Steere v. Commissioner
United States Tax Court
Held: 1. On the facts, decedent reserved a power to alter or amend the provisions of an inter vivos trust so as to cause inclusion of the value of the corpus of the trust in his gross estate under section 811 (d), Internal Revenue Code.
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Held: 1. On the facts, decedent reserved a power to alter or amend the provisions of an inter vivos trust so as to cause inclusion of the value of the corpus of the trust in his gross estate under section 811 (d), Internal Revenue Code. An amendment to the trust whereby petitioner relinquished his power to "revoke" did not affect his additional retained power to "modify" or "change" the trust, which qualifies as a power to "alter" or "amend" within section 811 (d). 2. Estoppel must be specially pleaded, and, in any event, the Commissioner is not estopped from including the value of trust…
1Opinion of the Court
OPINION.
Naum, Judge:
The Commissioner determined a deficiency in the estate tax of petitioner in the amount of $239,530.83. By an amendment to his answer, the Commissioner claims an increase in such deficiency in the amount of $34,570.84. As a result of concessions by both parties, the sole remaining issue is the one raised by the Commissioner in the amendment to his answer. That issue is whether or not the decedent reserved the power to alter or amend an inter vivos trust created by him so as to cause inclusion of the value of the trust assets in decedent’s gross estate under section 811 (d)…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Commissioner v. Estate of HolmesSupreme Court of the United States · 1946
- Gaylord v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1946
- Guaranty Trust Co. v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1938
- Fidelity—Philadelphia Trust Co. v. CommissionerCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit · 1940
3Cited by17 opinions
- Riss v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1971
- Ross Glove Co. v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1973
- Lodi Iron Works, Inc. v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1958
- Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1955
- Fortugno v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1963
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