Townsend Industries, Inc. v. United States
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
342 F.3d 890 (2003)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Townsend Industries, Inc. (plaintiff) paid for a four-day Canadian fishing trip for all of its employees. The trip was not mandatory, but employees were encouraged and often felt pressure to go. The trip included a dinner at which Townsend’s CEO discussed the state of the company. Although there were no other formal business meetings, the employees discussed work throughout the trip. Indeed, the trip was often the venue at which product developers introduced new products to the company’s national sales team. Townsend did not withhold the per-employee cost of the trip as taxable wages. The Internal Revenue Service assessed deficiencies against Townsend for this failure. Townsend paid the deficiencies but then brought suit seeking a refund. The district court ruled that the trip expenses constituted taxable income. Townsend appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Bowman, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 796,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.