Indmar Products Co., Inc. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

I concur fully in the majority opinion. I write separately to explain why the legal, non-factual components of the tax court’s analysis are properly examined on appeal without deference to the tax court, notwithstanding the overall “clearly erroneous” standard that our court has stated to be applicable to the determination of whether a particular transaction is debt or equity.

Whether an issue to be determined by the courts is one of fact or law is sometimes pretty simple. But often, especially when the issue can be stated in the form of “Does the item before us fit within the *785legal definition…