McLaughlin

This action was brought by the appellant to recover income tax paid to the appellee for the taxable years 1918 to 1921, inclusive. The appellant was engaged in the furniture business from and after 1912. A considerable part of its sales were made on the installment basis. It reported its income from such sales upon the accrual basis for the taxable years 1913 to 1917, inclusive. In 1919 it elected to file its return on the installment basis for 1918 and did so for each of the years here involved (1918 to 1921, inclusive),, thus paying income tax each year upon the proportion of the profit collected during the taxable year. In making its returns for such years, appellant excluded from its gross income profits which were a part of the installments received during the taxable years upon sales made prior to 1918, which profits had been included in ‘ its reports of gross income upon an accrual basis for *607 1917 and previous taxable years, upon the theory that the tax on such profits had been paid upon the returns and assessments for previous years. The petitioner paid taxes upon its returns for the years 1918 to 1921, inclusive, with some minor readjustments of tax made subsequently.…