the operation of mining property is not subject to depletion deductions based upon the value of an alleged equity in the mining lease and the entire amount received by reason of the assignment of the option constitutes taxable income for the year in which received.
The petitioner submits that he is entitled to deduct from gross income in his income-tax return for 1921, a reasonable amount for depletion and submits that—
The unit value is the present worth on March first, 1913 of 1%‡, and the depletion allowance for the year is the unit value multiplied by the tonnage mined [paid for, namely, 608,058].
Section 214 of the Revenue Act of 1921 permits an individual to deduct from gross income in his income-tax return, among other items:
*935(8) A reasonable! allowance for the exhaustion, wear and tear of property used in the trade or business, including a reasonable allowance for obsolescence. In the case of such property acquired before March 1, 1913, this deduction shall be computed upon the basis of its fair market price or value as of March 1, 1913 ;
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(10) In the case of mines, oil and gas wells, other natural deposits, and timber, a reasonable allowance for depletion and for depreciation of improvements, according to the peculiar conditions in each case, based upon cost including cost of development not otherwise deducted: Provided, That in the case of such properties acquired prior to March 1, 1913, the fair market value of the property (or the taxpayer’s interest therein) on that date shall be taken in lieu of cost up to that date * * *.
The basis for a deduction for exhaustion or depletion under the provisions of the Revenue Act of 1921 is the fair market price or value as of March 1, 1913, where the property was acquired before that date and the cost where acquired after that date. In the case at bar, the record discloses that the petitioner acquired his interest in the property in question as a result of services performed for a partnership. No evidence has been introduced from which the Board can determine the value at the date of acquisition of the petitioner’s interest, or at March 1,1913, assuming that petitioner had an interest on that date. Upon the record, the action of the Commissioner in disallowing any deduction for exhaustion or depletion for 1921 must be and is sustained.

Judgment will be entered for the respondent.