- 4 -
return was due, Carl Wells, preparer of the estate's return and
counsel for petitioner herein, signed and submitted a Form 4768,
Application for Extension of Time To File a Return and/or Pay
U.S. Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Taxes, requesting
an extension for filing to July 13, 1994. A check for $2 million
was submitted with the application.4
A note attached to the application stated that the executor
was waiting for a "Major Securities Firm" to complete its
valuation of the estate's "principal asset", and that the $2
million was payment of the estate's tax liability, which was
estimated without regard to that valuation. The application was
approved; however, the executor did not file the return before
the time provided by the extended due date expired.
Eddy engaged a brokerage firm to provide its opinion of the
4The parties stipulated that the estate remitted $2 million
"when Exhibit 1-J was filed." Exhibit 1-J is the estate's Form
706, United States Estate (and Generations-Skipping Transfer) Tax
Return, filed on Jan. 19, 1996. However, Exhibit 3-J, which is
the estate's Form 4768, Application for Extension of Time To File
a Return and/or Pay U.S. Estate (and Generation-Skipping
Transfer) Taxes, shows that the estate remitted $2 million with
the application. Furthermore, the Form 706 shows, and respondent
accepts, that the estate remitted $2 million with the Form 4768.
While stipulations are not to be set aside lightly, we have
broad discretion in determining whether to hold a party to a
stipulation. See Blohm v. Commissioner, 994 F.2d 1542, 1553
(11th Cir. 1993), affg. T.C. Memo. 1991-636. The evidence in the
record demonstrates that the stipulation is simply incorrect. We
are not bound by stipulations of fact that appear contrary to the
facts disclosed by the record. See Rule 91(e); Blohm v.
Commissioner, supra. We, therefore, find as a fact that the
estate remitted $2 million with its Form 4768, not with its later
filed Form 706.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011