1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*64
Decedent's will established two shares of the residue, one which qualified for the marital deduction under
101 T.C. 351">*351 OPINION
TANNENWALD,
All of the facts have been stipulated and are so found.
101 T.C. 351">*352 Petitioner is the Estate of Frances Blow Allen, who is hereinafter referred to as decedent. Decedent died testate on March 12, 1987, a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bank of Oklahoma, N.A., and R. Robert Huff were appointed coexecutors by letters testamentary issued April 13, 1987. At the time of filing of the petition, the principal place of business of Bank of Oklahoma and the legal residence of R. Robert Huff were in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Decedent was survived by her spouse, Hans Van Nes Allen.
Petitioner timely filed a Federal estate tax return with the Internal Revenue Service Center, Austin, Texas.
On November 29, 1984, decedent executed her last will and testament. The will provided in part II for the payment1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*66 of debts and expenses as follows:
I direct my Executors, hereinafter named, to pay all my just debts and funeral expenses as soon after my death as practicable.
I direct that all inheritance and estate taxes becoming due by reason of my death, including any interest and penalties thereon, shall be paid by my Executors out of that portion of the residue of my estate, more particularly described hereinafter as "My Residuary Trust Estate", as an expense of administration. * * *
After bequests of all tangible personal property and three pecuniary bequests of $ 5,000 each, part V of the will provided in pertinent part:
A. If my said husband survives me, I give to my Trustees, hereinbefore named, and their successors, the following:
All of the residue not required to fund my Residuary Trust Estate under Paragraph B of this Article V. * * * Said share or trust is hereinafter referred to as "My Husband's Trust Estate". It is my intent that the whole of My Husband's Trust Estate shall qualify for the unlimited marital deduction as provided in the Economic Recovery Act of 1981. My trustees shall hold said share in Trust as follows:
1. The trustees shall pay the entire net income of My Husband's1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*67 Trust Estate to him in annual or more frequent installments commencing from the date of my death and continuing so long as he shall live.
2. The Trustees shall also pay to my said husband as much of the principal of My Husband's Trust Estate as the Trustees, in their sole judgment, deem necessary or advisable to assure his care, comfort, support, maintenance and medical attention.
3. On the death of my said husband, the then remaining corpus and the income for the period between the last income distribution date and the date of my husband's death shall be added to the principal of My Residuary Trust Estate, and held as a part thereof and subject to all of the terms, 101 T.C. 351">*353 trust and conditions then and thereafter pertaining thereto. I hereby empower and direct my Executors to claim a Federal Estate Tax marital deduction for all assets comprising My Husband's Trust Estate.
* * *
B. I give to my said Trustees, or successors, the second share, hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "Residuary Trust Estate", which shall consist of so much of said residuary estate and other property as shall be equal to the exempt transfers under Federal Estate Tax Law in effect at the time of 1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*68 my death, taking into account the full unified credit applicable (it being understood that such amount shall be equal to the Federal Estate Tax filing requirement of
The net income from the residuary trust estate was made payable to decedent's husband. Upon his death, said estate was to be held and disposed of for the benefit of decedent's issue.
Part VII of decedent's will provided as follows:
The Trustees of my Trust Estate shall have all the powers, duties and responsibilities authorized by the Oklahoma Trust Act enacted by the Legislature of the State of Oklahoma in 1941 or any amendment thereof existing prior to the date of this Will, except as may be changed or modified herein.
Part XI of the will contained the following provision:
My Executors shall exercise in their sole discretion all elections provided by law, as to whether to claim items either as income tax deductions or as death tax deductions, and without making any adjustments as between income and principal of any Trust1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*69 or as between any beneficiaries by reason thereof. The exercise of such authority and power by my Executors shall be final and conclusive and not subject to question by any person interested in my estate.
Petitioner's adjusted gross estate is $ 1,870,317.50 and its fixed deductions amount to $ 174,137.37.
For each of the fiscal years ending February 28/29, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991, petitioner filed a Form 1041, U.S. Fiduciary Income Tax Return, wherein petitioner reported income of $ 77,258, $ 95,220, $ 125,364, and $ 103,152, respectively, 101 T.C. 351">*354 and claimed deductions for various administration expenses as follows:
Attorney, | ||||||
accountant, | ||||||
and return | Other | |||||
Fiduciary | preparer | administration | ||||
Year | fee | fees | Interest | Taxes | deductions | Total |
2/29/88 | $ 2,767 | $ 8,867 | $ 10,636 | $ 3,349 | $ 25,619 | |
2/28/89 | 25,000 | 33,498 | 45 | $ 3,436 | 9,878 | 71,857 |
2/28/90 | 1,345 | 8,151 | 617 | 10,113 | ||
2/28/91 | 2,088 | 167 | 4,047 | 617 | 6,919 | |
Total | 29,112 | 52,604 | 10,848 | 7,483 | 14,461 | 114,508 |
The estate will incur additional administration expenses which will bring the total of such expenses to at least $ 119,650.
The coexecutors have charged the1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*70 administration expenses to the income generated by the estate and have made an irrevocable election under section 642(g) to deduct these expenses on the respective Forms 1041. The parties agree that all additional administration expenses will be claimed on the appropriate Forms 1041 and will be subject to the same irrevocable election under section 642(g).
The notice of deficiency calculated the residue amount constituting the allowable marital deduction as follows:
Corrected gross estate | $ 1,870,317.50 |
Less: | |
Corrected fixed deductions | 174,137.37 |
Interest deduction | -0- |
Fixed marital deduction | -0- |
Fixed charitable deduction | -0- |
Federal estate tax times 0% | -0- |
State death tax paid times 0% | -0- |
Specific bequests | 615,000.00 |
Accounting and legal | 19,650.00 |
Corrected residue amount | 961,530.13 |
The starting point for our resolution of the proper treatment of the administration expenses is the statute and regulations.
(b) LIMITATION IN THE CASE OF LIFE ESTATE OR OTHER TERMINABLE INTEREST. --
* * * (4) VALUATION OF INTEREST PASSING TO SURVIVING SPOUSE. -- In determining for purposes of subsection (a) the value of any interest in property passing to the surviving spouse for which a deduction is allowed by this section -- (A) there shall be taken into account the effect which the tax imposed by section 2001, or any estate, succession, legacy, or inheritance tax, has on the net value to the surviving spouse of such interest; and (B) where such interest or property is encumbered in any manner, or where the surviving spouse incurs any obligation imposed by the decedent with respect to the passing of such interest, such encumbrance or obligation shall be taken into account in the same manner as if the amount of a gift to such spouse of such interest were being determined.
Section 20.2056(b)-4(a), Estate Tax Regs., implements the foregoing statutory provisions, in pertinent part, as follows:
(a) In general. The value, for the purpose of the marital deduction, of any deductible interest which passed from the decedent to his surviving spouse is to be determined as of the date of the decedent's death, except that if the executor elects the alternate valuation method under
The applicable provisions of Oklahoma law are:
(1)
If the testator makes provisions by his will or designates the estate to be appropriated for the payment of his debts, the expenses of administration, or family expenses, they must be paid according to such provisions 101 T.C. 351">*356 or designation, out of the estate thus appropriated, so far as the same is sufficient.
(2)
(3)
Any will of a decedent dying after December 31, 1981, which contains a marital deduction formula expressly providing that the spouse of the testator is to receive the maximum amount of property qualifying for the marital deduction allowable by federal law shall be construed as referring to the unlimited marital deduction provided by the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 * * 1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*74 *
Petitioner argues that the provisions of the will and of Oklahoma law mandated that the administration expenses be charged to income, and, therefore, the estate tax statute and regulations, as set forth above, do not require the amount of the marital deduction, i.e., the husband's trust estate, see
Alternatively, petitioner argues that the decision of the Court of Appeals in
101 T.C. 351">*357 Respondent stands by the position articulated in the original briefs and asserts that our decision in
We have recently reevaluated our decision in
Initially, we note that the fact that the administration expenses were deducted for income tax purposes does not, in and of itself, necessitate a reduced marital deduction. Cf.
1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*77 We now turn to Oklahoma law and its application to the facts herein.
101 T.C. 351">*358 Decedent's will divides the residue into two shares, 4 a marital share and a nonmarital share. The nonmarital share of $ 600,000 represents 32 percent of the gross estate of $ 1,870,317.50. The income of the estate over the 4-year period 1988 through 1991 exceeded $ 400,000. Thirty-two percent of that amount is $ 128,000, more than the amount of the administration expenses deducted in those years and of the anticipated total1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 64">*78 of those expenses. It is thus apparent that the income attributable to the nonmarital share was more than sufficient to absorb the administration expenses. Thus, the expenses did not burden the marital share to any degree whatsoever. Nor did they burden the principal of the nonmarital share. Such being the case, there could be no shortfall of the nonmarital share from $ 600,000 with the result that we need not consider respondent's argument that the marital share would be required to make up any such shortfall and would, to that extent, have to be reduced.
The existence of two shares of the residue not only distinguishes
We think that the instant case falls within the ambit of the decided cases where the marital deduction was not reduced by the amount of death taxes or administration expenses because it was clear that, under the provisions of the will and State law, such items were to be charged to the nonmarital share and not to principal or income of the marital share.
In order to take into account the foregoing and concessions by the parties on other issues,
1. Unless otherwise indicated, all statutory references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect at the date of decedent's death, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.↩
2. See also
3. Cf.
4. As far as we can determine from the record, the trusts of the two shares have not been funded.↩