- 26 -
United States, supra, Edward Vitt owned property with his wife,
Verlena, which they held as tenants in the entirety even though
Edward had provided all the consideration for its purchase. The
Vitts conveyed the property by three separate deeds to their
daughters and grandchildren, retaining a life estate for their
joint lives. When Edward died in 1964, his estate included one-
half of the value of the property for estate tax purposes. In
reliance upon a revenue ruling that construed section 2036, the
Government determined that the entire value of the property, less
the actuarial value of Verlena's life estate, was includable in
Edward's gross estate. This resulted in the inclusion of more
than one-half of the value of the property in Edward's estate.
The estate paid the tax and interest due, and later, the revenue
ruling was revoked.
In 1975, Verlena died, and her estate tax return was filed
reporting her interest in the property but assigning it no value
for estate tax purposes. The estate did not report any value for
Verlena's interest in the property because it was previously
included in Edward's estate. The Government properly asserted
that one-half of the value of the property was includable in
Verlena's estate and determined a deficiency in the estate tax.
14(...continued)
credit given to the taxpayer for the succeeding year.
Page: Previous 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011