TAXATION - INCOME TAX - INCLUSION OF UNPAID DIVIDENDS IN DECEDENT\u27S INCOME

Decedent owned stock in a corporation whose board of directors declared a dividend on April 30, 1934, for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1935, payable to stockholders of record at such times and in such installments as the directors might determine. At the time of decedent\u27s death, October 15, 1934, only one-half of the dividend had been paid to him, but the commissioner included in the gross income of the decedent for the taxable period prior to death the entire amount of the dividend declared. The Board of Tax Appeals reduced this amount to the portion of the dividend actually paid. On appeal by the commissioner, held that the entire amount of the dividend had accrued as income before the date of death, and hence must be included in gross income for the taxable period in which death occurred. Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Cohen, (C. C. A. 5th, 1941) 121 F. (2d) 348