Arkansas Best Corporation v. Commissioner, 485 U.S. 212 (1988), is a United States Supreme Court decision that helps taxpayers classify whether or not the sale of an asset is an ordinary or capital gain or loss for income tax purposes.

[1] Arkansas Best, a diversified holding company acquired a large percentage of the stock of the National Bank of Commerce in Dallas, Texas.

When the real estate market in Dallas faltered, Arkansas Best sold a large portion of its stake in the Bank at a loss.

The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service disallowed the deduction, finding that it was a capital, not ordinary loss.

"[2] This is essentially a codification of the result in Corn Products and removes the necessity of classifying hedging transactions as "inventory" under IRC § 1221(a)(1).