1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*168
Petitioner had the right to receive during her life all of the income of four trusts which her husband created in 1928 for the benefit of her and their four children. The settlor assigned to the trusts one-half of the renewal commissions which were to become payable to him under a general agency contract with a life insurance company. The trusts could not be amended or revoked without petitioner's consent. In 1932 the trusts were amended, with petitioner's consent, so as to give the settlor the right to the income for life and the right further to amend or revoke the trusts at his pleasure.
1 T.C. 1087">*1087 OPINION.
This proceeding involves a gift tax deficiency of $ 4,377.80 for 1932. The respondent has determined that petitioner made gifts to her husband of the income for her life, or the right to receive the income for life, of four trusts which her husband had created for the benefit of her and their four children. The facts are stipulated.
Petitioner is a resident of the State of New Jersey and is the wife of Louis A. Cerf, who is also a resident of that state. She filed her gift tax return for 1932 with the collector of internal revenue for the fifth district of New Jersey.
From 1910 to 1927 Louis A. Cerf acted as general agent for the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co. of Newark, New Jersey, under an agency contract which entitled him to certain renewal commissions 1 T.C. 1087">*1088 on policies of insurance written for the company by him or his agents in Greater New York and vicinity. In 1927 he gave the required notice to the company of termination of the contract and his resignation as general agent. All renewal commissions which became due him after the effective date of his resignation1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*170 were paid to him by the company up to November 15, 1928. Thereafter, pursuant to his instructions to the company, one-half of the renewal commissions as they became due were paid to the four trusts referred to above.
The four trusts were created by Louis A. Cerf (hereinafter referred to as the donor) on October 1, 1928, each for the benefit of petitioner and one of their four children. To each trust the donor transferred a one-eighth portion of the renewal commissions to become due and payable to him under his agency contract with the insurance company. The commissions were to constitute the corpora of the trusts and the net income of the trusts was to be paid to petitioner for life if she should accept it, otherwise it was to be added to corpus. Petitioner was given a general power of appointment to be exercised by will over the income of the trusts during the life of the donor. In the absence of such appointment the income was to be added to corpus. After the death of petitioner and the donor the income was to be paid to the child named as beneficiary for such child's life. Upon the death of the child the corpus was to be distributed in accordance with the provisions of the1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*171 will of such child, or, in the default of such appointment, to the heirs at law of such child. The trust agreement creating the trust for petitioner and her daughter, Katherine Sophia Cerf, which, it is stipulated, is representative of the other three trusts, reads in part as follows:
1. The Donor hereby assigns to the Trustees a one-eighth interest in the commissions hereafter accruing with respect to renewal premiums under contracts of the Donor with the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey. In Trust, Nevertheless, for the following uses and purposes: During the trust term as hereinafter defined, to collect and receive said one-eighth interest in said commissions (all payments so received by the Trustees from the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey being considered as principal or capital and not as income), to invest and reinvest the same, to hold and manage such investments and reinvestments, to collect and receive the income therefrom and to pay the net income to Camelia I. H. Cerf during the term of her natural life if she shall accept it, (the right to so accept such income or any part thereof to continue in Camelia I. H. Cerf1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*172 during the term of her natural life, notwithstanding one or more refusals thereof) or if she shall not have accepted such income or any part thereof at the time of her decease to add it at that time to the corpus of the trust; and upon her death and so long as the Donor shall be living, to pay the net income to such person or persons (including corporations) as she shall by her last will and testament, duly probated, direct or appoint, and in default of such direction or appointment to add the undistributed net income to the corpus of the trust; and thereafter (the Donor and his wife having died) to pay the net income to Katherine Sophia Cerf during the term of her natural 1 T.C. 1087">*1089 life; and upon the death of the survivor of the Donor, his wife, and their said daughter, to transfer, pay over and distribute the principal or capital of the fund then held in trust by the surviving trustee hereunder to and among such person or persons (including corporations) and in such amounts and shares as said daughter shall by her last will and testament, duly probated, direct or appoint, or in default of such direction or appointment, to and among those persons who would have been entitled to 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*173 receive the same, and in the amounts and shares to which they would have been so entitled if the said daughter had then died intestate, a resident of New Jersey, seized and possessed of said fund in her own right.
The donor, the petitioner, and the Savings Investment & Trust Co. were named trustees of each of the trusts. Each trust was to continue for the life of the survivor of the donor, the petitioner, and the child named as beneficiary. There was reserved to the donor the right to amend or revoke the trusts only with the written consent of the petitioner and "in conjunction with said beneficiary [the petitioner]." Each of the trust agreements was signed by the donor, the petitioner, and the Savings Investment & Trust Co., as trustees.
On June 30, 1932, with the written consent of the petitioner, the donor executed amendments to all four of the trusts which provided that upon written demand of the donor during his lifetime the trustees would pay to him or his nominees or assigns (1) "the sum of $ 7,800.00 out of the monies now in the hands of said Trustees, derived from the sale of government securities"; (2) "the sum of $ 1,700.00 from the monies now due and payable under the1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*174 terms of said trust to said Camelia I. H. Cerf"; (3) "all commissions mentioned in paragraph 1 of said Deed of Trust dated October 1, 1928 hereafter paid to said Trustees"; and (4) "all net income of whatever nature or from whatever source hereafter derived."
On August 23, 1932, the donor, with the written consent of petitioner, made further amendments to each of the trusts which gave him the right to amend or revoke any or all of them at his pleasure and without petitioner's consent.
On August 19, 1935, the donor made all of the above described trusts irrevocable and gave up all of his rights in the trust corpus and income.
Over the period June 30, 1932, to August 19, 1935, the donor from time to time demanded and received all of the income of all of the trusts. The net income of the trusts from investments for the period June 30, 1932, to December 31, 1932, amounted to $ 5,918.59. In addition to this income the trustees received $ 28,958.29 of renewal commissions during that period, which were treated as principal.
The petitioner filed a gift tax return for 1932 in which she reported total gifts, other than charitable, of $ 42,079.51. These gifts included a gift to the donor, 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*175 Louis A. Cerf, made effective by the trust amendments of June 30, 1932, of the income of the four trusts for his life at 1 T.C. 1087">*1090 a valuation of $ 26,601.56 and gifts to each of the four children of the income of the trust of which each child was a beneficiary for a period measured by the excess of petitioner's life expectancy over the life expectancy of the donor, valued in the aggregate at $ 15,477.95. She claimed against such gifts total exclusions of $ 20,477.95 and a specific exemption of the balance of $ 21,601.56. Petitioner stated in her return that she reserved the right to question the obligation to file the return and to contest her liability for any gift tax.
The respondent determined in his deficiency notice that petitioner made two separate gifts to the donor in 1932, one on June 30, 1932, consisting of the income of the trusts for his life, which he valued at $ 105,714.06, and one on August 23, 1932, consisting of the income of the trusts for the period represented by the excess of the life expectancy of petitioner over that of the donor, which he valued at $ 60,867.78. He allowed the petitioner only one exclusion of $ 5,000.
In his valuation of the gift of June1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*176 30, 1932, the respondent determined that the mortgage certificates, stocks, real estate, and cash held by the trustees on that date had a value of $ 191,498.57 and that the one-half interest in the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co. contract which the trusts jointly owned had a present worth of $ 208,145.77. Discounting the aggregate of those amounts $ 399,644.34 at 4 percent, and using an annuity or life expectancy factor of 6.61301 (the donor was then 69 years of age), he determined a total present value of $ 105,714.06 for the gift. The value of the August 23 gift was determined in a similar manner except that an annuity factor of 3.74630 was used, representing the excess of petitioner's life expectancy (petitioner was then 57 years of age), over that of the donor.
It is stipulated in this proceeding that "the value as of June 30, 1932 and August 23, 1932, attributed to the mortgage certificates, stocks, real estate, cash and the one-half interest in the commissions accruing after June 30, 1932, with respect to the renewal premiums under contract of Mr. Cerf with the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company as set forth in the statement attached to the deficiency notice is correct."
1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*177 It is further stipulated that for income tax purposes the respondent has included in the gross income of the donor for 1930, 1931, and 1932 the full amount of the renewal commissions resulting from his agency contract with the insurance company. It is further stipulated that in a prior proceeding before this Court the parties stipulated that the respondent correctly determined that all of the renewal commissions for 1936, 1937, and 1938 were includable in the gross income of the donor for those years.
The petitioner's contentions are in substance that she never acquired any property interests in the trusts and that therefore she made no 1 T.C. 1087">*1091 gifts to the donor of any property interests when she consented to the amendments by which she relinquished all of her rights in the trusts. She further contends that even if there was a valid gift by her to her husband, either on June 30, 1932, or August 23, 1932, the respondent has erroneously valued such gift or gifts by including in the trust corpora, for the purpose of valuing her life interests in the trusts, the present worth of one-half of the unpaid renewal commissions which were later to become due under the insurance agency 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*178 contract.
There can be no disagreement, of course, with petitioner's contention that she did not make a gift to her husband in 1932 of anything more than her interests in the trusts. Conversely, it must be admitted, we think, although petitioner contends to the contrary, that she did make a gift to her husband of all of her rights and interests in the trusts. For, by the amendments to the trust agreements to which she voluntarily consented in 1932, she completely relinquished to her husband all of her interests in the trusts, which consisted at the time of the right to receive the income during her life and, should she predecease her husband, the right to appoint the income for the balance of his life. The relinquishment of these rights, petitioner contends, was not a gift to the husband, but, on the other hand, was a refusal to accept gifts of income which her husband as donor of the trusts had offered to her.
Petitioner's contentions, we think, are unsound. There is no doubt that the donor made an absolute gift to the beneficiaries of the trusts of whatever property or property rights that he conveyed to the trustees. A gift is complete when the donor gives up dominion and control1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*179 over the subject matter of the gift.
The1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*180 will creating the trust entitled the petitioner during his life to the net income of the property held in trust. He thus became the owner of an equitable interest in the corpus of the property. * * * By virtue of that interest he 1 T.C. 1087">*1092 was entitled to enforce the trust, to have a breach of trust enjoined and to obtain redress in case of breach. The interest was present property alienable like any other, in the absence of a valid restraint upon alienation.
See also
None of the trusts could be amended or revoked without petitioner's consent. Her interest was adverse to that of the grantor.
The evidence does not show what income of the trusts, if any, was ever requested by or paid to petitioner. But we are not concerned with that question. It was the right of petitioner to receive the income that constituted her interest in the trusts. If an acceptance of such a gift, that is a gift entirely beneficial to the donee, is essential to its validity, we think that petitioner's acquiescence in the trust agreements and her consent to act as one of the trustees1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*182 of each of the trusts -- she signed each of the trust agreements as a trustee -- was in itself a sufficient acceptance of the benefits conferred upon her under the trust agreements. Of course, petitioner was free to renounce and to refuse to accept her rights under the trust agreements; cf.
Upon written demand made by the Donor during his lifetime, the Trustees shall pay over to him, his nominees or assigns, the sum of $ 1,700.00 from the monies now due and payable under the terms of said trust to said Camelia I. H. Cerf.
Petitioner did not by these amendments renounce her rights to the income of the trusts for life but merely consented for the donor during his lifetime to have the income which she was entitled to receive under the trust agreements. Since petitioner's1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*183 life expectancy was greater than that of the donor, she retained a beneficial interest of the excess of her life estate over that of the donor's. If petitioner had received 1 T.C. 1087">*1093 the income of the trusts in her own right and had then paid it over to the donor, or to any other person, the payment undoubtedly would have constituted a gift. It was none the less so, we think, because made in advance of receipt of the income.
By consenting to the later amendments of August 23, 1932, petitioner gave up all of her remaining rights in the trusts in favor of the donor. This was not a refusal to accept gifts of income. Under the trust agreements she could either receive the income or not as she liked, but if she did not it was to be added to corpus and, in that event, would not revert to the donor. By consenting to the trust amendments and giving full control of both income and corpus to the donor, she in effect assigned to the donor all of her rights as a beneficiary of the trusts. To say that she did not thereby make a gift to the donor and that the donor did not thereby receive anything from her is to ignore the realities of the situation.
The argument is made by petitioner that1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*184 there was not a present gift to her of the income of the trusts for life, but only a conditional gift, and that there would have been completed periodic gifts from year to year of the income actually paid to her by the trustees. This argument would be sound if the donor had retained the right to change the beneficial interests. See
In
Petitioner further contends that the act of giving her consent to the amendments to the trusts whereby the donor was given complete control over income and corpus was not a gift to the donor, citing, among other cases,
Another of the cases relied upon by the petitioner is
In the
The case stands for these principles: First, that there is a completed gift in trust of property when the donor, by amendment to the trust, relinquishes the right to change the beneficiaries -- a principle already firmly established by the cases cited -- and, second, that the mere relinquishment of a general power of appointment over trust corpus contributed by another is not a transfer of the property for gift tax purposes. In the instant case what petitioner relinquished by consenting to the trust amendments in 1932 was not a power of appointment over the corpora of the trusts but was an equitable interest in the trusts, consisting of the right to receive the income of the trusts for life. She had no power of appointment over the corpora.
In the
Also in the
What we decided in the
Petitioner contends, further, that respondent's position that there was a taxable gift to the donor in 1932 of the income of the trusts1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*191 is 1 T.C. 1087">*1096 inconsistent with his action in including in the donor's individual tax returns all of the renewal commissions collected by the trustees in prior and subsequent years.
While we assume no obligation to hold the respondent to the path of strict consistency in these matters, it might be pointed out that here it is the renewal commissions paid to the trusts and not the income of the trusts that the respondent has taxed to the donor. We do not have the donor before us in this proceeding and we express no opinion as to his liability for income tax on the renewal commissions which were paid to the trusts. We made no determination of this question in the prior proceeding, referred to above, involving the donor's liability for income tax on the commissions paid to the trusts in 1936, 1937, and 1938. The parties there stipulated the correctness of the respondent's determination.
Prior to the creation of the trusts the right to receive the renewal commissions belonged to the donor, to do with as he might choose. Once having passed from his ownership by gift or otherwise, that right to the commissions, or the income produced from the commissions, or both, could be reconveyed1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*192 to him like any other property. Whatever may be said of the effect of the overlapping of gift taxes and estate taxes, or gift taxes and income taxes (see
Petitioner contends, finally, that in any event the value of the gift must be only the value of the life income upon the corpora of the trusts at the date of the gifts in 1932 and that the respondent erred in his determination of the value of the gifts by assuming that the income of the trusts would increase as a result of the corpora being increased each year by the receipt of one-half of the renewal commissions due under the insurance agency1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*193 contract.
Each of the trust agreements provides that "The Donor hereby assigns to the Trustees a one-eighth interest in the commissions hereafter accruing with respect to renewal premiums under contracts of the Donor with the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey." The instructions (Exhibit B attached to stipulation) which the donor gave to the insurance company were:
* * * to pay to the Savings Investment & Trust Company, of East Orange, N. J., as Trustee, one-half of such commissions as shall become due under any former contracts made by you with me, under which I acted as your New York Agent, settlements to be made at the end of each month payable during the succeeding month.
1 T.C. 1087">*1097 Such payment in one sum to said trustee shall relieve you as to any responsibility concerning the division thereof by said Trust Company pursuant to any trust agreements I may have made with said Trust Company.
For the purpose of our present inquiry we do not think that we are required to determine whether the donor conveyed to the four trusts a one-half interest in the contract itself or merely a right to receive one-half of the renewal commissions1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*194 as they became due. Our question is the value of the petitioner's right to receive the income of the trusts for life. The value of that right depends upon the future earnings of the trusts for the period of petitioner's life, which in turn depends upon the amount of the renewal commissions that will be received by the trusts as corpus. The respondent has made a determination of the value of petitioner's right to the income of the trusts for life on the basic dates of June 30, 1932, and August 23, 1932, as explained above. The only objection which petitioner makes to those valuations is the inclusion in the trust corpora of the value of any of the renewal commissions which had not been received by the trusts at the time the gifts were made.
The use of the value of the trust corpora as a factor in determining the value of petitioner's life interest in the trusts is merely a step in the generally accepted method of evaluating such life interests. The accuracy of the method depends, of course, upon the inclusion in the trust corpora of the value of every property interest and right from which income is to be derived. There can be no doubt, we think, that the donor intended to assign1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 168">*195 to the several trusts a one-half interest in all of the renewal commissions that were to become payable to him under the agency contract and that the method which he selected for carrying out that purpose was legally sound. Under the assignments the petitioner acquired a life estate in the income of the trusts, which she later gave back to him. The respondent has made a determination of the value of those gifts, which is
Leech,