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concedes a case, by itself, is not sufficient to establish that
the respondent’s position was or is unreasonable. Broad Ave.
Laundry & Tailoring v. United States, 693 F.2d 1387, 1391-1392
(Fed. Cir. 1982); Sokol v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 760, 767 (1989).
However, it is a factor to be considered. Estate of Perry v.
Commissioner, 931 F.2d 1044, 1046 (5th Cir. 1991).
The valuation of a property interest for Federal estate tax
purposes is a factual question. See Estate of Bonner v. United
States, 84 F.3d 196, 197 (5th Cir. 1996); Sammons v.
Commissioner, 838 F.2d 330, 333 (9th Cir. 1988), affg. on this
point and revg. in part on another ground T.C. Memo. 1986-318.
Prior to the issuance of the notices of deficiency, respondent
accepted the estates’ appraisal of the fair market value of the
16 parcels of realty held by the trust. Throughout the
administrative and pretrial portions of these cases, the parties
disagreed about the purely factual question of how much discount
should be applied to the decedent’s fractional interests. During
the administrative proceeding, the parties relied on expert
opinions and appraisals in support of their respective positions.
The estates, at various times, sought progressively larger
discounts of 25, 50, 60 and 90 percent.7 Throughout the entire
period, respondent contended that the cost to partition and sell
7 The estates variously claimed 25-, 50-, and then 60-
percent discounts for the same interests. At trial, the estates
sought an increased discount of 90 percent.
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