- 75 -
Liberty Natl. Bank & Trust Co. v. Commissioner, supra; Fourth
Natl. Bank v. United States, supra.
We now turn to whether the Woodbine undeveloped land was
entitled to installment treatment. The record contains no
evidence whether the entire Woodbine tract was zoned exclusively
for cemetery purposes, or whether the undeveloped land was
already exclusively dedicated for cemetery development and sale
to customers in the form of grave plots, mausoleum crypts, or
cremation niches. However, the American Cemetery Consultants
appraisal report reflects the assumption that the undeveloped
acreage would be so used, and the appraised value of the
undeveloped land was based on that assumption.
In the absence of any proof to the contrary by Alice Berger,
we conclude that the undeveloped land of Woodbine was most likely
held for later development into grave sites and similar property
and was therefore held for sale to customers, thereby requiring
it to be treated as dealer property. Cf. Tollis v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 1993-63. In so doing, we reject Alice Berger's
argument that she was never in the cemetery business; we have
already held that she was. We also reject any argument by her
that the events of 1989 were occasioned by her decision to retire
from the cemetery business, so as to change the character of the
Woodbine dealer assets to capital assets in her hands. We
rejected a similar argument in Tollis v. Commissioner, supra, and
we do so here. See Lawrie v. Commissioner, 36 T.C. 1117 (1961);
Estate of Ferber v. Commissioner, 22 T.C. 261 (1954); Grace
Page: Previous 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011