Stanley P. Zurn - Page 15

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          with a trade or business or (B) a debt, "the loss from the                  
          worthlessness of which is incurred in the taxpayer's trade or               
          business."                                                                  
               We must therefore decide the nature of petitioner's                    
          relationship with Ms. Jackson and/or her corporate entity; i.e.,            
          whether he was a joint venturer, creditor, investor, stockholder,           
          etc.  Petitioner contends that he was a joint venturer.  As a               
          guide to answering this type of question, courts have focused               
          generally on whether the parties intended to and did join                   
          together for the accomplishment of a specific enterprise.                   
          Commissioner v. Culbertson, 337 U.S. 733 (1949).  Some of the               
          factors to be considered are set forth in the following oft-                
          quoted language of Luna v. Commissioner, 42 T.C. 1067, 1077-1078            
          (1964):                                                                     
               The agreement of the parties and their conduct in                      
               executing its terms; the contributions, if any, which                  
               each party has made to the venture; the parties’                       
               control over income and capital and the right of each                  
               to make withdrawals; whether each party was a principal                
               and coproprietor, sharing a mutual proprietary interest                
               in the net profits and having an obligation to share                   
               losses, or whether one party was the agent or employee                 
               of the other, receiving for his services contingent                    
               compensation in the form of a percentage of income;                    
               whether business was conducted in the joint names of                   
               the parties; whether the parties filed Federal                         
               partnership returns or otherwise represented to                        
               respondent or to persons with whom they dealt that they                
               were joint venturers; whether separate books of account                
               were maintained for the venture; and whether the                       
               parties exercised mutual control over and assumed                      
               mutual responsibilities for the enterprise.                            







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