- 332 -
testamentary devices; therefore, those opinions and the resulting
decisions did not provide adequate support for petitioners’
reporting positions on the gift and estate tax returns.
In having the estate tax return prepared, petitioners
engaged Mr. Lax to value Dave True’s interests in the True
companies as of June 3, 1994. However, petitioners obviously did
not rely on Mr. Lax’s conclusions. If they had done so, they
would not have grossly understated the date-of-death value of
Dave True’s interest in Belle Fourche and substantially
understated the date-of-death value of his interest in Black
Hills Trucking.
Unlike the taxpayers in Mandelbaum v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1995-255, Dave True and the True family had substantial
sophistication in legal, valuation, and tax matters; they were
accustomed to working with and using lawyers on both tax99 and
non-tax100 matters. In fact, the family’s business policy
99See, e.g., True v. United States, 190 F.3d 1165 (10th Cir.
1999); True Oil Co. v. Commissioner, 170 F.3d 1294 (10th Cir.
1999), affg. Nielson-True Partnership v. Commissioner, 109 T.C.
112 (1997); True v. United States, 35 F.3d 574 (10th Cir.
1994)(unpublished opinion); True v. United States, 894 F.2d 1197
(10th Cir. 1990); True v. United States, 80 AFTR 2d 97-7918, 97-2
USTC par. 50,946 (D. Wyo. 1997); True v. United States, 72 AFTR
2d 93-5660, 93-2 USTC par. 50,461 (D. Wyo. 1993); True v. United
States, 629 F. Supp. 881 (D. Wyo. 1986); True v. United States,
547 F. Supp. 201 (D. Wyo. 1982); True v. United States, Docket
No. C79-131K (D. Wyo., Oct. 1, 1980)
100See, e.g., Walker v. Toolpushers Supply Co., 955 F. Supp.
1377 (D. Wyo. 1997); True Oil Co. v. Sinclair Oil Corp., 771 P.2d
781, 794 (Wyo. 1989); True v. High Plains Elevator Mach. Co., 577
(continued...)
Page: Previous 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011