Estate of Freund v. Commissioner
Estate of Freund v. Commissioner
Opinion of the Court
Sanford Freund, a resident of Ridge-field, Connecticut, died testate on November 29, 1954. His will, after minor specific bequests, provided that the remainder of his estate should be held in trust, the income to be paid to his surviving sister during her life, and the principal, upon her death, to be paid to Harvard College. The question presented by this appeal is whether the Tax Court erred in deciding, upon stipulated facts, that the estate was entitled to only a part of the deduction claimed under Section 642(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C.A. § 642(c).
As the facts are fully stated in that opinion reported at 35 T.C. 629, a brief summary will suffice here. Mr. Freund was a partner in a law firm in New York City which was on a calendar-year cash basis. His share of partnership income for the year 1954 was $35,113.25. $31,099.71 of the amount was allocable to the period prior to decedent’s death and $4,013.54 to the period after his death. The partnership agreement gave partners a drawing account. During 1954 Mr. Freund withdrew $20,000 and the firm paid for his personal expenses $3,085.91, a total of $23,085.91. This sum the partnership offset against the $35,113.25, and only the balance of $12,027.34 was actually paid to the estate.
The entire amount of Mr. Freund’s share of the 1954 partnership income was includible in the estate under Section 126 (a) of the 1939 Code, 26 U.S.C.A. § 126 (a), dealing with “income in respect of decedents.” Concededly this section was applicable rather than the corresponding section of the 1954 Code because its provisions with respect to income of a deceased partner apply only to partners dying after December 31, 1954.
Prior to 1934, income accrued before the death of a cash basis taxpayer and thereafter received by his estate escaped taxation. It was not taxable to the decedent because not received by him, and was not taxable to his estate because held to be corpus, not income of the estate.
From these fictional provisions relating to accounting it does not follow, as appellants contend, that income never received by the decedent’s estate, although it must be reported by the estate as gross income, must also be treated as “paid or permanently set aside” for charity under the terms of the decedent’s will, and so entitled to the deduction permitted under Section 642(c). That the provisions of Section 126(a) do not work substantive changes in other sections relating to estate income, and particularly in Section 642(c),
Additional support for the decision below may be found in the Treasury Regulations applicable to the 1954 Code. They make clear that Section 691(a) relates to an amount received by an estate or trust.
The authorities cited by appellants as inconsistent with the decision are distinguishable. In those cases the items of gross income claimed as a deduction were physically received by the charity, Rockland Oil Co. v. Commissioner, 22 T.C. 1307, or at the least received by the estate although later misapplied by the executors, John E. Myra, 4 T.C.M. 958. See Estate of Huesman, supra.
Appellants’ contention that Freund was indebted to the partnership for the $23,085.91 paid him in 1954 is, as the Tax Court called it, “sophistry.” The estate did not pay any debt when the partnership deducted the advances from Freund’s share of the earnings of the law firm; it merely received the residual amount of his share. Moreover, even if the estate had paid a debt, the amounts so paid would not have been deductible under Section 642(c), cf. Commissioner v. Citizens & Southern Nat. Bank, 5 Cir., 147 F.2d 977, 980.
Decision affirmed.
. This section permits an estate, in computing its taxable income, to deduct any part of the gross income which pursuant to the terms of the governing instrument (decedent’s will) “is during the taxable year, paid or permanently set aside” for charitable purposes (Harvard College).
. Section 771(a) and (b) (4) of the 1954 Code.
. See Nichols v. United States, 64 Ct.Cl. 241, cert. den. 277 U.S. 584, 48 S.Ct. 432, 72 L.Ed. 999; Commissioner v. United States Trust Co., 2 Cir., 143 F.2d 243, cert. den. 323 U.S. 727, 65 S.Ct. 62, 89 L.Ed. 584.
. Helvering v. Estate of Enright, 312 U.S. 636, 61 S.Ct. 777, 85 L.Ed. 1093.
. See H.Rep. No. 2333, 77th Cong., 2 Sess. p. 83 (1942-2 Cum.Bull. 372, 435); S.Rep. No. 1631, 77th Cong., 2 Sess. p. 100 (1942-2 Cum.Bull. 504, 579).
. Huesman dealt specifically with Section 642(c)’s predecessor in the 1939 Code, Section 162(a).
. Section 1.642(c)-1 of the Regulations reads in relevant part: “For this purpose, an amount received by an estate or trust which is includible in its gross income as income in respect of a decedent under section 691(a) (1) is deemed ‘gross income’ of the estate or trust.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ESTATE of Sanford H. E. FREUND, City Bank Farmers Trust Company and Robert Nias West, Executors, Petitioners-on-Review v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent-on-Review
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published