Byrd v. Commissioner

46 T.C. 25, 1966 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 120
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 6, 1966
DocketDocket No. 3848-64
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 46 T.C. 25 (Byrd 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
Byrd v. Commissioner, 46 T.C. 25, 1966 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 120 (tax 1966).

Opinion

OPINION

Atkins, Judge:

The respondent determined a deficiency in income tax of $64,856.64 against the petitioner-estate for its taxable year 1959. The only issue presented is whether distributions received by the estate upon the redemption of stock of three corporations should be treated, mider section 303 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as distributions in exchange for the stock so redeemed, as contended by the petitioner, or whether the amounts received upon the redemp-tions constituted dividends, as determined by the respondent.

All of the facts have been stipulated and are incorporated herein by this reference.

The petitioner filed its Federal income tax return for its taxable year 1959 with the district director of internal revenue at Birmingham, Ala.

The decedent died on August 21,1957. His gross estate was valued for estate tax purposes at $728,624.85 and the taxable estate was $314,512.19.

On the date of the decedent’s death there were issued and outstanding 50,000 shares of common stock of the Peoples Savings Life Insurance Co. (hereinafter referred to as Peoples) having a total value of $175,000. At the time of his death the decedent owned 44,450 shares of the outstanding common stock of Peoples which had a value of, and was included in his gross estate at, $155,575. This represented 88.9 percent of the total value of the outstanding capital stock of such company.

On the date of the decedent’s death there were issued and outstanding 700 shares of common stock of the Hub City Finance Co., Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Hub City), having a total value of $140,000. At the time of his death the decedent owned 227 shares of such stock which represented 32.4 percent of the total value of the outstanding shares of such company. The total value of the decedent’s 227 shares for Federal estate tas purposes was $45,400.

On the date of the decedent’s death Peoples owned 471 shares of the outstanding common stock of Hub City. The value of the 88.9 percent of the 471 shares of Hub City owned by Peoples valued in the decedent’s estate was $83,743.80.

The total value of the stock of Hub City owned by the decedent individually at the date of Iris death was $45,400 and the 88.9 percent of the 471 shares of stock of Hub City owned by Peoples was valued at $83,743.80 or a total valuation in the estate of $129,143.80, which constituted 92.24 percent of the total value of all the outstanding capital stock of Hub City at date of decedent’s death.

On the date of the decedent’s death there were issued and outstanding 290 shares of class A nonvoting common stock and 10 shares of class B voting stock of the Alabama Banking Co., Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Alabama Banking). The total value of both classes of stock was $150,000. At the time of his death, the decedent owned 190 shares of the outstanding class A nonvoting common stock and 8 shares of the outstanding class B voting stock, which had a total value for Federal estate tax purposes of $99,000, which represented 66 percent of the total value of the outstanding capital stock of such company.

On the date of the decedent’s death Peoples owned 99 shares of the outstanding class A common stock of Alabama Banking which had a value at the date of the decedent’s death of $49,500. The value of the 88.9 percent óf the 99 shares of Alabama Banking owned by Peoples valued in the decedent’s estate was $44,005.50.

The total value of the stock of Alabama Banking owned individually by the decedent at the date of his death was $99,000 and the 88.9 percent of the stock of Alabama Banking owned by Peoples was valued at $44,005.50 or a total valuation in the estate of $143,005.50, which constituted 95.33 percent of the total value of all the outstanding capital stock of Alabama Banking at the date of decedent’s death.

On the date of the decedent’s death there were issued and outstanding 1,000 shares of class A nonvoting common stock and 275 shares of class B voting common stock of tlie Rock Finance Co., Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Rock Finance), having a total value of $56,250. At the time of his death the decedent owned all of the 1,000 shares of the outstanding class A nonvoting common stock of Rock Finance, which had a value for Federal estate tax purposes of $15,000, which represented 26.67 percent of the total value of the outstanding capital stock of such company.

On the date of the decedent’s death Peoples owned 221 shares of the outstanding class B voting stock of Rock Finance. The value of the 88.9 percent of the 221 shares of class B voting stock of Rock Finance owned by Peoples valued in the decedent’s estate was $29,470.85.

The total value of the stock of Rock Finance owned by the decedent individually at the date of his death was $15,000 and the 88.9 percent of the stock of Rock Finance owned by Peoples was valued at $29,470.35 or a total valuation in the estate of $44,470.35, which constituted 79.05 percent of the total value of all the outstanding capital stock of Rock Finance' at the date of the decedent’s death.

On November 17, 1959, Alabama Banking redeemed 100 shares of class A nonvoting common stock from the petitioner for $50,000. On November 21, 1959, Rock Finance redeemed 900 shares of class A nonvoting common stock from petitioner for $13,500. On the same day Hub City redeemed 127 shares of its common stock from the petitioner for $25,400. The price at which Alabama Banking, Rock Finance, and Hub City redeemed such shares was the same as the amount at which they were valued in the Federal estate tax return filed by the petitioner.

The petitioner has paid the following estate taxes and administration expenses:

Federal estate tax_$86, 343. 90
Alabama estate tax- 5,984. 39
Funeral and administration expense- 8, 615. 80
Total _ 100,944.09

In its income tax return for the taxable year 1959 the petitioner did not report any income from the above stock redemptions, treating the amounts received as distributions in exchange for the stock under the provisions of section 303 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

In the notice of deficiency the respondent determined that the re-demptions of stock did not meet the requirements of section 302 and/or 303 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, and that the distributions totaling $88,900 constituted dividend income which is to be included in gross income under section 301 of the Code.

There are set forth in the margin pertinent provisions of section 303 of tine Code.1 Section 303(a) sets forth the general rule that a distribution in redemption of all or part of the stock of a corporation which is included in the decedent’s gross estate shall be treated as a distribution in full payment in exchange for the stock redeemed to the extent that the amount of the distribution does not exceed the sum of all taxes imposed because of the decedent’s death and the funeral and administration expenses deductible by the estate in computing the value of the taxable estate.

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Bluebook (online)
46 T.C. 25, 1966 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/byrd-v-commissioner-tax-1966.