Minkin v. Commissioner of Revenue

In a sense, this case presents a variation on themes expressed in two older cases, Peterson v. Hopson, 306 Mass. 597, 612 (1940), and Dolben v. Gleason, 292 Mass. 511 (1935), namely, whether a Massachusetts business trust (see G. L. c. 182, §§ 1 et seq.)2 is a legal entity apart from its shareholders. Here, the taxpayers’ (the four trusts, collectively) appeal to the Appellate Tax Board (board) was denied because the board, without a hearing, decided that the Commissioner of Revenue (commissioner) had rightly treated the *346trusts as separate taxable entities. From that determination and the…