Appleby v. Commissioner

48 T.C. 330, 1967 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 90
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJune 16, 1967
DocketDocket No. 1948-66
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 48 T.C. 330 (Appleby v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Appleby v. Commissioner, 48 T.C. 330, 1967 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 90 (tax 1967).

Opinion

MulroNey, Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies in petitioners’ income tax for the years 1963 and 1964 in the respective amounts of $1,002.64 and $555.13.

The only assignment of error in the petition is that respondent erred in determining that their contributions to a trust did not qualify for the additional deduction provided in section 170 (b) (1) (A), I.R.C. 1954.1

BINDINGS OK FACT AND OPINION

All of the facts have been stipulated and they are found accordingly.

Petitioners are husband and wife, who reside in Bellevue, Ohio. They filed their joint income tax returns for 1963 and 1964 with the district director of internal revenue at Cleveland, Ohio.

Under date of September 27,1962, John I. Appleby executed an instrument as donor entitled “The John I. Appleby and Carolyn McAfee Appleby Foundation Trust Agreement.” The agreement was with the City National Bank & Trust Co. of Columbus, Ohio, which also signed the instrument as trustee. The instrument created a trust to be called the John I. Appleby and Carolyn McAfee Appleby Foundation. The trust fund was to consist of stocks, bonds, cash, securities, proceeds of insurance policies, and other assets, set forth in a schedule attached thereto, and such other stocks, bonds, cash, securities, proceeds of insurance policies, and other assets the donor might transfer to the trust by gift or will.

The instrument directs the bank as trustee “to distribute the net income (after payment of all lawful charges thereon) of the trust fund, if any, once each year during the term of this trust to Park College of Parkville, Missouri.” The instrument goes on to give the trustees limited power to distribute a part of the corpus to the college if called upon so to do by the trustees of the college. Such call could only be made once in each calendar year and for not more than 10 percent of the then market value of the trust fund with the further limitation that the college could “at no time * * * make calls upon the corpus of the trust which will reduce the corpus of the trust below the value of the property contributed to the fund by the Donor either as inter-vivos gift, gifts by will and gifts by way of insurance policies.”

The instrument gives the trustee broad powers to hold, sell, lease, transfer, and dispose of property and invest and reinvest the trust funds. The trustee is not required to give bond but the donor reserves for himself and his wife during his or her lifetime the right to remove the trustee without cause and substitute a successor corporate trustee which is “in no way a ‘related or subordinate party’ as that term is defined for Federal tax purposes.” The instrument provided the trust was irrevocable and paragraph 12 provided the trustee would be entitled “to compensation for its services hereunder in accordance with the Trustee’s rates for like services published from time to time.” Provision was also made for the trustee’s “reimbursement from the Trust for all reasonable expenses incurred from time to time in connection with said trust.”

It is stipulated that the John I. Appleby and Carolyn McAfee Ap-pleby Foundation is a trust that is exempt from Federal income tax as an organization described in section 501(c):(3) and Park College, Parkville, Mo., is an educational organization referred to in section 503(b) (2).

It is also stipulated that petitioners made charitable contributions in the amounts of $13,136.87 in the calendar year 1963, and $12,277.59 in the calendar year 1964 of which $11,605 and $8,856.25, respectively, were contributed to the John I. Appleby and Carolyn McAfee Appleby Foundation.

In their joint income tax returns for 1963 and 1964 petitioners reported total gross income of $37,444.47 and $33,460.76, respectively. Since the total amount of charitable contributions exceeded 20 percent of total gross income each year, the first charitable contribution deduction they took was limited to 20 percent of reported income, or $7,488.89 for 1963 and $6,692.15 for 1964.2 Kespondent’s determination of deficiencies here did not disturb the method of computing these deductions though he did adjust the total gross income for at least one of the years and that adjustment is not in issue. However, in their returns for 1963 and 1964, petitioners took an additional charitable deduction of 10 percent of reported total gross income, or $3,744.45 for 1963 and $3,346.08 for 1964. It is these deductions that were disallowed in respondent’s determinations of deficiencies, as explained in the notice of deficiencies such as the notice for 1963, which stated, in part, as follows:

It is held that contributions to the John I. Appleby and Carolyn McAfee Appleby Foundation do not qualify for the additional allowance of 10 percent of adjusted gross income provided in section 170(b) (1) (A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

The general rule governing a deduction for a charitable contribution is contained in section 170(a) (1). This statute provides, in part:

SEC. 170 (a). Allowance of Deduction.—
(1) General rule. — There shall be allowed as a deduction any charitable contribution (as defined in subsection (c)) payment of which is made within the taxable year. * * *

Section 170 (c) referred to in the above general rule provides, in part:

(c) Charitable Contribution Defined. — For purposes of this section, the term “charitable contribution” means a contribution or gift to or for the use of—
****** *
(2) A corporation, trust, or community chest, fund, or foundation—
* ***** *
(B) organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes * * *

Section 170(b) (1) provides that in the case of an individual the deduction provided in subsection (a) shall be limited as provided in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D). The limitation that is applicable here is the general limitation contained in section 170(b) (1) (B) which provides the total deduction under subsection (a) for any taxable year “shall not exceed 20 percent of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income.” This was the limitation employed by petitioners in computing their first charitable contribution deduction about which there is no dispute except that the amount was changed due to income adjustments that are not in issue.

In 1954 Congress enacted section 170(b) (1) (A) which granted an extra deduction not exceeding 10 percent of adjusted gross income for charitable contributions to certain types of religious, educational, government, or charitable organizations. This statute provides, in part, as follows:

(A) Special rote. — Any charitable contribution to—
*******
(ii) an educational organization referred to in section 503(b) (2),
* * * * * * *

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Chapman v. Commissioner of Revenue
651 N.W.2d 825 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2002)
Rockefeller v. Commissioner
76 T.C. 178 (U.S. Tax Court, 1981)
James v. Commissioner
62 T.C. No. 23 (U.S. Tax Court, 1974)
Allen v. Commissioner
50 T.C. 466 (U.S. Tax Court, 1968)
Appleby v. Commissioner
48 T.C. 330 (U.S. Tax Court, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 T.C. 330, 1967 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/appleby-v-commissioner-tax-1967.