Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Subsidiaries - Page 35

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          transaction has occurred before the selling member leaves the               
          controlled group.  The paragraph talks of a loss that "has been             
          deferred".  It also refers to property "still owned" when the               
          selling member departs the group and of an "unrestored deferred             
          loss".  We give effect to the use of the past tense in the 1984             
          temporary regulation.  In other words, before paragraph (c)(6)              
          and (7) of the 1984 temporary regulation become operative, the              
          loss must have been deferred as an "intercompany transaction"               
          prior to the dissociation of the seller from the controlled                 
          group.28  The preamble to the 1984 temporary regulation adds                
          additional weight to this interpretation.  It states in relevant            
          part:                                                                       

               Accordingly, the temporary regulations provide that if                 
               a member (M1) sells property to another member (M2),                   
               and thereafter, while M2 still holds the property, M1                  
               ceases to be a member of the group, then M1's                          
               unrestored deferred loss for property at the time M1                   
               ceases to be a member will never be restored to M1.                    
               * * *  [T.D. 7991, 1985-1 C.B. 71, 73; emphasis added.]                

          The MGM Purchase and UA Sale occurred simultaneously.                       
          Immediately after the transaction, MGM was not a member of the              
          controlled group that included Tracinda.  As a consequence, there           


               28We note this is the same view as is expressed by the                 
          authors of 1 Dubroff et al., Federal Income Taxation of                     
          Corporations Filing Consolidated Returns, sec. 31.11[6], at 31-             
          246 (2d ed. 1998), stating:  "The fact pattern addressed by the             
          prior regulations [the 1984 temporary regulation] involved an               
          intercompany sale at a loss followed by * * * [Seller] leaving              
          the group."  (Emphasis added.)                                              




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