-14- ownership before title passed, they would not prevail here even if we gave little weight to the date of title passage. Petitioners rely on Merrill v. Commissioner, 40 T.C. 66, 74 (1963), affd. per curiam 336 F.2d 771 (9th Cir. 1964), for the proposition that intent to transfer title is particularly important if transfer of title is delayed by circumstances beyond the control of the buyer and seller. In Merrill v. Commissioner, supra, we held that a sale was completed even though title to the property could not pass until several months later, a title insurance policy had not been issued, and the balance of the purchase price was to be paid at a future date. Id. at 74-77. Petitioners' reliance on Merrill is misplaced. We stated in Merrill that the intent of the parties as to when the benefits and burdens of ownership of the property are to be transferred will control where passage of title is delayed to secure payment of the purchase price or for an escrow arrangement. Id. at 74. The buyer in Merrill had assumed almost all the benefits and burdens of ownership. However, we are not convinced that the parties to the transaction at issue intended the benefits and burdens to pass to petitioners before title passed, and as discussed above, petitioners did not have the benefits and burdens of ownership before title passed to them. 3. Petitioners' 1992 Tax Return Petitioners checked the box on their 1992 income tax return indicating that they had not owned and used the Spokane propertyPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next
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