Law Commons^™

A Simpler Verifiable Gift Tax, Wendy G. Gerzog

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The purpose of this article is to propose a simpler verifiable gift tax, to reassert basic principles of transfer taxes, to encourage simple, outright gifts, and to eliminate some of the major abuses in the current gift tax regime. To accomplish these goals, the proposed tax would simplify gift completion rules, adopt a hard-to-complete rule of transfer taxation, reduce the annual exclusion while expanding the consumption exclusion, and employ loss of preference inducements to increase gift tax compliance.

Wimmer Wins Flp Annual Exclusions, Wendy G. Gerzog

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In Wimmer, the Tax Court held that the income stream from a taxpayer’s gifts of family limited partnership interests was eligible for the annual exclusion. By comparing the income interest in the partnership’s dividend paying marketable securities to the income interest in a trust, the court made Wimmer a winner. But does the opinion logically lead to that conclusion?

Wandering Far Afield With Defined Value Clauses, Wendy G. Gerzog

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The Wandry decision extends the application of defined value clauses beyond those family limited partnership cases that transfer any excess value to a charity. In Wandry, the Tax Court reads Procter narrowly and ignores the fundamental rationale of Robinette.

Defined Value Clauses And Fair Market Value, Wendy G. Gerzog

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In Hendrix the Tax Court considered the issues of whether defined value clauses were the result of arm’s-length transactions and whether they were void as against public policy. The underlying dispute was whether the taxpayers’ transfers of the John H. Hendrix Co. stock were valued at fair market value. With a decision favoring the taxpayers, the defined value clauses in both McCord and Hendrix impede the accurate valuation of taxable gifts to family members and of deductible charitable gifts.

Flp Loss, But Crummey Win, Wendy G. Gerzog

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In Turner the Tax Court determined that section 2036 applied to the decedent’s transfers of assets to his family limited partnership but that the insurance premiums he paid indirectly to his insurance trust qualified for the annual exclusion.

Linton Reversed: Indirect Gifts And The Step Transaction Doctrine, Wendy G. Gerzog

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The Ninth Circuit recently reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the government in Linton on the issues of indirect gift and the applicability of the step transaction doctrine. The circuit court’s analysis focused on the taxpayers’ donative intent. With that emphasis, the Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the district court to determine the sequence of the relevant transactions.

Flp In The Black, Wendy G. Gerzog

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In Estate of Black, because the Tax Court held the Blacks' transfers fell within the bona fide sales exception of section 2036, they were successful at avoiding the application of the provision. Thus, they were able to obtain valuation discounts for their transfers of property (mostly marketable securities) to their son and grandchildren. The court also decided the marital trust funding valuation date issue in the executor's favor and allowed almost half of the claimed administrative expense deductions.

Check-The-Box Regs And Gift Tax Discounts, Wendy G. Gerzog

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This article discusses the recent Tax Court decision in Pierre and the effect for gift tax purposes of an entity’s classification made under the check-the-box regulations. The court was split on what those regulations mean when they state that an entity is to be disregarded ‘‘for federal tax purposes.’’

Valuation Discounting Techniques: Terms Gone Awry, Wendy G. Gerzog

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Fair market value is defined in the section 2031 Regulations. For its validity, that definition of fair market value relies on the normal definitions of its significant terms: a seller is someone who is seeking the highest price for her product and a buyer is someone who wants to obtain the lowest price for his purchase. It is only that tension that creates the realistic, and fair, market value of that asset. Indeed, without that conflict, the definition is comprised of hollow words.

In the context of family limited partnerships, terms have been misused. By utilizing the limited partnership shell, …