US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA V. MURPHY, 314 U. S. 441 (1941)

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U.S. Supreme Court

District of Columbia v. Murphy, 314 U.S. 441 (1941)

District of Columbia v. Murphy

No. 58

Argued November 17, 1941

Decided December 15, 1941*

314 U.S. 441

Syllabus

1. One does not acquire a domicile in the District of Columbia, within the meaning of the District of Columbia Income Tax Act, merely by coming to the District to live for an indefinite period while in the Government service. P. 314 U. S. 453.

2. The Act does not intend that one living in the District of Columbia indefinitely, while in the Government service, shall be held domiciled there simply because he does not maintain a domestic establishment at the place from which he came. P. 314 U. S. 454.

3. Persons are domiciled in the District of Columbia, within the meaning of the Act, who live there and have no fixed and definite intent to return to their former domiciles and make their homes there. P. 314 U. S. 454.

4. The place where a man lives is, prima facie, his domicile. P. 314 U. S. 455.

5. The taxing authority is warranted in treating as prima facie taxable any person quartered in the District of Columbia on tax day whose status it deems doubtful. P. 314 U. S. 455.

6. In applying this Act, the taxing authority need not find the exact time when the attitude and relationship of person to place which constitute domicile were formed. It is enough that they were formed before the tax day. P. 314 U. S. 455.

7. If one has at any time become domiciled in the District of Columbia, it is his burden to establish any change of status upon which he relies to escape the tax. P. 314 U. S. 456.

8. In order to retain his former domicile, one who comes to the District to perform Government service must always have a fixed and definite intent to return and to take up his home there when separated from the service. A mere sentimental attachment will not hold the old domicile. P. 314 U. S. 456.

9. Whether or not one votes where he claims domicile is highly relevant, but not controlling. P. 314 U. S. 456. chanrobles.com-red

Page 314 U. S. 442

10. Of great significance to the question of domicile in the District of Columbia is the nature of the position which brings one to or keeps him in the service of the Government. P. 314 U. S. 457.

11. Manner of living in the District and many other considerations touching relationships, soc;al connections, and activities of the person concerned are suggested in the opinion as among the considerations which are relevant to a determination of the question of domicile. P. 314 U. S. 457.

73 App.D.C. 345, 347, 119 F.2d 449, 451, reversed.

Certiorari, 313 U.S. 556, to review judgments sustaining, on petitions for review, decisions of the Board of Tax Appeals for the District of Columbia holding that collections of income taxes from two individuals by the District of Columbia were erroneous. chanrobles.com-red

Page 314 U. S. 445



























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