Lemon Corporation generated $324,600 of income from ordinary business operations. It also sold several assets during the year. Compute Lemon’s taxable income under each of the following alternative assumptions about the tax consequences of the asset sales. a. Lemon recognized a $5,500 capital gain and a $7,400 net Section 1231 loss.
b. Lemon recognized a $6,500 capital loss and a $4,700 net Section 1231 gain.
c. Lemon recognized a $2,500 capital gain, a $3,900 capital loss, and a $3,000 net Section 1231 gain.
d. Lemon recognized $4,000 of depreciation recapture, a $2,000 Section 1231 gain, and a $4,200 Section 1231 loss.

a. Lemon’s taxable income = $322,700

b. Lemon’s taxable income = $324,600

c. Lemon’s taxable income = $326,200

d. Lemon’s taxable income = $326,400

Explanation:

Before the questions are answered, the provisions of section 1231 of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules are quoted as follows:

- If you have a net section 1231 loss, it is an ordinary loss.

- If you have a net section 1231 gain, it is ordinary income up to the amount of your unrecaptured section 1231 losses from previous years. The rest, if any, is a long-term capital gain.

Therefore, net section 1231 loss which is an ordinary loss is deducted from ordinary business operations to obtain taxable income.

Also, we describe the following:

Taxable income can be described as the amount of income that is employed to calculated the amount of tax that is payable to the government by an individual or a company in a particular tax year. It is obtained after making all required additions and allowable deductions.

Capital gain can be described as an increase in the value of a capital asset which is realized when the asset is sold. For tax purposes, capital gain is added to the income from ordinary business operations to obtain taxable income.

Capital loss can be described as a decrease in the value of a capital asset which is recognised when the asset is sold. For tax purposes, capital loss is deducted from the income from ordinary business operations to obtain taxable income.

We therefore proceed as follows:

a. Lemon recognized a $5,500 capital gain and a $7,400 net Section 1231 loss.

From the question, we have the following:

Income from ordinary business operations = $324,600

Capital gain recognised = $5,500

Net Section 1231 loss recognised = $7,400

Based on the explanation provided above, Lemon’s taxable income under this scenario is therefore calculated as follows:

Lemon’s taxable income = Income from ordinary business operations + Capital gain recognised - Net Section 1231 loss recognised = $324,600 + $5,500 - $7,400 = $322,700

b. Lemon recognized a $6,500 capital loss and a $4,700 net Section 1231 gain.

From the question, there is nothing related past five years stated and it is therefore assumed that there is no net section 1231 loss in the past five years.

As result, the total of $4,700 net Section 1231 gain is regarded as a capital gain and it is set-off against the $6,500 capital loss as follows to obtain the non-deductible expense as follows:

Non-deductible expense = $6,500 - $4,700 = $1,800

Since there is nothing deductible again, Lemon’s taxable income under this scenario is therefore equal to the income from ordinary business operations of $324,600. That is,

Lemon’s taxable income = $324,600

c. Lemon recognized a $2,500 capital gain, a $3,900 capital loss, and a $3,000 net Section 1231 gain.

Since no net section 1231 loss in the past five years is indicated here, the $3,000 net Section 1231 gain will be treated as a long-term capital gain.

Based on the provisions of section 1231 of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules quoted above, non-deductible expense is calculated by deducting the $3,900 capital loss to the extent of the $2,500 capital gain as follows:

Non-deductible expense = $3,900 - $2,500 = $1,400

Since the $3,000 net Section 1231 gain has to be treated as a long-term capital gain, the $1,400 will be deducted from it obtain the net capital gain as follows:

Net capital gain = $3000 - $1400 = $1600

Lemon’s taxable income under this scenario is therefore calculated by adding the $1,600 net capital gain to the $324,600 income from ordinary business operations as follows:

Lemon’s taxable income = $324,600 + $1600 = $326,200

d. Lemon recognized $4,000 of depreciation recapture, a $2,000 Section 1231 gain, and a $4,200 Section 1231 loss.

We have the following:

Section 1231 loss = $4,200

Section 1231 gain = $2,000

Therefore, we have:

Net section 1231 loss = Section 1231 loss - Section 1231 gain = $4,200 - 2,000 = $2,200

This net section 1231 loss of $2,200 is therefore treated as ordinary loss as already stated in the provisions of section 1231 of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules quoted above and deducted from the $324,600 income from ordinary business operations.

In addition, the depreciation recapture of $4,000 will be treated as ordinary income and it will be added to the $324,600 income from ordinary business operations.

Lemon’s taxable income under this scenario is therefore calculated as follows:

Lemon’s taxable income = Income from ordinary business operations + Depreciation recapture - Net section 1231 loss = $324,600 + $4,000 - $2,200 = $326,400

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