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term is used in the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) without
definition and the legislative history fails to provide any
insight or guidance as to the appropriate definition, we will use
the ordinary and common usage of the term in applying that
provision. Texaco Inc. and Subs. v. Commissioner, 101 T.C. 571,
575 (1993), affd. 98 F.3d 825 (5th Cir. 1996); see Commissioner
v. Brown, 380 U.S. 563, 570-571 (1965); Crane v. Commissioner,
331 U.S. 1, 6-7 (1947); Rome I, Ltd. v. Commissioner, 96 T.C.
697, 704 (1991); Union Pac. Corp. v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 32,
38-40 (1988); First Sav. & Loan Association v. Commissioner, 40
T.C. 474, 482 (1963). We look, therefore, to the ordinary and
common usage of the term “net gain” in applying the statute.
Neither Black’s Law Dictionary (6th ed. 1990) nor Webster’s
Third New International Dictionary (1993) specifically defines
the term “net gain”. However, the ordinary and common usage of
the term “net gain” connotes the pecuniary gain remaining after
offsetting gains against losses. Presumably, a prerequisite to
the existence of net gain is that the taxpayer’s gains exceed the
taxpayer’s losses.
Black’s Law Dictionary 957 (7th ed. 1999) defines the term
“net loss” as “The excess of all expenses and losses over all
revenues and gains.” By analogy, the natural, ordinary, and
familiar meaning of the term “net gain” is the excess of all
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