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transfers” to remove assets used to pay gift taxes from the
transfer tax base. That some gifts made within 3 years of a
decedent’s death might not have been made from the donor’s
deathbed or with a tax-avoidance motive “does not strip the
legislative scheme of its validity. This kind of imperfection is
inevitable whenever a line is drawn by the legislature.” Estate
of Rosenberg v. Commissioner, supra at 996 (citing Mathews v.
Diaz, 426 U.S. 67, 183 (1976)).
Under the language of section 2035(c), the donor’s motive in
making the gifts that trigger the gross-up rule is immaterial.
Like the 3-year rule, the gross-up rule makes no reference to any
presumption of fact, rebuttable or otherwise. Like the 3-year
rule, the gross-up rule is a prophylactic rule aimed at tax
avoidance. Consequently, whatever continued vitality it may
have, Heiner v. Donnan, supra, is inapplicable here, as it was in
Estate of Rosenberg v. Commissioner, 86 T.C. 980 (1986), and
Estate of Ekins v. Commissioner, 797 F.2d 481 (7th Cir. 1986).
Accordingly, we shall grant respondent’s motion for summary
judgment on this issue.
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