Keefe v. Commissioner

15 T.C. 947, 1950 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 6
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 28, 1950
DocketDocket No. 17321
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 15 T.C. 947 (Keefe 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
Keefe v. Commissioner, 15 T.C. 947, 1950 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 6 (tax 1950).

Opinion

OPINION.

Raum, Judge:

The petitioner seeks to deduct from his gross income amounts which he paid as premiums on insurance on his own life. However, if petitioner “is directly or indirectly a beneficiary under such [policies]” within the meaning of section 24 (a) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code,1 the claimed deduction is forbidden, and it becomes unnecessary to consider other objections to its allowance alternatively asserted by the respondent.

The petitioner and his business partner each took out insurance on his own life; each named the other as the beneficiary under the policies he obtained, and each paid the premiums on the policies he procured. They agreed that, upon the death of either, the partnership was to be dissolved in the following manner: (1) Bills, accounts and notes receivable were to be collected. The proceeds therefrom and other cash were to be used to pay or provide for partnership debts or obligations. (2) After meeting the debts and obligations, one-half of the remaining proceeds and cash was to be paid to the representative of the deceased partner. (3) The insurance taken out by the decedent was to be promptly collected by the survivor and paid to the decedent’s representative. (4) Title to all the remaining assets of the partnership was to vest solely in the surviving partner. The interest of the deceased partner in the partnership was to be completely satisfied by the payments just described above. (5) Policies maintained by the survivor on his own life, of which the decedent was the named beneficiary, were to accrue to the survivor and the decedent’s estate was to have no rights under those policies.

Petitioner asserts that section 24 (a) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code is inapplicable because the beneficiary explicitly designated, under the policies on the petitioner’s life, was his partner, Bausman. This, of course, is not enough to remove the bar against deduction contained in that section if the petitioner was “directly or indirectly” a beneficiary under those policies. As was pointed out a number of years ago, “* * * the beneficiary contemplated by Section 215 (a) (4) [now § 24 (a) (4)] is not necessarily confined to the person named in the policy, but may include one whose interests are indirectly favorably affected thereby.” J. H. Parker, 13 B. T. A. 115, 116.

On,its significant facts,' the case before us is closely parallel to Joseph Nussbaum, 19 B. T. A. 868. There, too, each of two partners, engaged in commercial banking, insured his own life and, without reserving any power to make a change, named the other the beneficiary. It was held that the premiums paid by each partner were not ordinary and necessary expenses in carrying on their business, and that, even if it were otherwise, “When we consider the broad provisions of the statute and- the manner in which the policies of the two petitioners are related by the agreement entered into between them, we are of the opinion that the petitioners are indirectly, if not directly, beneficiaries under the policies for which the premiums were paid and therefore not entitled to the deductions claimed.” Id., pp. 871-872. Cf. Clarence W. McKay, 10 B. T. A. 949; Hewett Grain & Provision Co. of Escanaba, 14 B. T. A. 281; Alexander C. Yarnall, 9 T. C. 616, affd., 170 Fed. (2d) 272 (CA-3).

There are at least several considerations, each of which independently suggests that the petitioner herein was “directly or indirectly” a beneficiary, and when they are taken in the aggregate we are left without any doubt that petitioner had such a vital interest in the policies that the premiums must be regarded as nondeductible under section 24 (a) (4).

At the very outset, it is to be noted that the policies on petitioner’s life made no provision for a beneficiary in the event that he should survive the named beneficiary. But section 6 of the partnership agreement provided that upon the death of either partner the survivor “shall have all rights” in the policies upon his own life. Thus, petitioner in fact retained the right to reacquire complete ownership of the policies taken out on his own life, if he should outlive his partner. Section 24 (a) (4) does not speak of one who is directly or indirectly the beneficiaryit merely refers to one who is directly or indirectly “a” beneficiary under the policy. And petitioner’s contractual right to acquire absolute control over the policies if he should survive Bausman certainly constitutes such a substantial interest that he may fairly be characterized as being “directly or indirectly a beneficiary” under the policies. Cf. Jefferson v. Helvering, 121 Fed. (2d) 18 (CA-3); J. H. Parker, supra, p. 116.

But petitioner’s interest went far beyond the potential reacquisition of control over his policies. As was said in the Nussbaum case (19 B. T. A. at p. 871), “the situation must be viewed as a whole.” And viewing the situation as a whole, it is at once apparent that the policies taken out by petitioner were merely part of an interdependent reciprocal arrangement whereby Bausman took out policies on his own life in an amount equivalent to the face value of petitioner’s policies, naming petitioner as the principal beneficiary thereunder. Cf. Lehman v. Commissioner, 109 Fed. (2d) 99 (CA-2), certiorari denied, 310 U. S. 637; Hammer's Estate v. Commissioner, 149 Fed. (2d) 858 (CA-2), certiorari denied, 326 U. S. 770; Orvis v. Higgins, 180 Fed. (2d) 537 (CA-2), certiorari denied, 340 U. S. 810. Under the partnership agreement the insurance proceeds were to be applied in such manner that petitioner would be entitled to receive a going business intact rather than a half interest in a business that might possibly be forced into liquidation. These are benefits of great magnitude. They are inextricably interwoven with the policies taken out by petitioner, and cannot be considered in isolation. We conclude that as a result of these benefits petitioner was “directly or indirectly a beneficiary” under his policies.

Even if the situation be viewed on the assumption that petitioner might predecease Bausman, there were still substantial benefits that he reserved for his estate. On his death his estate was assured of receiving cash in a definite amount, and was spared the hazards that at some time in the future the partnership assets might be reduced in amount or, even if undepleted, might be in a form entailing difficulty or loss in their liquidation. It is true that on the petitioner’s death his estate would have been entitled to a share of the partnership assets, and that this share has been surrendered under the arrangement for mutual insurance. This does not, however, diminish the benefits mentioned; they are benefits which attached just because the petitioner arranged to have his estate receive the insurance proceeds rather than his interest in the partnership. Whether such benefits, standing alone, are sufficient to constitute petitioner a beneficiary under section 24 (a) (4) need not be decided in this case, for when they are taken in conjunction with the valuable interests retained by petitioner in the event of his survivorship, we are fully satisfied that section 24 (a) (4) is applicable here.

Although the respondent’s disallowance of the deductions must stand, the deficiency determined for 1944 must be revised. The petitioner claims a net operating loss deduction in 1944, based on a carry-back from 1946, and the respondent concedes that the petitioner is entitled to such a deduction in the amount of $7,428.28.

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Bluebook (online)
15 T.C. 947, 1950 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keefe-v-commissioner-tax-1950.