Benson v. Commissioner

80 T.C. No. 40, 80 T.C. 789, 1983 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 89
United States Tax Court·Decided April 26, 1983·No. Docket Nos. 6543-78, 7979-79, 9601-80·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

Forrester, Judge:

Respondent has determined deficiencies of $4,280.20, $3,863, and $2,452 in petitioner’s Federal income taxes for the years 1974, 1975, and 1976, respectively, and an addition to tax pursuant to section 6653(a)1 of $214.01 for 1974. Respondent having conceded the section 6653(a) addition to tax, the following issues remain for our decision:

(la) Whether a transaction between petitioner and a trust established by her was an exchange of securities for an annuity, or a transfer of securities to the trust with a reservation of the right to an annual payment;

(lb) If we find a bona fide annuity, what is petitioner’s investment in the contract for purposes of calculating the section 72 exclusion ratio;

(2) Whether petitioner is entitled to a deduction for certain investment counseling fees for 1974;

(3) Whether petitioner is entitled to a capital loss carryover for 1974.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found.

Petitioner Marion B. Benson (hereinafter Marion) resided in Portola Valley, Calif., when the petition in this case was filed. Her income tax returns for 1974, 1975, and 1976 were timely filed with the Internal Revenue Service Center in Fresno, Calif.

Issue 1. Annuity Payments

On November 30,1964, Marion executed a power of attorney empowering her attorney, Harry Margolis, to create a trust (hereinafter the ABC trust) with the Aruba Bonaire Curacao Trust Co., Ltd. (hereinafter ABC), as trustee, and to execute an annuity agreement between Marion and ABC in its capacity as trustee. Marion and Margolis intended the trust and annuity agreements to be executed contemporaneously.

Margolis and ABC executed trust2 and annuity agreements which read in pertinent part as follows:

ANNUITY AGREEMENT
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2. ABC is entering into this Annuity Agreement on behalf of a Settlement of which ABC is the present Trustee.
3. The sole consideration for the transfer of the securities from Benson to ABC is the present Annuity Agreement. There is no independent security for this Annuity Agreement.
4. The parties agree that this Annuity Agreement is effective as of this date with the transfer of the securities to Grace National Bank of New York for the account of ABC and further agree that the fair market value of said securities on this date is $371,875.00.
5. This Agreement has been predicated upon the accepted actuarial life expectancy of Benson as being 15 years.
6. ABC shall pay to Benson the sum of TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY-ONE AND 67/100 DOLLARS ($24,791.67) each and every twelve months, beginning with January 1,1965, and running for the lifetime of Benson.
7. This Agreement shall terminate in all events on the death of Benson.
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9. No security of any kind has been reserved for this Annuity Agreement, and it is understood that ABC has full right to dispose of the securities received by it or to otherwise deal with such securities in any way ABC wishes without any consultation with or responsibility to Benson other than as set forth in this Agreement.
10. No gift is intended by Benson or by ABC and the parties agree to adjust payments to show, both by number of payments and size of payments, an exact cost of the annuity equal to the actuarially expected return.
11. The annual payment required hereunder shall be made quarterly and on or before the 15th day of January, April, July and October, with no single payment being less than FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($5,000.00). Default in any payment by ABC to Benson shall carry seven per cent (7%) interest from the date on which the payment was due. Should such default continue for more than thirty (30) days beyond the end of any quarter, ABC hereby authorizes any attorney to appear for it in any suit on this Agreement in any court of record in the United States and does hereby waive issuance and service of process in any suit initiated by such attorney and hereby authorizes such attorney to confess judgment in favor of Benson in the amount provided for and then due under this Agreement, together with costs of suit. From and after Benson’s death, this specific waiver shall be of no further force and effect as to any sums not yet due.
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TRUST AGREEMENT
* * * * * sj: s}c
Article I
Trustor has delivered to Trustee FIVE ($5.00) Dollars as the initial corpus of this Trust.
Article IV
The Beneficiaries of this Trust shall be HAROLD A. KAZMANN, FRANCES B. KAZMANN, THEODORE R. BAYARD, NINA INEZ RICHARDS, ALEXANDRA CRAWFORD GARRETT, CYNTHIA CRAWFORD LICHTENSTEIN, MARION K. RICHARDS, ANGELA BAYARD, MARSHA BAYARD, and MARION BAYARD. Said named beneficiaries shall be the Primary Beneficiaries of this Trust. Issue of any of the named Beneficiaries shall themselves become Beneficiaries if not otherwise named herein. All other blood relations of Trustor and any living legal spouse of any named Beneficiary shall also be included as Beneficiaries hereunder. The term issue shall include anyone legally adopted by any of the named Beneficiaries, effective immediately upon the judicial confirmtion of the parent-child relationship.
Each and every interest created hereunder is an immediate and vested and indefeasible interest.
Article V
The Trustee is to set aside the first TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS ($10,000.00) of corpus for my brother, THEODORE R. BAYARD. The next FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($50,000.00) of corpus is to be set aside for my three BAYARD nieces. The remainder of corpus shall be held one-half (Í4) for the benefit of DR. and MRS. HAROLD A. KAZMANN and their daugther MARION K. RICHARDS and their granddaughter NINA INEZ RICHARDS, two-sixteenths (% 6) for ALEXANDRA CRAWFORD GARRETT, two-sixteenths (%6) to CYNTHIA CRAWFORD LICHTENSTEIN and the remaining four-sixteenths (%6) to my three BAYARD nieces.
From and after the moment of my death, all corpus shall be distributed to each Beneficiary hereunder who has reached the age of twenty-one (21) and distribution shall continue to each Beneficiary as he or she becomes 21 years of age until the trust is finally terminated, provided only that any named Beneficiary may in writing waive his right to such distribution and may do so in whole or in part without waiving his lifetime interest but all such waivers must be made prior to the moment of my death.
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Benson v. Commissioner, 80 T.C. No. 40, 80 T.C. 789, 1983 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 89 (tax 1983).

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