Commissioner v. Wodehouse

Commissioner v. Wodehouse
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 10–13, 1948 Decided June 13, 1949
Full case name	Commissioner v. Wodehouse
Citations	337 U.S. 369 (more) 69 S. Ct. 1120; 93 L. Ed. 1419; 81 U.S.P.Q. 482
Case history
Prior	Wodehouse v. Commissioner, 8 T.C. 637 (1947); reversed, 166 F.2d 986 (4th Cir. 1948); cert. granted, 335 U.S. 807 (1948).
Subsequent	Rehearing denied, 338 U.S. 840 (1949).
Holding
Lump sums paid in advance by publications to non-resident aliens are taxable income under the Revenue Act and are indistinguishable from "royalties" paid over time within the meaning of that Act.
Court membership
Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson Associate Justices Hugo Black · Stanley F. Reed Felix Frankfurter · William O. Douglas Frank Murphy · Robert H. Jackson Wiley B. Rutledge · Harold H. Burton
Case opinions
Majority	Burton
Dissent	Frankfurter, joined by Murphy, Jackson
Laws applied
Revenue Act of 1934, Revenue Act of 1936

Commissioner v. Wodehouse, 337 U.S. 369 (1949), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that lump sums paid in advance by publications to non-resident aliens are taxable income under the Revenue Act and are indistinguishable from "royalties" paid over time within the meaning of that Act.

The Wodehouse involved in the case was the British subject and author P. G. Wodehouse, at that time resident in the United States, but at the times material to the case residing in France. He was described by Justice Burton, who delivered the opinion of the court, as "a nonresident alien of the United States not engaged in trade or business within the United States and not having an office or place of business therein during either the taxable year 1938 or 1941."

External links

• Text of Commissioner v. Wodehouse, 337 U.S. 369 (1949) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Google Scholar Internet Archive (docket files) Justia Library of Congress