- 32 -
The estate argues that pursuant to this regulation it is
entitled to deduct the $4,680,284 of Federal gift taxes paid on
account of gifts decedent made in 1991 and 1992. We disagree.
As previously indicated, $423,711 of the total $4,680,284 of
gift taxes was paid after decedent’s death pursuant to
respondent’s determination of deficiencies in decedent’s 1991 and
1992 gift taxes. These postdeath gift tax payments do not
represent amounts “transferred by the decedent during his
lifetime or by will” within the meaning of the regulation, since
they were neither lifetime transfers nor testamentary
dispositions. Id.; see Taft v. Commissioner, 304 U.S. 351, 358
(1938); Senft v. United States, 319 F.2d 642, 644 (3d Cir. 1963);
Burdick v. Commissioner, 117 F.2d 972, 974 (2d Cir. 1941), affg.
Nicholas v. Commissioner, 40 B.T.A. 1040 (1939); Estate of
Pickard v. Commissioner, 60 T.C. 618, 622 (1973), affd. without
published opinion 503 F.2d 1404 (6th Cir. 1974).17
More fundamentally, payments of decedent’s gift taxes--
either during his lifetime or after his death–-do not represent
“transfers * * * for exclusively public purposes” within the
meaning of section 2055(a)(1). The gift tax payments were not
17 With respect to respondent’s motion for partial summary
judgment, the parties have not raised and we do not reach any
issue as to whether the $423,711 of postdeath gift tax payments
is deductible as “Unpaid gift taxes on gifts made by a decedent
before his death” as described in sec. 20.2053-6(d), Estate Tax
Regs.
Page: Previous 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011