Miller v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The case is here on petition to review a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals upholding the determination of a deficiency in petitioner’s income tax for 1933.

During the calendar years 1932 and 1933 petitioner was engaged in business as a trader in securities. In 1932 he sustained a net loss in his business operations. He carried the loss forward and claimed it as a deduction from gross income in his return for .the calendar ■ year 1933, under § 117 of the Revenue Act of 1932, 26 U.S. C.A. Int.Rev.Acts, page 524. This provides that “if, for any taxable year, it appears upon' the production of evidence satisfactory to the Commissioner that any taxpayer has sustained a net loss, the amount thereof shall be allowed as a deduction in computing the net income of the taxpayer for the suceeding taxable year * * *”

The Commissioner disallowed the deduction on the ground that § 117 of the Revenue Act of 1932 had been repealed by § 218(a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act, enacted June 16, 1933, 48 Stat. 209 . Accordingly he assessed a deficiency.

The case requires little discussion. Title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act, § 218(a), under a subhead denominated…