Perry v. United States

Plaintiffs, who have filed a joint income tax return for the calendar year 1953, sue to recover taxes paid by them for that year in the amount of $8,287.26, plus interest as provided by law. The issue presented is whether an income tax may be imposed upon the corpus of a charitable trust that has been returned to the sole settlor when the donees thereof have refused to comply with the terms of the gift.

Plaintiff William F. Perry in 1944 created a trust for the benefit of the Town of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. The corpus was to be used for the construction of an addition to the Public Library…