- 22 - corporate business purposes. This is independent of the device test. The requirement limits tax-free treatment under section 355 to spin-offs motivated by non-tax business reasons, and thus prevents tax avoidance opportunities from arising. Id. Section 1.355-2(b)(2), Income Tax Regs., defines a corporate business purpose as a real and substantial non-Federal tax purpose germane to the distributing corporation, the controlled corporation, or the affiliated group to which the distributing corporation belongs. Although respondent maintains that a purely shareholder purpose will not support a tax-free spin-off, there are some situations in which a shareholder purpose may be so intertwined with a corporate business purpose that it is not practical to separate the two. In such a case, the transaction is considered carried out for a corporate business purpose. Sec. 1.355- 2(b)(2), Income Tax Regs. See Estate of Parshelsky v. Commissioner, 303 F.2d 14 (2d Cir. 1962), reversing and remanding 34 T.C. 946 (1960), on remand T.C. Memo. 1963-187, holding that a shareholder non-tax purpose may be an adequate business purpose for a spin-off. See also Rafferty v. Commissioner, 452 F.2d 767 (1st Cir. 1971), affg. 55 T.C. 490 (1970), and Wilson v. Commissioner, 353 F.2d 184 (9th Cir. 1965), reversing and remanding 42 T.C. 914 (1964), which approached the business purpose issue from different theoretical bases. In Rafferty, evidence of lack of business purpose was considered by the Court of Appeals as bearing on the "device" requirement. In Wilson,Page: Previous 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Next
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