1961 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 243">*243
Deduction From Income -- Gross Income of Estate for Charity Under Will --
1961 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 243">*244 35 T.C. 629">*629 OPINION.
The Commissioner determined a deficiency of $ 16,256.74 in the income tax of the petitioner for 1954. The only issue for decision is whether $ 23,085.91 of the gross income of the estate for its taxable year 1954 is deductible under
The petitioner is the estate of Sanford H. E. Freund, who died testate on November 29, 1954, while residing in Connecticut. The return of the estate for 1954 was filed with the district director of internal revenue for the Lower Manhattan District, New York, New York.
Freund, a partner in a New York law firm, provided in his will that the remainder of his estate, after some relatively minor specific bequests, should be held in trust, the income should be paid for life to his sister, and the principal should then be paid to Harvard College.
The law partnership was on a calendar year cash basis. The parties agree that $ 35,113.25, Freund's distributive share of the partnership1961 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 243">*245 income for 1954, was includible in the gross income of his estate for 35 T.C. 629">*630 1954 under section 126(a) of the 1939 Code. $ 31,099.71 of that amount was allocable to the period prior to his death and $ 4,013.54, the remainder thereof, was allocable to the period in 1954 subsequent to his death.
The partnership agreement contained the following provision applicable to Freund:
The Group I Partners shall have such drawing accounts, payable in equal monthly instalments, as shall be determined by the Management Committee. The amount paid to a Group I Partner as his drawing account during any year shall be charged against his interest in the profits.
Freund in 1954, prior to his death, had received $ 20,000 from the partnership under the above provision and, in addition, the partnership had disbursed during that same period $ 3,085.91 in payment of various items for his benefit. The partnership offset this $ 23,085.91 against Freund's distributive share of partnership income for 1954 and only the balance of $ 12,027.34 was paid to his estate, the petitioner herein. The portion of his distributive share of 1954 partnership income represented by this $ 23,085.91 was not an asset1961 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 243">*246 of his estate at the time of his death and was not reported in the estate tax return as an asset or as a debt. Of course, it is possible, although not shown, that some part of it might have remained as cash or been used to purchase some other asset but, if so, those items would be included in the gross estate but not as a portion of his distributive share of 1954 partnership income.
The parties have stipulated that any amounts distributable by the partnership to the estate were allocable to corpus under the applicable probate law of Connecticut. The petitioner estate contends that the entire $ 35,113.25, now included in its gross income for 1954, is deductible under
The fact that the entire $ 35,113.25 is being taxed as income to the petitioner herein for 1954, under section 126(a)(1)(A), is material only because that section provides that the amount shall be included 35 T.C. 629">*631 in the gross income of the petitioner and thus satisfies one of the requirements of
1. No part of the $ 35,113.25 was reported as 1954 income by the estate. The Commissioner in determining the deficiency included all of that amount in income and allowed no part as a deduction.↩