Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Taxation-Federal Estate and Gift Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

1941

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Taxation-Federal Estate and Gift

Federal Taxation Of Insurance Trusts, Allan F. Smith Dec 1941

Federal Taxation Of Insurance Trusts, Allan F. Smith

Michigan Law Review

The life insurance trust may take many forms and serve a variety of purposes, but for present purposes it may be defined as a trust, at least part of the corpus of which is a policy of life insurance, in which the duty of the trustee is to receive the proceeds of such policy and administer such proceeds as a trust. Such a trust, like any other, may be revocable or irrevocable, and may be funded or unfunded. These various types will be considered separately only where the tax results vary with the type. The present objective is to survey …

Go to article

Taxation - Optional Valuation Date Under Federal Estate Tax - Inclusion Of Income Received During Year After Decedents Death In The Valuation Of The Gross Estate, Jay W. Sorge Dec 1941

Taxation - Optional Valuation Date Under Federal Estate Tax - Inclusion Of Income Received During Year After Decedents Death In The Valuation Of The Gross Estate, Jay W. Sorge

Michigan Law Review

The executors of three different estates elected the optional valuation date provided in the federal estate tax and were compelled, because of a Treasury regulation, to include rents, interest, and regular dividend payments received during the year after the decedent's death in their valuation of the gross estate. In actions to recover overpayment of the tax, the regulation was upheld by the lower federal courts, and the cases were brought to the Supreme Court by certiorari. Held, regular dividend, interest, and rent payments received by the estate between the decedent's death and the optional valuation date one year later, …

Go to article

The Impact Of The Law Of Powers Upon Our Internal Revenue Laws, Montgomery B. Angell Jun 1941

The Impact Of The Law Of Powers Upon Our Internal Revenue Laws, Montgomery B. Angell

Michigan Law Review

An interesting difference in view has arisen recently in the halls of the Harvard Law School on the use of powers of appointment under the federal estate tax act. One view is that the chief efficacy today of the power of appointment lies in its capacity for use in tax evasion, which should be corrected. The other view is that there is a salutary tendency toward using sensible and flexible powers of appointment, which should be encouraged in meeting changing and difficult family situations, but which would be checked were the former view accepted. Thus we find here the age-old …

Go to article

Taxation -Taxability Of Insurance Policies Under The Federal Estate Tax Where Possibility Of Reverter To Insured, Felicia I. Hmiel Jun 1941

Taxation -Taxability Of Insurance Policies Under The Federal Estate Tax Where Possibility Of Reverter To Insured, Felicia I. Hmiel

Michigan Law Review

In 1920 decedent purchased a fifty-thousand-dollar life insurance policy, making his wife beneficiary and providing that if she predeceased him the proceeds should be payable to the executors of his estate. No power to revoke the policy or to change the beneficiary was expressly retained. The decedent predeceased the beneficiary and, in the assessment of the federal estate tax, the proceeds were included as part of his gross estate. The tax was paid, and plaintiff executor brought suit to recover an alleged overpayment of the estate tax because of the inclusion in the gross estate of the proceeds of the …

Go to article

Taxation - Gift Tax - Each Beneficiary Of Trust As Donee For Purpose Of Exemption Provision, Alfred I. Rothman Jun 1941

Taxation - Gift Tax - Each Beneficiary Of Trust As Donee For Purpose Of Exemption Provision, Alfred I. Rothman

Michigan Law Review

In 1935, the donor created a trust for the benefit of seven children. The donor in her gift tax return, pursuant to section 504b of the Gift Tax Act, excluded from the taxable amount $5,000 for each child. The commissioner's action in treating the trustee as the donee and in allowing a single deduction of $5,000 was sustained by the Board of Tax Appeals. The circuit court of appeals reversed. Held, that the taxpayer was entitled to seven deductions, one for each beneficiary under the trust. Helvering v. Hutchings, (U.S. 1941) 61 S. Ct. 653.

Go to article

Taxation Of Annuity Contracts Under Estate And Inheritance Taxes, Robert Meisenholder Apr 1941

Taxation Of Annuity Contracts Under Estate And Inheritance Taxes, Robert Meisenholder

Michigan Law Review

A glance at any authoritative encyclopedia will confirm the fact that annuity transactions of one sort or another have existed since earliest civilized times. It was not until 1762, however, that the first insurance company of the world was established; at that time began the issuance of annuity contracts similar to our modem contracts. The popularity of such contracts has increased and decreased at various periods in Great Britain. But in the United States, they have assumed importance only since the beginning of this century and have attained a relatively widespread popularity only since the years of prosperity in the …

Go to article

Taxation - Death Taxes - Gifts In Contemplation Of Death, Kenneth J. Nordstrom Mar 1941

Taxation - Death Taxes - Gifts In Contemplation Of Death, Kenneth J. Nordstrom

Michigan Law Review

The problem arising when estate and inheritance taxes reach out and attempt to include transfers which have been completed inter vivos are of current importance in state and federal litigation. A survey of the cases shows that the courts and legislatures are making a constant effort to fix and determine a workable rule for the application of a tax on transfers which have been made in life under circumstances so closely related to death that they may, in nature and effect, be properly classified as transfers made in contemplation of death. The problem is of no small moment, for perplexing …

Go to article

Paul's Studies In Federal Taxation, Third Series -A Review, Josiah Willard Feb 1941

Paul's Studies In Federal Taxation, Third Series -A Review, Josiah Willard

Michigan Law Review

This Third Series of Mr. Paul's Studies in Federal Taxation is a welcome addition to the literature on the subject. Too few members of the tax bar reduce their views on the subject to writing, and many of those who do apparently feel that they must never concede any merit to a contention of the treasury on any doubtful point, for fear that such a concession will be used against them by some treasury attorney in the future. On the other hand, many academic writers on the subject tend to assume that every decision in favor of the taxpayer represents …

Go to article

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Intangible Satisfaction From Gift As Income To The Donor, Walter B. Connolly Jan 1941

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Intangible Satisfaction From Gift As Income To The Donor, Walter B. Connolly

Michigan Law Review

Respondent, the owner of negotiable bonds, detached from them negotiable interest coupons shortly before their due date and delivered them as a gift to his son, who in the same year collected them at maturity. The commissioner of internal revenue ruled that the interest payments were taxable to the respondent donor. The circuit court of appeals reversed the order of the board of tax appeals sustaining the tax. Held, the commissioner was correct in including such interest payments in the taxable income of the donor. Helvering v. Horst, (U.S. 1940) 61 S. Ct. 144.

Go to article

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Exemption Of Life Insurance Proceeds When Paid In The Form Of Annuity, Spencer E. Irons Jan 1941

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Exemption Of Life Insurance Proceeds When Paid In The Form Of Annuity, Spencer E. Irons

Michigan Law Review

A taxpayer was the beneficiary of life insurance policies which required the insurance company to make fifty annual payments of $2,000 each. At the death of the insured in 1917, the commuted value of this obligation was $53,000. Prior to 1934, the taxpayer had received seventeen payments, aggregating $45,473.40, no part of which had been reported as income. For the year 1934, the taxpayer received $2,581.40, of which $2,000 was the annual payment, and $581.40 was an "excess interest" dividend. He again failed to include any of the amount in his gross income. The commissioner determined that under the Revenue …

Go to article