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the property involved may still come under this rule;
however, there cannot be substantial modification in
the plan if the equipped building rule is to apply.
The plan referred to must be a definite and specific
plan of the taxpayer that is available in written form
as evidence of the taxpayer’s intentions.
The equipped building rule can be illustrated by
an example where the taxpayer has a plan providing for
the construction of a $100,000 building * * * [H.
Conf. Rept. 99-841, supra at II-56-57, 1986-3 C.B.
(Vol. 4) at 56-57; emphasis added.]
Based on the legislative history provided in the conference
report, we think it a fair inference that Congress intended that
the taxpayer claiming the credit would be the party required to
have the relevant plan, as evidence of its intention, and that
the taxpayer be the party that “incurred or committed” more than
50 percent of the adjusted basis of the building and the
equipment to be used in it.10 We therefore hold that the
taxpayer claiming the credit under the exception contained in TRA
section 203(b)(1)(C) must be the party who has the specific
10Payless contends that TRA sec. 203(b)(1)(C)
was designed to protect those taxpayers who, although
having committed to incur or having incurred
substantial costs toward furnishing and equipping a
building in a large scale project by the end of 1985,
did not have all the items to be included in the
completed facility reduced to a timely binding
contract.
In Payless’ view, a group of taxpayers could be amalgamated so
that as an aggregate they would achieve the required commitment.
Payless suggests no measure for what constitutes a “substantial
commitment”. Additionally, petitioners’ proposed interpretation
of the section, by logical extension, would allow the section to
be read so that a taxpayer who had committed a very minor part of
the total construction and equipping costs could claim an
investment tax credit if other taxpayers had committed more than
half the costs of the equipped building by the cutoff date.
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