Law Commons^™

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Constructive Receipt Of Income By Lessor Corporation When Rents Paid Directly To Lessor's Stockholders, William H. Shipley

Michigan Law Review

In 1864 the Joliet and Chicago Railroad Company made a perpetual lease without a defeasance clause of all of its property to another railroad company. Under the state law, the lease was a conveyance in fee. The lessee agreed to pay as rental an annual dividend of seven dollars a share on the then outstanding stock of the lessor, these payments to be made directly to the shareholders. The dividends paid by the lessee for the years 1931 to 1934 were taxed as income to the lessor, who now sues to recover the tax. Held, payments to the lessor's …