Whitehead v. Commissioner

3 T.C. 40, 1944 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 221
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 17, 1944
DocketDocket No. 107365
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 3 T.C. 40 (Whitehead 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
Whitehead v. Commissioner, 3 T.C. 40, 1944 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 221 (tax 1944).

Opinion

OPINION.

Disney. Judge'.

The petitioner deducted in returns filed by it for the taxable years amounts accrued to the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, a corporation organized under the will solely for charitable purposes. The amount deducted each year was the residue of gross income after making other deductions not herein involved, and after leaving $12,500 for distributions to beneficiaries of two special bequests provided in the decedent’s will.

In his determination of the deficiencies the respondent held that the income of petitioner was not paid to, or permanently set aside for the use of, a charitable foundation specified in section 23 (o) of the Revenue Acts of 1936 and 1938 and the Internal Revenue Code, and accordingly that no deductions were allowable under the provisions of section 162 (a) of those acts and the Code.

The will of the decedent provided' in general terms, and subject to more particular conditions hereinafter discussed, that certain contractual obligations to his widow and a former wife should be carried out and executed by his executors and by a corporation to be formed; that such corporation should be formed as soon as possible after his death and that his estate should be delivered to it; that such corporation, after paying $12,500 a year from income upon two special bequests should use one-fourth of the income from such estate by disbursing it to deserving orphans’ homes; and the balance for charitable purposes and in the relief of pain and suffering and poverty, and for the relief of such institutions as hospitals and like institutions that dispense charity, or are worthy and in need of funds, in addition to which such corporation could in its discretion disburse funds to individuals, associations, and institutions such as schools, whether public or private, if deemed worthy, deserving, and in need of funds. The petitioner, the executor of the estate, duly took charge of the estate, which was valued at approximately six million dollars. The widow filed suit to recover the entire estate as sole heir, and questions arose as to the estate tax. After about a year the widow’s claim was settled for $500,000, and shortly thereafter a corporation, known as the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, was formed along the lines provided in the decedent’s will, the will in effect being by reference made part of the corporate charter. The first distribution, of $200,000, was made by the executor to the corporation about a year and a half later, in 1938, after the amount of the estate tax had been fixed. The executor continued to receive the income of the estate throughout the taxable years, in the meantime making payments to the widow and a former wife, also upon the special bequests. During 1939 the executor paid the corporation $966,238.65. Some of the payments in the meantime had been made from corpus and in particular transfers had been made from income account to corpus account in order to pay the $500;000, the amount of the settlement with the widow.

The questions presented by the parties are in effect whether under sections 162 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code the petitioner may deduct from gross income the entire amount thereof, except certain other deductions not here involved, and except the $12,500 a year paid under the two special bequests, which deduction the petitioner claims under section 162 (b) or (c) and as distributed currently by a fiduciary to a beneficiary. The petitioner’s view is in substance that the gross income (except the amount paid upon the two special bequests) was all deductible because, under the terms of section 162 (a) it was, pursuant to the terms of the will and during the taxable years, paid or permanently set aside to a corporation complying with the terms of section 162 (a), and further because such gross income was, pursuant to the terms of the will, and the statute, to be used exclusively for charitable or educational purposes. The respondent’s position is in effect that none of the deductions are proper on the ground that the will did not provide for such payment or permanent setting aside of the gross income as contemplated by the statute for the reason that the corporation formed was not, as required by section 162 (a) by reference to section 23 (o), one organized or operated exclusively for charitable or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, and further that the will did not provide for the use of the gross income exclusively for charitable or educational purposes. Sections 162 (a), (b), and (c) and 23 (o) (2)1 are set forth in the margin.

Although the petitioner has the burden of showing its right to the deductions claimed, the element of charity requires liberal construction. Helvering v. Bliss, 293 U. S. 144; Old Colony Trust Co. v. Commissioner, 301 U. S. 379; Edwards v. Slocum, 264 U. S. 61. Tax provisions as to charities are begotten from motives of public policy and are not to be narrowly construed. Beggs v. United States, 27 Fed. Supp. 599; Harrison v. Barker Annuity Fund, 90 Fed. (2d) 286, 289.

It is apparent from the whole record that the intent of the testator, as expressed in his will, was that his estate should be devoted to charitable or educational uses after the discharge of his contractual obligations to his widow and former wife, and after the payment of two special bequests. Does the existence of such exceptions and the further fact, urged by the respondent, that under the will amounts could be disbursed to institutions such as schools, public or private, and to deserving individuals, preclude classification of the foundation set up, within the terms of section 162 (a), and consequent allowance of the deductions; and what is the effect of the latter part of section 162 (a) as to income which under the will is to be used exclusively for charitable or educational purposes ?

The test of the propriety of the deductions claimed is furnished by the terms of the will, and not by what was actually done thereunder by the petitioner. Bowers v. Slocum, 20 Fed. (2d) 350. That case construes that part of section 162 (a) which appeared in section 219 of the Revenue Act of 1918; i. e., the portion granting deduction of gross income paid or permanently set aside to charitable, etc., organizations. In pertinent part it holds as follows:

Section 219 (b) does not make the deduction depend upon the action of the executors in crediting the income upon their books, but upon the permanent setting aside of the income by the will itself for corporations of the character in question. The question, therefore, resolves itself into this: Was the income received by the estate during the year 1919 permanently set aside for the residuary legatees by the will itself?
»*«*»**
The government, as I understand it, argues that the income in question might have been allowed as a deduction, if it had been paid by the executors or credited on their books.

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Whitehead v. Commissioner
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Bluebook (online)
3 T.C. 40, 1944 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitehead-v-commissioner-tax-1944.