- 10 - to the total amount petitioners actually paid in connection with their partnership interest. The offering identified Mr. Matsuda, who was petitioner wife's father and a promoter of the partnership, as the general partner of Jojoba Hawaii and U.S. Agri as the contractor for the R & D program under an R & D agreement. Additionally, a license agreement between Jojoba Hawaii and U.S. Agri granted U.S. Agri the exclusive right to utilize technology developed for Jojoba Hawaii for 40 years in exchange for a royalty of 85 percent of gross sales of all products produced. The offering included copies of both the R & D agreement and the license agreement. Following close examination of these documents, as well as various other items of evidence, this Court held in Utah Jojoba I Research v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1998-6, that the partnership was never engaged in research or experimentation, either directly or indirectly. Moreover, this Court found in Utah Jojoba I Research v. Commissioner, supra, that U.S. Agri's attempts to farm jojoba commercially did not constitute research and development, thereby concluding that the R & D agreement was designed and entered into solely to decrease the cost of participation in the jojoba farming venture for the limited partners through large up-front deductions for expenditures that were actually capital contributions. The Court concluded further that the partnership was not involved in a trade or business andPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011