Northern Indiana Public Service Company - Page 13

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                 long as it actually conducted business.[4] * * *                                     

           Considering these principles and the fact that Finance engaged in                          
           the business activity of borrowing and lending money at a profit,                          
           it would seem that Finance should be recognized as the recipient                           
           of interest paid to it by petitioner.                                                      
                 Of course, a corporate entity can act as an agent for its                            
           sole shareholder rather than for its own account.  But these                               
           instances have been rather narrowly restricted to situations                               
           where the corporation's role as an agent is made clear; e.g.,                              
           where the agency relationship is set forth in a written                                    
           agreement, the corporation functions as an agent, and the                                  
           corporation is held out as an agent in all dealings with third                             
           parties related to the transaction.  Commissioner v. Bollinger,                            
           485 U.S. 340 (1988).5  The facts before us do not fit this mold.                           

           4See also Ross Glove Co. v. Commissioner, 60 T.C. 569, 588                                 
           (1973).                                                                                    
           5In Bass v. Commissioner, 50 T.C. 595, 601 (1968), we                                      
           observed:                                                                                  

                 Long ago, the Supreme Court held that when a                                         
                 corporation carries on business activity the fact that                               
                 the owner retains direction of its affairs down to the                               
                 minutest detail makes no difference tax-wise, observing                              
                 that "Undoubtedly the great majority of corporations                                 
                 owned by sole stockholders are 'dummies' in the sense                                
                 that their policies and day-to-day activities are                                    
                 determined not as decisions of the corporation but by                                
                 their owners acting individually."  National Carbide                                 
                 Corp. v. Commissioner, supra at 433; see Chelsea                                     
                 Products, Inc., 16 T.C. 840, 851 (1951), affd. 197 F.2d                              
                                                                         (continued...)               




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