Johnson v. Commissioner

74 T.C. 1316, 1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 61
United States Tax Court·Decided September 17, 1980·No. Docket No. 2393-78·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

Irwin, Judge:

By letter dated December 13, 1977, respondent determined deficiencies in petitioners’ 1974 and 1975 income taxes of $1,237 and $3,005, respectively. The only issue for our decision is whether payments of premiums on certain policies insuring the life of petitioner, Howard Johnson, by a corporation in which petitioners are shareholders, constitute income to petitioners.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are found accordingly. The stipulation of facts and exhibits attached thereto are incorporated herein by this reference.

Petitioners Howard and Nobia F. Johnson resided in Clinton, Ark., when they filed their petition herein. Petitioners timely filed their joint Federal income tax returns for the taxable years 1974 and 1975 with the Internal Revenue Service Center in Austin, Tex.

During 1973 through 1975, petitioner Howard Johnson (hereafter sometimes referred to as Howard) was employed as the president of the Clinton State Bank (CSB), an Arkansas corporation with its principal place of business in Clinton, Ark.

During 1973 through 1975, petitioners individually owned 1,240 of the 4,000 outstanding shares of stock of CSB. John L. Johnson (John), petitioners’ son, owned 340 shares of CSB stock. Petitioner Nobia F. Johnson (Nobia) was the trustee of the Mark Allen Johnson Trust and the Angela Clare Johnson Trust. Each of these trusts owned 200 shares of CSB’s stock during the years 1973 through 1975, inclusive. Mark Allen Johnson and Angela Clare Johnson are John’s children and petitioners’ grandchildren.

During 1973 through 1975, Howard was chairman of the board of CSB, in addition to being president of CSB. The board of directors of CSB during those years was composed of the following individuals: Howard, Nobia, John, Roy Lefler, Jr., W. H. Ham, Homer Brown, Arthur Lewis, Dickie V. Lefler, and Garner M. Johnson. John also served as CSB’s tax and legal counsel, for which John received no retainer.

On April 1, 1970, a document entitled “Howard Johnson Insurance Trust” was executed. Nobia was the grantor and John the trustee of the Howard Johnson Insurance Trust (hereafter sometimes referred to as the trust). The trust was initially funded with six insurance policies on Howard’s life.1 The trust document contained a provision for the possibility of subsequent transfers, by Nobia, of two other existing policies on Howard’s life, to be administered in accordance with the trust’s terms.

The trust provided for collection of the six policies’ proceeds upon Howard’s death and investment of such proceeds in real and personal property. The net income from the proceeds was to be paid (at least annually) successively to Nobia, John, and Rebecca Johnson (John’s wife) for each of their lives. The remaining net income from the trust was payable to John, for his life, and then to Nobia’s grandchildren in equal shares.2 The trust was to be terminated upon the closing of the administration of the estate of the survivor of Nobia, Howard, John, and John’s surviving spouse and the corpus paid to or for the benefit of Nobia’s grandchildren in such proportion as John may specify in his will. The trust was irrevocable and gave John the right, as trustee, to exercise the “incidents of ownership” over the various policies.

Petitioners have made numerous other gifts to their grandchildren.

At some time after the execution of the Howard Johnson Insurance Trust, John discussed with Jerry B. Prewit (Prewit) of Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. (Connecticut General) the possibility of obtaining insurance on John’s life. Because John was medically uninsurable, he and Prewit decided to obtain additional insurance on Howard’s life.

On October 10, 1973, John presented the idea of a “split-dollar” life insurance arrangement to the CSB board of directors. Under John’s proposal, CSB would pay the entire annual premium on a $100,000 policy insuring Howard’s life. Upon Howard’s death, CSB would collect an amount equal to the net cash value of the policy as of the date to which premiums have been paid. CSB was the proposed policy assignee. The excess of the policy proceeds was to be paid to the designee of the trustee (John) of the Howard Johnson Insurance Trust. John advised the board that the proposal was made to provide a benefit to his (John’s) children. On October 10, 1973, the entire board of directors of CSB unanimously passed the following resolution:

John L. Johnson made a report to the meeting on the desirability of establishing a “split-dollar” plan with respect to one of its officers. After discussion, motion was duly made and seconded that the following resolution be passed:
Resolved, that the officers of this corporation are authorized to procure a policy of life insurance on the life of Howard Johnson in the amount of $100,000 on the “Split-Dollar” plan, of which this corporation shall be the assignee but under which the Trustee of the Howard Johnson Insurance Trust dated April 1,1970, shall have the right to designate the payee and manner of payment of any proceeds payable by reason of his death, which are in excess of the Net Cash Value of the policy as of the date to which premiums have been paid.
The Treasurer is authorized to pay the full premiums of $6,495 on the policy.

When the board meeting ended, Howard completed an application for Connecticut General whole life insurance policy number 1500052. Howard was 61 years old on the date of issue, which was stated to be October 1, 1973.

On November 13, 1974, John made an identical split-dollar insurance proposal to the board. Again, the entire board unanimously passed a resolution favoring John’s proposal. The resolution passed was as follows:

John L. Johnson made a report to the meeting on the desirability of establishing a “SpliRDollar” plan with respect to one of its officers. After discussion, motion was duly made and seconded that the following resolution be passed:
Resolved, that the officers of this corporation are authorized to procure a policy of life insurance on the life of Howard Johnson in the amount of $100,000 on the “Split-Dollar” plan, of which this corporation shall be the assignee but under which the Trustee of the Howard Johnson Insurance Trust dated April 1,1970, shall have the right to designate the payee and manner of payment of any proceeds payable by reason of his death, which are in excess of the Net Cash Value of the policy as of the date to which premiums have been paid.
The Treasurer is authorized to pay the full premiums of $6,877 on the policy.

After the board meeting, Howard completed an application for Connecticut General whole life insurance policy number 1579273.

On November 10, 1974, the date the policy was issued, Howard was 62 years old.

During 1974 and 1975, CSB paid all premiums on Connecticut General policies numbers 1500052 and 1579273. These premium payments were as follows:

Policy number 197k 1975

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Johnson v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 1316, 1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 61 (tax 1980).

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