- 14 - the qualified heir may lease the property for cash. ERTA sec. 421, 95 Stat. 306. This narrow exception (not applicable here) supports the general rule that cash leasing is not an otherwise qualified use. In 1988, another addition to section 2032A expanded the definition of post-death qualified use, enabling a surviving spouse to rent the property to a family member on a net cash basis. Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-647, sec. 6151, 102 Stat. 3342, 3724. This provision indicates yet again that a post-death net cash lease normally constitutes a cessation of qualified use. See Williamson v. Commissioner, supra at 251. Congress did not intend to alter the existing general rule that the cash rental of special use property by any other type of qualified heir would be treated as a recapture event. See H. Rept. 100-795, at 590 (1988) ("Cash rental of specially valued property is not a qualified use and, therefore, is treated as a recapture event."). Case law, too, is replete with support for the proposition that post-death cash leasing, in areas other than the narrow statutory exception involving the spouse of the decedent and a family member, constitutes a cessation of qualified use. Martin v. Commissioner, 783 F.2d 81 (7th Cir. 1986), held that, if farm property is leased, such lease must provide an equity interest for the qualified heir. In other words, the return to the qualified heir must substantially depend upon farm production.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011