152 F.2d 625 | 2d Cir. | 1945
This litigation results from disagreement between the parties as to whether the taxpayer, incorporated under the laws of Scotland, is taxable on income received from sources within the United States during the years 1939 and 1940, as a nonresident un
The same dispute with respect to the years 1937 and 1938 was presented to this court in Linen Thread Co. v. Commissioner, 128 F.2d 166, certiorari denied Linen Thread Co. v. Helvering, 317 U.S. 673, 63 S.Ct. 79, 87 L.Ed. 514, where the petitioner was held taxable as a nonresident. The facts with respect to the petitioner’s operations in the United States for 1939 and T940 are in all material respects the same .as the facts involved as to the years 1937 and 1938 in the earlier case.
Section 231(b) reads as follows: “(b) Resident corporations. A foreign corporation engaged in trade or business within the United States or having an of■fice or place of business therein shall be ■taxable as provided in section 14(e) (1).”
Concededly the petitioner was not engaged in trade or business within the United States. The sole issue is whether it had “an office or place of business” here •during 1939 and 1940. On the basis of the. undisputed evidence relating to those years ■the Tax Court concluded that the taxpayer •did not maintain “an office or place of business” within the 'United States as these words are interpreted by the applicable Treasury Regulations. If the regulation •is valid, this finding, supported as it is by substantial evidence, is not reviewable by .an appellate court. Commissioner v. Scottish American Co., 323 U.S. 119, 65 S.Ct. 169. The appellant argues that this rule lias been nullified by Bingham’s Trust v. Commissioner, 325 U.S. 365, 65 S.Ct. 1232. We do not so read the opinion; indeed, it cites the Scottish American case as one involving a question for the trier of fact.
In making its finding the Tax Court relied upon Article 19.231-1 (b) of Treasury Regulations 103 which interprets the statutory words “office or place of business.”
Order affirmed.
As the facts are set out in extenso in our former opinion they need not be repeated here.
Article 19.231-1 (b) of Treasury Regulations 103 provides in part as follows:
“Whether a foreign corporation has .an ‘office or place of business’ within the United States depends upon the facts in a particular case. The term ‘office or place of business,’ however, implies a place for the regular transaction of business and does not include a place where casual or incidental transactions might be, or are, effected.”