Jack v. Commissioner

8 T.C. 272, 1947 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 290
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedFebruary 6, 1947
DocketDocket No. 6530
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 8 T.C. 272 (Jack 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
Jack v. Commissioner, 8 T.C. 272, 1947 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 290 (tax 1947).

Opinion

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION.

Arundell, Judge-.

An opinion of this Court in the instant proceeding was promulgated on February 21, 1946, and reported at 6 T. C. 241, with decision to be entered under Rule 50. In the course of settlement under that rule questions have arisen which necessitate a further opinion and ruling on the issues raised.

The computations filed by the respective parties differ as to the amount of charitable deduction to which the estate is entitled. The petitioners claim $118,912.88 and the respondent allows $90,978.44. This results in a difference in tax liability of about $8,500.

The facts pertinent here, briefly reviewed, are these: The decedent died leaving a gross estate of the approximate value of $730,000. Debts and charges amounted to about $57,000. After specific bequests of certain tangible personalty and a life use of the family residence to his widow, the decedent left the residue of his estate in trust, with the income therefrom to be paid to his widow during her life. At her death specific bequests, totaling $3,000, were to go to certain charities, and specific bequests, totaling about $41,000, were to go to non-charitable legatees. Of the remainder of the corpus, 24/100 was to be distributed to designated charities and the other 76/100 to non-charitable legatees.

The present controversy between the parties relates to the proper construction of the proration or apportionment statute of the State of Massachusetts, adopted June 11, 1943. Ann. Laws of Mass., ch. 65A, § 5.1

Although the decedent died November 16, 1942, before the enactment of that statute, the respondent agrees that it is applicable in the instant proceeding because the Federal and state taxes were not paid until 1944. See Merchants Nat. Bank v. Merchants Nat. Bank, 318 Mass. 563; 62 N. E. (2d) 831.

Section 812 (d) of the Internal Revenue Code, in allowing deduction for charitable bequests, contains the provision that if the Federal estate tax:

* * * or any estate, succession, legacy, or inheritance taxes, are, either by the terms of the will, by the law of the jurisdiction under which the estate is administered, or by the law of the jurisdiction imposing the particular tax, payable in whole or In part out of the bequests, legacies, or devises otherwise deductible under this paragraph, then the amount deductible under this paragraph shall be the amount of such bequests, legacies, or devices reduced by the amount of such taxes.

There is no direction in the will of the instant decedent with reference to the payment of taxes. In the circumstances, section 812 (d) thus makes state law applicable in determining the ultimate amount of the charitable deduction to which an estate is entitled for Federal estate tax purposes. The purpose of the quoted provision is to limit the deduction for charitable bequests to the amount which the decedent has in fact and in law devised or bequeathed to charity2 — in other words, to the amount which the charity actually receives in the case of an outright gift, or to the present worth of the amount which the charity will ultimately receive in the case of a remainder or other future interest.3 Harrison v. Northern Trust Co., 317 U. S. 476. But the state law, which governs the ultimate impact or distribution of the burden of ¡the Federal estate tax among the beneficiaries of the estate, Riggs v. Del Drago, 317 U. S. 95, will thereby likewise determine the amount which charity will actually receive.

Respondent has determined a total Federal estate tax liability of $140,481.80. In his computation of the charitable deduction, he has charged to the residuary estate, thereby reducing the amount available for charity, $138,367.10 of the total Federal estate tax liability, Massachusetts estate tax of $13,578.82, and Massachusetts inheritance tax of $3,563.01 on the widow’s life estate. Of the entire Federal estate tax, he has excluded only $2,114.70, which, according to his calculation, is the amount thereof attributable to the specific bequests to the widow and an annuity; and he has likewise excluded the amount of Massachusetts inheritance tax on the same items.

Petitioners take the position that the amount of the charitable deduction is to be reduced only by the Massachusetts inheritance tax on the value of the widow’s life estate, and they have made a computation accordingly.

The Massachusetts courts have apparently not had occasion to interpret the Massachusetts apportionment statute in so far as it relates to charities. A decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of that state, Merchants Nat. Bank v. Merchants Nat Bank, supra, p. 836, however, throws some light on the general purpose of the statute and the reasons for its adoption. It was there said:

* * * Although testators under this Federal taxing act could direct the manner in which the burden of this tax was to be assumed, * * * yet failures to give such directions, which in many cases might be thought to be due to inadvertence, have oiten resulted in the depletion or substantial reduction of residuary estates by using them to pay the Federal estate tax. Moreover, it was thought inequitable to compel a residuary legatee to bear the entire burden of a tax upon a transfer of property, much of which was received by persons other than the taxpayer, unless a testator so directed. In such instances, the apportionment statute, St. 1943, c. 519, provides for the distribution of the burden of the Federal tax in accordance with the benefits received by those to whom the property of the decedent has been transferred. » * * ihe a¡m an,i object of our statute is the equitable distribution of the tax among all those who received property which was included in the gross estate for the purpose of computing the Federal tax. • • *

See also In re Rappaport’s Estate, 167 Misc. 164; 3 N. Y. S. (2d) 616, to the same effect with reference to the New York apportionment statute.

New York and Pennsylvania have apportionment statutes which, so far as pertinent to the problem here, are substantially identical with the Massachusetts statute. The New York statute was adopted in 1930, Decedent Estate Law, § 124; and the Pennsylvania statute was adopted in 1937,20 Pa. Stat. (Purdon) § 844. The courts of these two states have on a number of occasions been called upon to interpret their statutes in cases involving charities; and these decisions, we think, are pertinent to the problem before us.

In re Starr’s Estate, 157 Misc. 103; 282 N. Y. S. 957, was a case involving an estate, the residue of which was divided into two equal parts and life interests in each part were given to certain named persons. The remainder of one part was vested in designated charities, and the remainder of the other part was given only contingently to charities. The taxing authorities had ruled that in determining the tax on the estate deduction should be allowed only for the vested charitable remainder, and then the question arose as to how the burden of the estate tax should be apportioned as between the remaindermen. The court there said:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Estate of Leach v. Commissioner
82 T.C. No. 72 (U.S. Tax Court, 1984)
Lewald v. United States
245 F. Supp. 336 (S.D. New York, 1965)
Babcock v. Commissioner
23 T.C. 888 (U.S. Tax Court, 1955)
Jack v. Commissioner
8 T.C. 272 (U.S. Tax Court, 1947)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 T.C. 272, 1947 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jack-v-commissioner-tax-1947.