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Fund v. United States, supra at 6: "‘The all events test’ is
recognized but regarded as not failed merely because a ‘condition
subsequent’ may interfere with actual payment"; see also Central
Cuba Sugar Co. v. Commissioner, supra. In the cases cited, the
taxpayer was obligated to pay a fixed commission based upon sales
that had occurred by the end of the taxable year, although actual
payment of the commission was predicated upon events transpiring
after the close of the taxable year. For example, in Ohmer
Register Co. v. Commissioner, supra at 683, as in this case, where
the royalties to authors were reduced to take account of returns,
a commission credited to a sales agent on the original sale would
be reversed should the company be required to "take back the
product sold", i.e., should the product be returned. In Ohmer
Register Co., as in the other cited cases, the taxpayer was
allowed to deduct commissions due with respect to sales in the
year of the sales, rather than in the subsequent year when the
obligation to actually pay the commissions was discharged. The
court noted that "[t]he fact that the agent might not, in the end
[,] receive his full commission is no more material than that the
petitioner might not receive full payment of the purchase price of
the article sold." Id. at 686.
In Helvering v. Russian Fin. & Constr. Corp., 77 F.2d 324,
327 (2d Cir. 1935), affirming a Memorandum Opinion of this Court,
the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit stated the applicable
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