United States Pumice Supply Company v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The United States Pumice Supply Company, a corporation, (hereinafter referred to as the “Company” or “petitioner”) asserts on this appeal that the Tax Court erred in holding that its product was pumice, and that the Company was required to compute its statutory depletion at five per cent, under § 613(b) (5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 ( 26 U.S.C. § 613 ), rather than the fifteen per cent depletion allowed for “dimension stone,” under § 613(b) (6) of the same 1954 Code. The taxable year involved was that ending November 30, 1955. The amount involved was $17,003.54. The Tax Court had jurisdiction to redetermine petitioner’s alleged deficiency under § 6213 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Jurisdiction here rests on § 7482 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. The opinion appears in 36 T.C. 1160 .

The Tax Court made the following Findings of Fact:

The Tax Court concluded that the material the Company mined in 1955 “was pumice.” Petitioner urges that this finding has no sufficient support in the evidence. The Company’s four experts described the material as “dimension stone.”

The government’s expert, De Grosse, testified only that he had taken two thin slices of…