Mark J. Steel and Connie J. Steel - Page 8




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          defines long-term capital gain as “gain from the sale or exchange           
          of a capital asset held for more than 1 year, if and to the                 
          extent such gain is taken into account in computing gross                   
          income.”  Though the statute does not define what is a sale or              
          exchange, the terms “sale” and “exchange” are given their                   
          ordinary meaning.  Helvering v. William Flaccus Oak Leather Co.,            
          313 U.S. 247, 249 (1941).                                                   
               “It is well established that a compromise or collection of a           
          debt is not considered a sale or exchange of property because no            
          property or property rights passes to the debtor other than the             
          discharge of the obligation.”  Nahey v. Commissioner, supra at              
          262; see also Pounds v. United States, supra at 349 (“And the               
          courts have universally recognized that mere collection of an               
          obligation, purchased or not, does not fit the ordinary meaning             
          of ‘sale or exchange’.”).  In general, where property or property           
          rights come to an end and vanish, we have held that a sale or               
          exchange has not occurred.  Leh v. Commissioner, 27 T.C. 892, 898           
          (1957), affd. 260 F.2d 489 (9th Cir. 1958).  In this same line of           
          cases, we recently decided that the settlement of a lawsuit was             
          not a sale or exchange for purposes of section 1222(3).  Nahey v.           
          Commissioner, supra.                                                        
               In Nahey, two S corporations owned by the taxpayer purchased           
          the assets of a corporation, including a lawsuit with a value               
          that could not be ascertained.  The taxpayer settled the lawsuit            






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