Law Commons^™

Joint Tenancy: The Estate Lawyer's Continuing Burden, John E. Riecker

Michigan Law Review

The discussion which follows will be divided into three major parts. First, it will be important to see why so much real and personal property remains in joint tenancy between husband and wife or in entireties tenancy. It has been almost eighteen years since Congress eliminated the necessity of holding property in this form in order to split income therefrom for income tax purposes. Is inertia the only reason for the popularity of joint ownership, or are there other reasons? Second, we shall review the familiar but false assumptions most laymen (and even a few attorneys) commonly make regarding the …

Bootstraps And Capital Gain--A Participant's View Of Commissioner V. Clay Brown, William H. Kinsey

Michigan Law Review

A closely held corporation may be sold in a variety of ways. At one end of the spectrum is an all-cash sale. In such a transaction, the seller receives the purchase price and has no further concern with the economic well-being of the business. The difficulty with this method, of course, is finding a purchaser with sufficient cash who is willing to pay a fair price.

At the other end of the spectrum is a full-fledged bootstrap sale, where there is no down payment other than from the underlying assets of the sold corporation, and the purchaser's obligation to pay …

Equitable Considerations Held Not Applicable To Defense Of Lack Of Overpayment--Dysart V. United States, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Taxpayer treated the proceeds of a judgment recovered in 1954 as capital gain. Although the Commissioner of Internal Revenue did not object to the capital-gain treatment, he assessed a penalty tax for failure to report the judgment in a declaration of estimated income for 1954. In 1958 the regulation providing for the penalty tax was declared invalid, and taxpayer filed a timely claim for refund. Although an independent affirmative action by the Commissioner contesting the 1954 return would have been barred by the statute of limitations, the Commissioner disallowed the refund, contending that because the proceeds of the 1954 judgment …

"Primarily For Sale" In I.R.C Sections 1221 And 1231 Held To Mean "Principally For Sale" Rather Than "Substantially For Sale" --Malat V. Riddell (U.S. 1966), Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Sections 1221 and 1231 of the Internal Revenue Code disqualify from capital gains treatment profits derived from the sale or exchange of property "held by the taxpayer primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of his trade or business." In deciding whether these sections deny capital gains treatment to profits realized by real estate dealers from the sale or exchange of land, the circuit courts, while examining similar facts in relation to the same criteria, have reached divergent conclusions. Two recent decisions, Municipal Bond Corp. v. Commissioner and Malat v. Riddell, illustrate these discordant results. In Municipal …

Personal Holding Companies And The Revenue Act Of 1964, Jerome B. Libin

Michigan Law Review

By 1964, many years had elapsed since significant changes were made in the federal income tax treatment of so-called "personal holding companies." For that reason alone, any amendments contained in the Revenue Act of 1964 that dealt with personal holding companies would have deserved attention. But the fact is that the changes made by the 1964 Act are so powerful in their thrust that they require the most careful kind of study by every practitioner charged with advising closely held corporations. Since the new provisions are rather complicated in nature, such a study cannot lead to a full understanding of …

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Divocrce Property Settlement As A Taxable Event, Martin B. Dickinson Jr., S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondent taxpayer transferred stock to his former wife pursuant to a voluntary property settlement agreement incorporated in their divorce decree. As consideration for the securities conveyed, his wife released her rights to alimony, dower, and intestate succession under Delaware law. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue assessed as taxable gain the difference between the taxpayer's basis for the stock and its market value at the time of the transfer, but the Court of Claims ruled that the taxpayer realized no taxable gain from the transfer. On certiorari, held, reversed. The exchange was a taxable event in which the taxpayer received …

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Transfers Of Mineral Rights In Soil Deposits As Lease Or Sale, Philip Sotiroff

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner executed a written agreement with a contractor in 1954 whereby the contractor acquired the right to enter petitioner's land and extract sand and gravel for a fixed amount per cubic yard. This agreement was terminated in 1955 when the excavations had reached the desired level of street access. Petitioner had entered into a previous oral agreement in 1949 with a different party for the sale of the gravel on the same land down to the same elevation, but that party had not fully exploited the agreement. Petitioner claimed that the agreements were sales of sand and gravel in place …

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Corporation Held Not Collapsible Where View To Sell Arose After Construction Completed, Amalya L. Kearse

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners had formed a corporation for the purpose of building and operating a housing project. After the construction was completed and most of the apartments rented, small cracks were discovered in the buildings. Without soliciting engineering or other technical opinion, petitioners sold their stock in the corporation. The Tax Court upheld respondent-commissioner's taxing the profit from the sale of stock as ordinary income rather than capital gain, on the theory that the corporation was "collapsible" under section 117 (m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939. On appeal, held, reversed. Since the view to the sale of stock did …

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Proceeds From Cancellation Of Contract Treated As Ordinary Income, Jerome B. Libin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Taxpayer had the exclusive right for a period of ten years to purchase all the coal mined by the operator of certain mines. In 1949 the operator paid taxpayer $500,000 as consideration for the complete acquisition of taxpayer's right and interest in the purchase agreement. Taxpayer reported this sum as a long-term capital gain. The Commissioner claimed that the amount received was ordinary income. The Tax Court upheld taxpayer's contention, indicating that the transaction had resulted in the sale or exchange of a capital asset. On appeal by the Commissioner, held, reversed, one justice dissenting. This transaction was more …

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Damages For Injury To Business As Return Of Capital Or Income, Eric Bergsten S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The taxpayers, owners of two movie theatres, recovered $36,000 in a compromise settlement of a Clayton Act suit against the major distributors and exhibitors. The taxpayers claimed that the amount received was a return of capital. The Commissioner claimed the amount received represented the recovery of lost profits. Held, Commissioner upheld. The evidence presented did not warrant a finding that any part of the sum recovered represented a return of capital. Chalmers Cullins, 24 T.C. 322 (1955).

Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Includibilty Of Accumulated Income Of Trust Where Corpus Included In Gross Estate, Neil Flanagin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Decedent created eight inter vivos trusts for the benefit of his immediate family, reserving the power as trustee to invade the corpus in unusual circumstances for the benefit of the beneficiaries, and to accumulate all or part of the income and add it to the corpus. The Commissioner included both the corpus and the accumulated income in the decedent's gross estate. The Tax Court held that the corpus was properly included, but not the accumulated income. On appeal by the Commissioner, held, affirmed. The accumulated income of the trusts should not be included in the decedent's gross estate as …

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Purchase By Network Of Corporation Producing Entertainer's Radio Show As Compensation To Entertainer, Jerome K. Walsh, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Prior to 1947, Jack Benny produced a complete radio show for his sponsor, American Tobacco Company. In January 1947 Amusement Enterprises was incorporated with Benny taking 60 percent of the stock and the remainder going to three of his business associates. Amusement contracted with American to produce a complete radio show, exclusive of Benny's services, to be broadcast over the NBC network on Sunday evenings. Benny signed a separate contract with American as the star of the show. Under the American-Benny contract American could make no change in the time of the broadcast or the network facilities without Benny's approval. …