Decision will be entered under
This is an estate tax valuation case in which R has increased the value of an interest in an LLC included in the value of the gross estate. The parties have stipulated copies of the pleadings. In the petition, P avers that he has obtained a new appraisal, "a copy of which" is attached to the petition. R admits only that a new appraisal is attached to the petition. P argues that the appraisal was admitted in evidence by stipulation and must be considered by us as expert testimony notwithstanding P's failure to qualify the author of the appraisal as an expert pursuant to
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HALPERN,
Unless otherwise stated, section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the date of decedent's death, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.
Petitioner bears the burden of proof.
Decedent died testate on February 23, 2007 (date of death). When he filed the petition, petitioner resided in Pennsylvania.
Petitioner timely filed Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, electing thereon alternate valuation as provided for in
Petitioner determined the $1,788,000 that he reported on the Schedule G as the value of the subject interest from an appraisal prepared for him by Management Planning, Inc. (MPI appraisal). The MPI appraisal was based in part *266 on an appraisal of the LLC's principal asset, a commercial building at 37-41 East 18th Street, New York, New York (building), prepared by individuals at Jacques O. Tuchler & Associates (building appraisal). To determine the value of the building, the building appraisal took two approaches: a sales comparison approach, which indicated a value for the building of $22,800,000, and an income capitalization approach, which indicated a value for the building of $19,960,000. Assigning no weight to the sales comparison approach, the building appraisal concluded on the basis of the income approach that the value of the building on the 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*276 date of death was $19,960,000. The MPI appraisal added to the value conclusion of the building appraisal the amount of the LLC's cash and other current assets ($851,337), subtracted the LLC's liabilities ($183,116), and concluded that the value (net asset value) of the LLC on the date of death was $20,628,221. The MPI appraisal then applied to that net asset value, sequentially, discounts of 20% for lack of control and of 35% for lack of marketability, to reach a value conclusion of $1,788,000 for the fair market value of the subject interest.
Respondent examined the Form 706 and determined that petitioner had underreported the fair market value of the subject interest. Respondent's explanation of his adjustment increasing the reported fair market value of the *267 subject interest shows that he accepted MPI's calculation of the net asset value of the LLC ($20,628,221) as a starting point for determining the value of the interest, but, rather than allowing 20% and 35% discounts for lack of control and lack of marketability, respectively, he allowed discounts of only 10% and 20%. On the basis of those 10% and 20% discounts, he determined that the fair market value of the subject 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*277 interest on the valuation date was $2,475,882, rather than $1,788,000, as reported by petitioner, which increased the taxable estate by $687,882. On the basis of that increase, respondent determined the aforesaid deficiency in estate tax of $309,547.
Petitioner timely petitioned for redetermination of the deficiency, assigning error to the notice, averring on the basis of an appraisal by Dr. Laura J. Tindall (Tindall appraisal) that the true value of the subject interest for estate tax purposes was $1,037,796, and praying that we redetermine a deficiency of zero and an overpayment of estate tax entitling him to a refund. Petitioner attached a copy of the Tindall appraisal to the petition.
The building is a 10-story mezzanine, cellar and subcellar, concrete/steel/ masonry, semi-fireproof class C elevator loft building with office space and grade *268 level retail located in the Midtown South/Ladies Mile sector of Manhattan. The building has a gross building area of approximately 67,050 square feet above grade and a gross rentable area of 77,725 square feet. The building was fully leased on the valuation date.
An operating agreement 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*278 (operating agreement) governs operation of the LLC. The term "member" is defined in the operating agreement as one who has signed the operating agreement or who, thereafter, becomes a party to the agreement. Members participate in management and control of the LLC. The term "membership interest" is defined as the member's percentage interest in the LLC's capital. Membership of the LLC is divided among three family groups, and transfers of membership interests outside of those groups are restricted. A nonfamily member transferee cannot become a member of the LLC without the unanimous approval of all of the members. A nonfamily member transferee who receives a membership interest but who does not become a member is entitled to receive the distributions and allocations of profits and losses appurtenant to that membership interest but has no right to participate in management and control of the LLC. The death of a member dissolves the LLC unless it is continued by majority vote.
*269 Petitioner was a member of one of the family groups when she transferred the subject interest to the trust. She was not a member of the LLC on the date of death. On the date of death, the trust was a member of 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*279 the LLC, and it owned the subject interest. Following decedent's death, the trust continued to own the subject interest.
At trial, respondent offered John A. Thomson as an expert in business valuation. Mr. Thomson is vice president and managing director of the Long Beach, California, office of Klaris, Thomson & Schroeder, Inc. He is also an accredited senior appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers, is a member of the Appraisal Institute, and has directed and conducted numerous valuation appraisals of various business enterprises. The Court accepted Mr. Thomson as a business valuation expert and received his written report into evidence as his direct testimony as to the value of the subject interest.
Mr. Thomson valued the subject interest as of the valuation date. Because he considered the LLC to function primarily as a real estate holding company, he excluded the market and income approaches to valuation, and he relied exclusively on a cost approach; i.e., what he described as "the discounted net asset value approach." He described that approach as follows: *270 As applied to the valuation of a nonmarketable, minority equity interest, the cost approach 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*280 calls for a summation of the fair market value of the entity's assets and a reduction of that aggregate by the entity's total liabilities, with the resulting value then being multiplied by the subject ownership percentage to arrive at the net asset value (NAV) of the interest. To arrive at the estimated fair market value of the interest[,] the indicated net asset value is reduced by appropriate valuation discounts.
As stated
Before proceeding to the merits of the case, we must dispose of an evidentiary issue raised by petitioner, viz, whether the Tindall appraisal is in evidence. We conclude that it is not.
Among petitioner's averments in the petition, in support of his claim that, on the Form 706, he overvalued the subject interest (and is entitled to a refund of tax), is the following (averment): The Petitioner's initial appraiser in this case also failed to utilize the proper method of valuation and failed to properly classify the Interest. Consequently, Petitioner has obtained a new appraisal (the "Appraisal"), a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "B," which properly characterizes the Interest as an assignee interest, gives the proper weight to both the income approach 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*282 and the net asset value approach, and applies the appropriate applicable discounts.
Before trial, petitioner untimely moved to compel respondent to stipulate either the Tindall appraisal or, alternatively, the entire petition (including the attached Tindall appraisal). Petitioner alternatively moved to sanction respondent for failing to so stipulate. We denied petitioner's pretrial motions and proceeded to hold trial. The parties have stipulated copies of the petition and the answer, which are attachments to the stipulation, and have stipulated separately the text of the averment. They did so subject to the caveat that the stipulations "show the parties' pleadings in this case and are not admitted in evidence." Petitioner asks that we reconsider our prior rulings with respect to the Tindall appraisal 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*283 or otherwise allow it into evidence and consider it expert testimony.
Petitioner's path for attempting to introduce the Tindall appraisal into evidence as expert testimony is, to say the least, unusual. Generally, a party obtains the testimony of an expert witness by calling that witness to testify.
Petitioner's chosen means for seeking to introduce the Tindall appraisal into evidence is perhaps explained by 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*284 a conversation we had with his counsel at the hearing during which we considered petitioner's pretrial motions along with respondent's motion in limine to exclude the Tindall appraisal on various grounds, including that petitioner had not submitted and served a copy of the report as required by
The Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure govern all proceedings and cases before the Court.
In pertinent part,
The parties are required to stipulate, to the fullest extent to which complete or qualified agreement can or fairly should be reached, all matters not privileged which are relevant to the pending case, *275 regardless of whether such matters involve fact or opinion or the application of law to fact. Included in matters required to be stipulated are all facts, all documents and papers or contents or aspects thereof, 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*286 and all evidence which fairly should not be in dispute. * * * Documents or papers or other exhibits annexed to or filed with the stipulation shall be considered to be part of the stipulation.
As best we understand petitioner's argument for our receiving the Tindall appraisal into evidence as expert testimony, it is as follows. Respondent cannot fairly dispute the authenticity of the petition, including the attached Tindall appraisal. Respondent must therefore stipulate the authenticity of the copy of the petition presented by petitioner. The authenticity of the petition having been stipulated, it (including the Tindall appraisal) is in evidence, subject to any reservation noted as to materiality or relevance. Because the Tindall appraisal is in evidence, the requirements governing 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*287 the admission of expert testimony found in
*276 The following two sentences from petitioner's answering brief capture his argument (although they refer to another appraisal, the MPI appraisal, which is attached to the Form 706): Respondent states that "this Court will not admit an appraisal report as evidence of fair market value unless the author of the expert [sic] testifies at trial and is available for cross examination." (Resp. Br., p. 44.) This is true, but the MPI Appraisal was admitted in evidence by stipulation so that it was not necessary to have it admitted by the Court through
Clearly, petitioner relies on the Tindall appraisal for Dr. Tindall's expert opinion. On the basis of appraisal, he proposes that we find the following fact: "The Tindall Appraisal determined that the proper weight in valuing the LLC to be given to the NAV and the historical distributions of the LLC is 20% and 80%, respectively." He argues: The Tindall Appraisal explains why Petitioner disavows those portions of the 706 by explaining why 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*288 the value of the Decedent's interest should be $1,037,796.00 because the decedent's interest to be valued is an assignee interest instead of membership interest, and because the LLC is, at least, in part an operating company instead of a holding company. The Tindall Appraisal not only explains why Petitioner disavows these admissions in the 706 and the MPI Appraisal but also places the admissions in the 706 in proper context. The Tindal Appraisal also explains how the values of the LLC and the Decedent's interest are substantially understated [sic] in the 706. The basis for disavowing the admissions cannot be fully and impartially understood without admitting the Tindall Appraisal in evidence under
The stipulation 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*290 process is "the bedrock of Tax Court practice" and is designed "as an aid to the more expeditious trial of cases as well as for settlement purposes."
Petitioner did not call Dr. Tindall as a witness but asks us to rely on her report (which, under our Rules, would serve as her direct testimony) as her expert opinion. Petitioner has neither qualified Dr. Tindall as an expert entitled pursuant to
The Tindall appraisal is excluded.42013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*296
Petitioner called no witness to testify to the value of the subject interest on the valuation date. Petitioner finds fault both with the MPI appraisal, on which he relied in reporting the value of the subject interest on the Form 706, and on Mr. Thomson's opinion as to the value of that property. He contends that there is sufficient evidence in the record from which the Court could determine the fair market value of the subject interest on the valuation date without relying on the conclusions either in the MPI appraisal or of Mr. Thomson. He contends that that value is less than the $1,788,000 he reported on the Form 706.
*283 To determine the fair market value of the subject interest, each of (1) the MPI appraisal, (2) respondent in explaining his adjustment to the 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*297 value of the subject interest in the notice, and (3) Mr. Thomson started with $20,628,221 as the net asset value of the LLC. Each then made adjustments for lack of control and for lack of marketability (and those adjustments are the only thing about which they disagree). Petitioner first finds fault with the common starting point, claiming that the value of the LLC should not have been defined exclusively by reference to its net asset value (the excess of the value of its assets over its liabilities): "[T]he LLC is at least in part an operating company that should be valued giving some weight to the LLC['s] earnings and/or distributions." Petitioner next finds fault with respondent's (and Mr. Thomson's) classification of the subject interest as a membership interest in the LLC: "The Notice of Deficiency erroneously classified the Decedent's interest in the LLC for valuation purposes as a membership Interest. Such erroneous classification resulted in the failure of the experts to reflect appropriately the * * * [limitations attending a nonfamily member's interest] in determining the amount of the discounts for * * * minority interest [status] and for lack of marketability." Finally, 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*298 petitioner finds fault generally with the amounts of Mr. Thomson's discounts.
Addressing first the second fault petitioner ascribes to respondent and Mr. Thomson's positions, we understand petitioner's argument to be that both respondent and Mr. Thomson erred in (1) not classifying the subject interest as a nonfamily member's interest (assignee's interest), and (2) failing to value the subject interest as an assignee's interest under the willing buyer-willing seller standard prescribed in
The value of the subject interest was included in the value of the gross estate under
Generally, the value of an item of property included in the decedent's gross estate is the fair market value of the item at the time of the decedent's death or, if an election is made, on the alternate valuation date.
We must determine whether respondent and 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*300 Mr. Thomson erred in classifying the subject interest as a member's interest rather than classifying it as an assignee's interest. A member's interest is more valuable than an equivalent percentage interest of an assignee because the member's interest can participate in *286 management and control of the LLC. We think respondent and Mr. Thomson did not err. Decedent was a member of the LLC when she transferred the subject interest to the trust. We assume, therefore, that, until she made the transfer, she enjoyed all of the benefits and was saddled with all of the burdens attendant upon being a "member" of the LLC. The term "member's interest" (or the term "membership interest", which the parties use, but which we do not, because it is a term defined in the operating agreement to mean a member's proportional interest in capital) is both a convenient and an accurate classification for indicating that decedent's interest in the LLC was of the fullest kind; i.e., she shared in management and control and did not merely share in profits and losses. For the same reasons, the term is a convenient and accurate classification for the subject interest in the hands of the trust, which also was a member 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*301 of the LLC. Moreover, there is no evidence that, on or before the valuation date, the trust distributed, sold, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of the subject interest, so that, possibly, on that date, it could more accurately be described as an assignee's interest. Therefore, because the term "member's interest" conveniently and accurately describes the rights inherent to a subject interest on the date decedent transferred it, on the date she died, and on the valuation date, neither respondent *287 nor Mr. Thomson erred in classifying it as such (or, in their terms, classifying it as a "membership interest").
The fair market value of the subject interest on the valuation date is determined under the objective willing buyer-willing seller standard discussed
Neither respondent nor Mr. Thomson erred in classifying the subject interest as a member's interest.
As found The Decedent's interest in the LLC to be valued is an assignee interest, * * * and the hypothetical purchaser would not have any say in the LLC's decisions to make distributions, to sell the Building, or to liquidate, so the hypothetical purchaser's primary concern would be historical earnings and distributions. * * * Accordingly, this LLC must be valued giving primary weight in the valuation of the LLC to 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*304 the capitalization of the historical distributions to its members.
b.
It is perhaps a sufficient answer to petitioner's argument that we do not agree that the subject interest was an assignee's interest. Moreover, any concern that petitioner might have about a member's (or, indeed, an assignee's) lack of influence on decision making is properly addressed in the context of the lack-of-control discount applied by Mr. Thomson in determining the fair market value of the subject interest. Mr. Thomson explained that discount (describing it, alternatively, as a "minority interest discount") as follows: "The hypothetical minority interest investor cannot control, or has little influence on, the disposition of assets, the payment of distributions, the appointment of management, or other prerogatives of control. Therefore, a lack of control discount is applied to account for the absence of these control features."
*290 It is true that Mr. Thomson considered the LLC to function primarily as a real estate holding company, and, for that reason, he excluded the market and income approaches to valuation, relying exclusively on a discounted net asset value approach. The LLC's principal asset, 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*305 however, was the building, the value of which ($19,960,000) Mr. Thomson accepted from the LLC's partnership return and the building appraisal. The $19,960,000 value from the building appraisal was based exclusively on an income approach that used a discounted cashflow analysis. The authors of the building appraisal projected building income for six years, capitalized the sixth year's income to determine a terminal value, and discounted the resulting income stream to present value ($19,960,000). Thus, while Mr. Thomson's valuation of the LLC was based on the net asset value of the LLC's assets, the value he accepted for the LLC's principal asset, the building, was based on an income approach.
We have said: "It is well established that, in general, an asset-based method of valuation applies in the case of corporations that are essentially holding corporations, while an earnings-based method applies for corporations that are going concerns."
The LLC undoubtedly provided services to the public, viz, a fully leased gross rentable area of 77,725 square feet. And although the members of the LLC may have had in mind the future appreciation of the building, we cannot but conclude that the LLC managed a going concern. We have on occasion been presented with, and sanctioned, the valuation of a closely held real estate firm using a weighted approach, i.e., using both a net value 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*307 approach and an income capitalization approach, attaching weight to each.
Finally, the net asset value that Mr. Thomson was instructed to (and did) use was the same net asset value used in the MPI appraisal, which petitioner relied on in reporting the value of the subject interest on the Schedule G. "[V]alues or discounts reported or claimed on an estate tax return may be considered admissions and, to some extent binding or probative, restricting an estate from substituting a lower value without cogent proof that those admissions are wrong."
The evidentiary 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 273">*308 record shows that the value of the LLC before determination of decedent's proportionate interest therein and application of discounts for lack of control and lack of marketability was no less than $20,628,221, the amount relied on by Mr. Thomson.
The parties do not dispute that, in valuing the subject interest, it is appropriate to take account of discounts for both lack of control and lack of marketability. Indeed, we have accepted both discounts when valuing stock of closely held corporations.
The value of the subject interest on the valuation date was $2,303,000, the value conceded by respondent. We redetermine a deficiency in Federal estate tax accordingly.
To reflect the foregoing,
1. In
2. Providing in relevant part: "The taxpayer and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue may, by stipulation in writing filed with the Board, or presented at the hearing, agree upon any facts involved in the case."↩
3. Although we have on occasion said that exhibits attached to a stipulation filed by the parties are in evidence or are part of the evidentiary record, the circumstances of those statements must be taken into account. For example, in
4. A different appraisal, the MPI appraisal, is attached to the Form 706, which (including the MPI appraisal) is identified in the stipulation and attached as an exhibit. The MPI appraisal is offered by neither party solely as expert testimony, so that we do not exclude it, as we do the Tindall appraisal, for failing to satisfy the relevant rules relating to expert testimony. We do not, however, rely on it as expert testimony.