Keck v. Commissioner
United States Tax Court
In 1956 an executory contract was entered into by three corporations engaged in various aspects of the motor transportation business to sell all of their assets, provided, however, that the requisite approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission could be obtained, and provided further that the selling corporations could obtain a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service that the gain realized by the corporations from the transfer of assets would be exempt from Federal income…
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In 1956 an executory contract was entered into by three corporations engaged in various aspects of the motor transportation business to sell all of their assets, provided, however, that the requisite approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission could be obtained, and provided further that the selling corporations could obtain a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service that the gain realized by the corporations from the transfer of assets would be exempt from Federal income tax under sec. 337, I.R.C. 1954. Pursuant to the contract, Shaw and the other stockholders delivered their stock in the…
1DissentFeatherton, J.
With due deference I dissent.
In general, the term “income in respect of a decedent” applies only to “those amounts to which a decedent was entitled as gross income” but which were not properly includable in his final return. Sec. 1.691 (a)-l(b), Income Tax Regs. The proper test for determining whether gain from the sale of property is to be treated as income in respect of a decedent is the status of the transaction at decedent’s death, not who carried on the “economic activity” which brought it to that status. Thus, as example (4) of the Regulations explains, where, pursuant to a contract…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Boyle v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit · 1965
- Falwell v. United StatesDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia · 1947
- Evelyn Z. Levin v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1967
- Trust Company of Georgia v. RossDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia · 1966
- Levin v. United StatesDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts · 1966