- 39 - a beneficiary with a foreign address, which Mr. Chisum asserted was a Turks and Caicos trust with a foreign trustee. Fourth, we have held that two elements must be present before a PSC, rather than its service-performing employee, can be considered the true earner of the income. First, the service- performing employee must be just that–-an employee of the PSC, whom the PSC has the right to direct or control in some meaningful sense. Second, the PSC and the person or entity using the employee’s services must have a contract or similar arrangement recognizing the PSC’s controlling position. See Johnson v. Commissioner, 78 T.C. at 891. Neither of these elements is present in the case at hand. In short, the authorities concerning the taxation of PSC’s confirm rather than challenge our conclusion that petitioner’s attempted diversion to Universal of the compensation for his services was an invalid assignment of income. We hold that petitioner’s gross income includes the $103,420 paid to Universal, as determined by respondent. Because we reach this holding under the assignment of income rule, we need not consider respondent’s alternative arguments that Universal was a sham or a grantor trust.12 12 Petitioner also argues that our holding conflicts with certain Courts of Appeals decisions concerning the tax treatment of contingent legal fees. See, e.g., Estate of Clarks v. United (continued...)Page: Previous 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Next
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