United States v. Smith

This action was brought to recover income taxes, with interest, for the year 1933 and for the year 1941. The tax for the year 1933 was $2,580.82 and interest of $400.45 due thereon upon a joint assessment of J. A. Wigmore and Mrs. Olive Wills Wigmore, husband and wife, assessed October 16, 1936, for income reported on March 13, 1934 by J. A. Wig-more and Mrs. Olive Wills Wigmore upon a joint return for the year 1933. The assessment was introduced in evidence and is presumed to be correct. Although the complaint charged a joint obligation and prayed for judgment against both defendants, the husband, J. A. Wigmore, was not served with process and did not appear in the case. The only question urged here by the defendant is that the assessment for the year 1933 was not made within two years of filing the return, as required by the Revenue Act of 1932, § 275(a), 47 Stat. 169 , 26 U.S.C.A.Int.Rev. Acts, page 565. The government conceded that more than two years had elapsed between the filing of the return and the making of the assessment, but relied upon a written consent providing that the tax might be assessed “at any time on or before June 30, 1937”. The trial court held that the…