Lammerts v. Commissioner
Lammerts v. Commissioner
Opinion of the Court
These are appeals by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, by the Estate of Henry P. Lammerts and by Hildred K. Lammerts, the widow of Henry P. Lam-merts, from two decisions of the United States Tax Court, 54 T.C. 420 (1970).
At the time of his death on June 15, 1961, Henry P. Lammerts owned just over 90% of the shares of Lammerts, Inc., a family corporation operating a dual Cadillac and Buiek dealership in Niagara Falls, New York. The remaining shares were owned by Henry’s son, Henry P. Lammerts, Jr. Henry’s will directed his executors (his widow and son Henry, Jr.) to dissolve the existing Lammerts corporation and to make certain distributions of the assets to the estate and then to themselves as legatees. The corporation was dissolved on January 2, 1962 and the assets distributed. The widow and the son then transferred most of their interests in the operating business assets to a newly formed corporation, Lammerts, Inc., which was to carry on the automobile dealerships. In exchange the widow received preferred stock and the son common stock in the new corporation. The estate recognized and eventually reported a gain on the liquidation, paying taxes at capital gains rates. The Commissioner claimed that the liquidation of the old corporation followed by the transfer of its business and operating assets to the new corporation, was in fact a corporate reorganization, and the gain recognized by the estate was taxable at ordinary income rates. Int.Rev.Code of 1954, § 356(a) (2).
This major issue need not concern us because on this appeal the parties have stipulated that the transaction was a so-called “D” reorganization (§ 368(a) (1) (D)) which renders the gain taxable at ordinary income tax rates, since boot had been retained by the shareholders. (§ 356(a) (2)).
In 1962 the successor corporation redeemed 180 shares of the widow’s preferred stock at par value of $100 per share. This created the question as to whether the $18,000 payment was equivalent to a dividend under § 302 and thus subject to ordinary income tax rates under § 301, or whether it qualified for capital gains treatment as a redemption under the terms of § 303. The parties on appeal have now stipulated that § 303 is applicable. We therefore remand the matter to the Tax Court for a computation of the tax due pursuant to the stipulation of the parties and for a determination that the arithmetic criteria of § 303 have been complied with.
Affirmed in part and remanded.
§ 303 requires that the value of the total number of shares in the distributing corporation owned by the decedent at his death (and includable in his gross estate for federal estate tax purposes) must exceed either 35% of the value of his gross taxable estate, or 50% of his net taxable estate. Also, § 303 would apply only to
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ESTATE of Henry P. LAMMERTS, and v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, and Cross-Appellee Hildred K. LAMMERTS v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published