Davis v. Commissioner

55 T.C. 416, 1970 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 16
United States Tax Court·Decided December 9, 1970·No. Docket Nos. 2383-69, 2384-69·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

Sterrett, Judge:

The respondent determined deficiencies in the Federal gift tax of the petitioners as follows:

mi imv [2]
Samuel S. Davis___$4, 501 $112
Jeanette A. Davis_ 1, 619 112

There are essentially two issues for our determination: (1) Whether the respondent erred in disallowing the petitioners’ deductions from their gift tax on the ground that certain gifts in trust did not qualify as charitable under section 2522 (a) ;3 and (2) whether the respondent erred in disallowing the petitioners’ exclusions from gifts on the ground that certain gifts were of future interests under section 2503 (b) and were not for the benefit of minors within the meaning of section 2503 (c). A third issue concerning whether the petitioners used their entire specific exemptions under section 2521 during 1964 will be resolved by our determination of the two aforementioned issues.

FINDINGS OK FACT

Some of the facts were stipulated. The stipulations and the exhibits attached thereto are incorporated herein by this reference.

Samuel S. and Jeanette A. Davis (hereinafter referred to as petitioners or Samuel and Jeanette individually), husband and wife, resided in Columbus, Ohio, at the time their petitions were filed herein. For the years 1964 and 1965 Samuel and Jeanette each filed separate gift tax returns with the district director of internal revenue at Cincinnati, Ohio. On each of these gift tax returns the nonfiling spouse consented to have the subject gift considered to have been made one-half by him or her, as the case may be.

Issue 1

On March 26, 1964, Samuel executed a document entitled “Trust Agreement” which designated “The City National Bank & Trust Company of Columbus” (hereinafter referred to as City National Bank) as trustee. On the same date Samuel delivered to the trustee 2,000 shares of the common stock of the Corrugated Container Co. (hereinafter referred to as Corrugated), now known as Coreo, Inc., having as of March 26, 1964, a fair market value of $40,000.

Pertinent parts of the trust agreement provided as follows:

[Tie trustee was directed] To hold said shares and any other property which may he substituted therefor as principal of the trust, to receive the net income thereon, to accumulate said income, and to pay from principal or income as the •said Trustee may in its uncontrolled discretion determine, in the following maimer, to-wit:
At the time of making this agreement, Settlor desires to make provision to assist in the college education of his grand-nieces and grand-nephews, being the grandchildren of his brother. These children, now numbering twelve (12), are the children of Harry and Phyllis Edmiston, now living in Mansfield, Ohio; Richard and Nancy Nyrop, now residing in Karachi, Pakistan; David and Jan Davis, now living in Youngstown, Ohio; and Merrill and Margaret Davis, now living in Dayton, Ohio.
As any child of any of the four eouples just mentioned enters college, the Trustee shall pay to or for the use of said child, in such amounts and to such person, including the college which such child may attend, as the Trustee in its uncontrolled discretion may determine, the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1000.00) per year. In the exercise of such discretion, the Trustee may consult with, but is not to regard itself as bound by the advice of the parents of such child.
Such payments at the rate of One Thousand Dollars ($1000.00) per child per year shall be made as above indicated for a period not to exceed four years and shall not be made to or on account of any child who is not actually enrolled in and attending a college.
Settlor contemplates that the payments herein directed will substantially exhaust both principal and income of the trust hereby created. If having made all the payments herein indicated to all the children of the four couples above mentioned, who attend college, there remains any balance in the fund, either of principal or accumulated income, the Trustee shall, when the last of such children reaches the age of twenty-one (21) years, pay the balance in such funds both of principal and accumulated income to the JASAM FOUNDATION, a corporation not for profit under the laws of the State of Ohio.

The Jasam Foundation, Ine., was exempt from Federal taxation under the provisions of section 501(c) (3). Samuel was president of Jasara, which, engaged primarily in activities of an educational nature. The foundation was originally established by the petitioners.

The trust agreement further provided that if in the discretion of the trustee the principal and income should appear insufficient to meet the contemplated payments the trustee was empowered to adjust the amount of the payments so that substantially proportionate payments could be made to all children. In addition the trustee was directed to “keep in touch” with the parents of the contemplated beneficiaries in order to determine when and to whom payments should be made.

At the time of the execution of the trust agreement Samuel had 12 grandnieces and grandnephews between the ages of 4 and 16 years.

To the date of trial $680 had been distributed by the trustee to Nyssa Edmiston, one of the petitioners’ grandnieces, for tuition, room, board, and books at Bowling Green University.

As of February 13,1969, the total assets of the above-described trust amounted to $122,257.74.

On their Federal gift tax returns for 1964 the petitioners claimed charitable deductions for the amount of the above-described corpus. In his notice of deficiency the respondent disallowed the petitioners’ deductions pertaining to the above-described trust in toto.

Issue %

On or about December 26, 1964, Samuel delivered certain stock certificates to City National Bank in trust for the benefit of his five minor grandchildren: Christie R. Curie, age 4; Robert D. Curie, age 7; Jeffrey S. Guylas, age 6; Jody D. Guylas, age 2; and Samuel N. Davis, age 1 day. Each of these five trusts consisted of 300 shares of Corrugated having a value of $6,000 or $20 per share. On December 31, 1964, five stock certificates of 300 shares each were transferred on the stockholders’ ledger of Corrugated to Strafe & Co., the nominee for securities held in trust by City National Bank. No written trust agreements were executed by Samuel prior to or at the time of delivery of the stock to City National Bank. Samuel made the decision to give gifts to his grandchildren late in 1964. There was insufficient time to draft the trust agreements and the petitioner was desirous of obtaining the annual exclusions from taxable gifts (under section 2503(b)) for 1964 so the certificates were delivered to the bank in December without written agreements. At the time of delivery the bank was advised that trust agreements would be prepared and delivered at a later date.

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Davis v. Commissioner, 55 T.C. 416, 1970 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 16 (tax 1970).

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Davis v. Commissioner
55 T.C. 416 (U.S. Tax Court, 1970)