Simpson v. Commissioner

30 B.T.A. 999, 1934 BTA LEXIS 1239
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJune 21, 1934
DocketDocket No. 61434.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 30 B.T.A. 999 (Simpson v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Simpson v. Commissioner, 30 B.T.A. 999, 1934 BTA LEXIS 1239 (bta 1934).

Opinion

OPINION.

Black :

This proceeding is for a redetermination of deficiencies in income tax for the calendar years 1927 and 1928 in the respective amounts of $16,639.74 and $6,070.25, determined against petitioner, an individual residing in Chicago, Illinois.

[1000]*1000The petition alleges that the entire amount of the deficiencies is in controversy. The parties, however, have filed a stipulation in which they agree that a certain item in the amount of $52,356.71 received by petitioner in 1927 should be taxed as a capital net gain at 1214 percent, and that the additional tax thereon is the amount of $6,544.59. Petitioner has also conceded two other errors assigned in the petition regarding the disallowance by the respondent as deductions claimed by petitioner of certain real estate taxes for 1927 in the amount of $3,338.75, and of certain contributions for 1928 in the amount of $385. This leaves for our determination the sole remaining question of whether the respondent erred in holding that income, amounting to $30,274.86 in 1927, and $30,000 in 1928, received by the Northern Trust Co. as trustee for petitioner’s three sisters is taxable to petitioner, the grantor of the several trust estates, under the provisions of section 219 (g) of the Revenue Act of 1926, and section 166 of the Revenue Act of 1928.

The facts were stipulated. The stipulation recites that the income sought to be taxed to petitioner with respect to which the sole remaining question relates was all derived from the trust estates created by an indenture made on July 19, 1923, between petitioner, as party of the first part, and the Northern Trust Co. of Chicago, Illinois, as trustee and party of the second part. This indenture, consisting of six articles, is incorporated herein by reference. In the first article petitioner “ being desirous of establishing and creating the trusts hereinafter mentioned ” sells, assigns, transfers, and sets over unto the trustee 3,000 shares of the common class A stock of Marshall Field & Co. “ subject to the terms and provisions of this Indenture.” In the second article the trustee is given the power and authority to receive and collect all the income from the corpus, to sell, transfer, and assign any of the corpus, and to invest and reinvest the proceeds thereof and any undistributed net income derived therefrom, “ provided, however, that no change shall be made by said trustee in the securities or obligations held in trust by it without the written direction or approval of the said party of the first part so long as he shall be living and able to act in the premises * * The third article provides that the 3,000 shares of stock shall be divided by the trustee into three equal parts, which shall be held and administered as separate trust estates for the benefit, respectively, of petitioner’s three sisters, “ Subject, however, to the conditions, limitations and provisions hereinafter set forth * * The fourth article provides that each beneficiary is to receive the net income from her trust estate as long as she shall live. Article fifth is quoted in full, as follows:

[1001]*1001(1) The said party of the first part shall have power to terminate the said several trusts hereby created, or any or either of them, on the 31st day of December, A. D. 1924, or on the 31st day of December of any subsequent year, by giving sixty (60) days previous notice in writing of such termination to the said trustee, and unless so terminated each of said three trusts shall cease, terminate and be at an end upon the death of the beneficiary entitled to receive the income therefrom, as hereinbefore set forth.
(2) Upon the termination of each of said several trusts the trust estate held by said trustee under the trust so terminated shall immediately revert to and vest in said first party, his heirs, devisees or assigns.
(3) The said several trusts hereinbefore created are established for the purpose of providing support and maintenance for the several beneficiaries entitled under the terms of this indenture to receive the income therefrom, and therefore no beneficiary under this indenture shall have any power to anticipate, assign or part with any beneficial interest which she shall at any time be entitled to under the provisions of this indenture, nor shall the same be subject to be taken from such beneficiary by process of law.

The last article of tlie indenture dated July 19, 1923, provides for the administration of the trust estates by the trustee, the latter’s compensation therefor, and the appointment of a successor in trust in the case of the resignation of the trustee therein named.

The last paragraph of the stipulation filed by the parties is as follows:

(b) Although the respondent reserves the right to object to the materiality of any of the facts set forth in this subparagraph (b) [Note: No objection was raised], it is agreed that all of the income which the Bureau of Internal Revenue is seeking to tax to this petitioner was paid out during both the years 1927 and 1928 by the Trustee pursuant to the provisions of said Indenture to the beneficiaries of the trusts named therein, namely Martha S. Stevens, Jane B. Krebs and Grace Hosmer. It is further agreed that neither of the trusts created by this Indenture, the income from which is in question in this case, was terminated during either of the years 1927 or 1928, but that all continued in effect throughout all of both years. It is further agreed that no income whatever was received by the Trustee under said trust Indenture in either of said trusts for distribution or otherwise on the calendar day December 31, 1927, or on the calendar day December 31, 1928.

Section 219 (g) of the Revenue Act of 1926, and section 166 of the Revenue Act of 1928 are identical, and provide as follows:

Where the grantor of a trust has, at any time during the taxable year, either alone or in conjunction with any person not a beneficiary of the trust, the power to revest in himself title to any part of the corpus of the trust, then the income of such part of the trust for such taxable year shall be included in computing the net income of the grantor.

Petitioner contends that in accordance with the fifth article of the trust indenture he could revoke only on the 31st day of December of any given year, by giving 60 days’ previous notice in writing of such termination; that he did not, therefore, have the power, “ at any [1002]*1002time during tlie taxable year ” to revest in himself title to any part of the corpus of the trust, but had such power only on the last day of the taxable year, provided the required 60-day notice was given prior thereto; and that, in any event, to tax petitioner on the income in question would be in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, and of. other provisions and amendments thereof. Petitioner concedes, however, that if there had been any income on the last day of each of the years before us, such income would be taxable to him under the sections of the statutes above quoted.

The respondent contends that the power which the grantor reserved, by virtue of the fifth article of the indenture, to revest in himself title to the corpus of the trust estates comes within the provisions of sections 219 (g) and 166, supra; and that the income of the trust estates is, therefore, taxable to the grantor, the petitioner herein.

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Related

Simpson v. Commissioner
30 B.T.A. 999 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
30 B.T.A. 999, 1934 BTA LEXIS 1239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simpson-v-commissioner-bta-1934.