Ernestine M. Carmichael Trust No. 21-35 v. Commissioner

73 T.C. 118, 1979 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 35
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedOctober 18, 1979
DocketDocket No. 6171-76
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 73 T.C. 118 (Ernestine M. Carmichael Trust No. 21-35 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
Ernestine M. Carmichael Trust No. 21-35 v. Commissioner, 73 T.C. 118, 1979 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 35 (tax 1979).

Opinion

Wilbur, Judge:

Respondent determined the following deficiencies in the Federal income tax of two trusts:

Ernestine M. Carmichael Trust No. 21-35
1972 .$54,388.83
1973 . 329.97
Irrevocable Living Trust Created by Ella L. Morris for Ernestine M. Carmichael No. 21-32
1972 . $1,041.36

The sole issue for decision is whether the long-term capital gain reported by each trust on its tax return for taxable year 1972 qualifies as “subsection (d) gain” within the meaning of section 1201(d)1 for purposes of computing the alternative tax imposed by section 1201(b).2

FINDINGS OF FACT

The facts have been fully stipulated pursuant to Rule 122, Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure. The stipulation of facts and attached exhibits are incorporated herein by this reference.

Petitioners are Marshall County Bank & Trust Co., the trustee of the Ernestine M. Carmichael Trust No. 21-35, and Bremen State Bank, the trustee of the Irrevocable Living Trust created by Ella L. Morris for Ernestine M. Carmichael No. 21-32. At the time the petitioners filed their joint petition in this case, Marshall County Bank & Trust Co. and Bremen State Bank had their principal offices at 315 North Michigan Street, Plymouth, Ind., and 104 West Plymouth, Bremen, Ind., respectively. Petitioners timely filed separate Federal fiduciary income tax returns (Forms 1041) for each trust for calendar year 1972 with the District Director, Internal Revenue Service, in Memphis, Tenn.

In July 1968, the Ernestine M. Carmichael Trust No. 21-85 (hereinafter Trust No. 35) and the Irrevocable Living Trust created by Ella L. Morris for Ernestine M. Carmichael No. 21-32 (hereinafter Trust No. 32) transferred shares of Associated Investment Co. common stock owned by them in exchange for Gulf & Western Industries, Inc., 51/2-percent convertible subordinate debentures. Such exchanges were taxable transactions from which Trust No. 35 realized long-term capital gains of $8,020,870.79 and Trust No. 32 realized long-term capital gains of $692,476.02. Each trust properly elected to report its gain under the installment method pursuant to section 453. Since the parties have stipulated that these exchanges met the requirements for installment method reporting of gain, we will hereafter refer to the Gulf & Western Industries, Inc., debentures as “the Gulf & Western installment obligations” for purposes of clarity.

In 1972, each trust sold some of its Gulf & Western installment obligations on the open market. As a result of these sales, petitioners reported a $727,673.83 long-term capital gain for Trust No. 35 and a $150,648.29 long-term capital gain for Trust No. 32 on the Forms 1041 filed for taxable year 1972. Petitioners calculated the alternative tax under section 1201(b) for each trust by treating the gain reported from the sales of the Gulf & Western installment obligations as “subsection (d) gain.” Respondent determined that the gain reported by each trust upon the sales of the Gulf & Western installment obligations did not qualify as “subsection (d) gain” and therefore recomputed the tax of each trust for the taxable year 1972 in accordance with such determination.

OPINION

The issue presented for our decision is whether long-term capital gain reported by two trusts following sales in 1972 of corporate debentures they had received in a 1968 “installment sale” of stock qualifies as “subsection (d) gain,” as defined by section 1201(d), for purposes of computing the alternative tax imposed by section 1201(b) on capital gains of noncorporate taxpayers.

Prior to modification by the Tax Reform Act of 1969, Pub. L. 91-172, 83 Stat. 487, 635, the alternative tax, where applicable, taxed all long-term capital gains of noncorporate taxpayers at the rate of 25 percent. In order to remedy the perceived dilution of the progressive tax rate structure caused by the flat-rate alternative tax,3 Congress enacted section 511(b) of the Tax Reform Act of 1969, 83 Stat. 635, which increased the rates at which some capital gains were to be taxed. Applicable to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1969 (sec. 511(c), 83 Stat. 638), the new provisions basically retained the 25-percent rate only with respect to the first $50,000 of a noncorporate taxpayer’s long-term capital gain. However, Congress specifically provided that certain long-term capital gains which arose from pre-October 9, 1969, transactions would continue to be taxed at the 25-percent rate, even if they exceeded $50,000. This tax regime was effected, in general, by the retention of the 25-percent rate of tax on “subsection (d) gain,” statutorily defined by subsection 1201(d)4 as follows:

SEC. 1201. ALTERNATIVE TAX.
(d) Subsection (D) Gain Defined. — For purposes of this section, the term “subsection (d) gain” means the sum of long-term capital gains for the taxable year arising—
(1) in the case of amounts received before January 1,1975, from sales or other dispositions pursuant to binding contracts (other than any gain from a transaction described in section 631 or 1235) entered into on or before October 9,1969, including sales or other dispositions the income from which is returned on the basis and in the manner prescribed in section 453(a)(1),
(2) in respect of distributions from a corporation made prior to October 10, 1970, which are pursuant to a plan of complete liquidation adopted on or before October 9,1969, and
(3) in the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, from any other source, but the amount taken into account from such other sources for the purpose of this paragraph shall be limited to an amount equal to the excess (if any) of $50,000 ($25,000 in the case of a married individual filing a separate return) over the sum of the gains to which paragraphs (1) and (2) apply.

Trust No. 35 and Trust No. 32 reported as components of their long-term capital gains for taxable year 1972, gains of $727,673.83 and $150,648.29, respectively, from sales during 1972 of Gulf & Western installment obligations they received as part of the consideration in a 1968 sale of stock. Since these gains were properly reported after 1969, the gain in excess of $50,000 per trust5 is subject to the higher rate of tax unless it qualifies as “subsection (d) gain.”

Petitioners contend that the gain reported for taxable year 1972 from the disposition of the Gulf & Western installment obligations satisfies the requirements for “subsection (d) gain” status because, by virtue of section 453(d), it “relates back” to the underlying stock sales which were completed in 1968 and therefore “arises from” pre-October 9, 1969, sales.6

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73 T.C. 118, 1979 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ernestine-m-carmichael-trust-no-21-35-v-commissioner-tax-1979.