Cromwell v. Commissioner

24 B.T.A. 461, 1931 BTA LEXIS 1637
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedOctober 26, 1931
DocketDocket No. 42619.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 24 B.T.A. 461 (Cromwell v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cromwell v. Commissioner, 24 B.T.A. 461, 1931 BTA LEXIS 1637 (bta 1931).

Opinion

[462]*462OPINION.

Aetondell :

We have set out as our findings of fact only the facts that relate to the issues left for decision. Other stipulations of fact and waivers of issues will be mentioned briefly here.

Petitioners waived an issue relating to the inclusion in the estate of certain cash securities and cash held by Bankers Trust Company as trustee for Gustave Frederick Dutschke and consented to the inclusion thereof at the value of $164,813.49 as fixed by respondent.

The parties agree that the amount of the residuary estate passing to Harvard University, which is stipulated to be an educational institution and exempt from Federal estate tax, shall be computed without deduction of the estate and inheritance taxes in the amount of [463]*463$262,971.22 paid by the estate to various States of the United States and to the Republic of France upon noncharitable bequests.

Respondent in the notice of deficiency determined the credit to which the estate was entitled against the Federal estate tax (including the deficiency asserted) for estate and inheritance taxes paid as amounting to $280,000, of which $55,451.83 was determined to be applicable as a credit against the deficiency asserted. The parties are agreed that by reason of the payments actually made, the proper amount of such credit on the basis of the tax asserted in the deficiency notice is $281,461.47, of which $56,913.30 is applicable as a credit against the asserted deficiency.

It was further stipulated that inheritance and estate taxes have been actually paid by the estate to States of the United States in the amount of $327,224.97. Proper proof of such payment and claim for the allowance of such taxes as part of the 80 per cent credit against the Federal estate tax has been filed in accordance with the provisions of section 301(b) of the Revenue Act of 1926 and article 9 of Regulations 70 and allowed by the respondent. The petitioners are entitled to a credit for State inheritance taxes paid against the Federal estate tax as ultimately fixed of such part of $327,224.97 as does not exceed 80 per cent of the Federal tax.

The above matters will be given effect in the settlement under Rule 50.

The first question for decision is whether the value of the personal property left by decedent, having its actual situs in France, should be included in the gross estate. It is agreed by the parties that decedent was a resident of the State of Maine at the time of his death. In Guaranty Trust Co., 21 B. T. A. 330, we had the identical question that is raised here. Counsel for petitioners urge with much earnestness that perhaps some of the underlying principles involved in this question were not presented in that case. We have carefully considered petitioners’ arguments and considered the cases cited, and, Avhile admitting that the matter is not entirely free from doubt, we find nothing in the presentation of the present case to cause us to alter our views. We accordingly find no error in the inclusion in decedent’s estate of the personal property located in France.

The next question is whether respondent erred in including the value of shares of United States Steel corporation stock that decedent gave to his secretary, Dutschke, within two years prior to his death. The agreed value o.f this stock in excess of $5,000 has been included in the estate by respondent as a gift in contemplation of death under the second sentence of section 302(c) of the Revenue Act of 1926, reading as follows:

[464]*464Where within two years prior to his death hut alter the enactment of this Act and without such a consideration the decedent has made a transfer or transfers, by trust or otherwise, of any of his property, or an interest therein, not admitted or shown to have been made in contemplation of or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after his death, and the value ox-aggregate value, at the time of such death, of the property or interest so transferred to any one person is in excess of $5,000, then, to the extent of such excess, such transfer or transfers shall be deemed and held to have been made in contemplation of death within the meaning of this title.

It is stipulated in regard to this transfer that it “ is not admitted or shown in fact to have been made in contemplation of or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after death.” On this phase of the case the only issue raised by the pleadings is the validity of the above quoted part of the statute. The issue as framed and the facts as limited by the stipulation do not bring into controversy any question as to whether the transfer might have been included under the first sentence of section 302(c). Petitioners’ claim is that that part of the statute above set out is invalid and unconstitutional as in violation of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. This issue is decided in favor of the petitioners on authority of our decision in American Security & Trust Co. et al., Executors, 24 B. T. A. 334,

The final question involves the annuities created by the ninth and tenth clauses of decedent’s American will. Petitioners allege that the respondent erred in determining the values at which the annuities were included in decedent’s gross estate.

Decedent, by his will, made a number of specific bequests and created the annuities here involved and left the residue of his estate to Harvard University, an admittedly educational institution. The plan of the Federal estate tax act is to include in the gross estate all of the decedent’s property and then to determine the value of the net estate — upon the transfer of which the tax is imposed — by allowing specified exemptions and deductions. Among the deductions allowed are bequests to educational institutions. In this case the bequest to the educational institution is not a specific sum, but is the residuary estate after providing, among other things, for the annuities created, and so it becomes necessary to calculate the value of the residue in order to determine the amount to be deducted in arriving at the net estate. Henry B. Ickelheimer et al., Executors, 14 B. T. A. 1317. While the stipulation of the parties would indicate that our problem is to value the annuities to determine the value at which they would be included in the gross estate, as we conceive the question, this is not technically correct. As we have pointed out above, the entire gross estate is included, from which is substracted those deductions allowed by law, and the remainder constitutes the net taxable estate. The [465]*465manner of the approach becomes important, as both parties rely on the actuarial tables found in article 13 of Regulations 70, which are used for the purpose of determining the present yaiues of various interests in estates. The difference between the parties is illustrated by the following computations as they relate to clause nine of the will, which provides for an annuity of $2,500 for Jeanne Baum-gartner, who was seventy-four years of age at the time of decedent’s death. Petitioners contend that the present value of that annuity is $12,960.05, computed as follows:

Amount of annuity_ $2, 500
Present worth of annuity of $1 at age 74 (taken from column 2 of Table A in Reg. 70) is $5.18402.
$2,500 multiplied by 5.18402 gives_$12, 960. 05

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33 T.C. 277 (U.S. Tax Court, 1959)
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6 T.C.M. 651 (U.S. Tax Court, 1947)
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26 B.T.A. 708 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1932)
Heiner v. Donnan
285 U.S. 312 (Supreme Court, 1932)
Cromwell v. Commissioner
24 B.T.A. 461 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1931)

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Bluebook (online)
24 B.T.A. 461, 1931 BTA LEXIS 1637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cromwell-v-commissioner-bta-1931.