Caswell's Estate v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (Two Cases)

Wallace Caswell and Charles Henry Caswell, residents of Stanislaus County, California, died in 1949. Thereafter respondent, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, determined that there was a deficiency of $7,828.97 in respect of Wallace Caswell’s income tax for 1945, and that there was a deficiency of $5,278.10 in respect of Charles Henry Caswell’s income tax for 1945. Petitioners, the estates of the Caswells, petitioned the Tax Court for redeterminations of their income tax liabilities for 1945. The Tax Court, after a hearing, entered decisions ( 17 T.C. 1190 ) sustaining respondent’s determinations. Contending that the deficiency in respect of Wallace Caswell’s income tax for 1945 was less than $7,828.97, and that the deficiency in respect of Charles Henry Caswell’s income tax for 1945 was less than $5,278.10,* petitioners seek review of the decisions.

The Caswells constituted, and were members of, a partnership called Caswell Brothers, wherein each had a one-half interest. Wallace Caswell and the partnership were growers of peaches and were members of Turlock Co-operative Growers, a co-operative association incorporated under the laws of California, hereafter called the…