The Tax Court has allowed a charitable contribution deduction claimed by a partnership for a bargain sale of land to a state turnpike commission because the partnership established donative intent and substantial compliance.  MORE »

In a case of first impression, the Tax Court has ruled that an individual's transfer of stock to a family limited partnership followed by the individual's transfer of partnership units to a marital trust for the benefit of his spouse, who predeceased him, and to a college constituted a bona fide sale under IRC section 2036(a); therefore, the individual's gross estate does not include the value of the transferred stock apportionable to his date-of-death interest in the partnership. The court further ruled on the funding date of the marital trust and certain administrative expenses.  MORE »

The Tax Court has ruled regarding formulas used to value units in an LLC. The units had been given by a taxpayer to her children and charities to be divided at a later date based on appraised values and for gift tax planning purposes. The units were later determined to be more valuable thereby requiring a reallocation between children and charities. Although the Service attempted to levy gift tax on the noncharitable transfers, the court ruled the formulas used to effect these transfers were not void as contrary to public policy.

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The Tax Court has applied the Cohan rule to estimate an individual's unsubstantiated charitable contribution deduction for cash contributions of $300 to a religious organization.  MORE »

The Tax Court has ruled that a contribution of a conservation easement in connection with unused development rights to a property located in the "Upper East Side Historic District" of New York City does not preserve a "historically important land area" or a "certified historic structure" within the meaning of I.R.C. sec. 170(h)(4)(A)(iv).  MORE »

The Tax Court has ruled that a couple is liable for deficiency determinations and accuracy-related penalties in connection with a series of claimed anonymous cash contributions totaling $26,000 to their church, as well as for unsubstantiated deductions for property taxes and IRA contributions.  MORE »

The Tax Court has determined the value of a perpetual conservation easement for land on a golf course donated by a limited liability company to be $28,656,004. The IRS had denied any deduction for the value of the easement or a $35,000 cash gift made to the charitable donee and desired to impose accuracy-related penalties. However, the court relied heavily on the opinion of the taxpayer's valuation expert while giving little credence to the opinion of the appraiser put forth by the Service.  MORE »

In this age of word processing and photoshopping, what’s to prevent a “creative” taxpayer from manufacturing a charitable contribution receipt from a real or fictitious charity and claiming a charitable deduction in the amount of their choice? Is that what the Tax Court thought when denying a couple’s $18,000 cash donation?  MORE »

In a divided opinion, the Tax Court has ruled that an estate is not entitled to an estate tax charitable deduction for the present value of annuity payments made to a family foundation from a testamentary charitable lead trust because the trust was funded via a partial disclaimer by the decedent’s sole heir that failed to qualify under section 2518(b)(4) because of the heir’s contingent-remainder interest in the trust. The dissenting judge argued the annuity and remainder interests were severable and, therefore, the disclaimer as to the annuity interest should have qualified. In addition, the entire court agreed in favor of allowing an estate tax charitable deduction for amounts disclaimed directly to the family foundation.  MORE »

In what it describes as "purely a substantiation case," the Tax Court in summary opinion has upheld a taxpayer's claimed cash and noncash charitable contribution deductions and denied his deductions for unreimbursed employee expenses.  MORE »