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Commissioner, 42 T.C. 1067, 1077 (1964); Beck Chem. Equip. Corp.
v. Commissioner, supra at 848-849.
The required inquiry for determining the existence of a
partnership for Federal income tax purposes is whether the
parties “really and truly intended to join together for the
purpose of carrying on business and sharing in the profits or
losses or both.” Commissioner v. Tower, supra at 287. Their
intention is a matter of fact, “to be determined from testimony
disclosed by their ‘agreement, considered as a whole, and by
their conduct in execution of its provisions.’” Id. at 287
(quoting Drennen v. London Assurance Co., 113 U.S. 51, 56
(1885)).
In Commissioner v. Culbertson, 337 U.S. 733, 742 (1949), the
Supreme Court elaborated on this standard and stated that there
is a partnership for Federal tax purposes when
considering all the facts--the agreement, the conduct
of the parties in execution of its provisions, their
statements, the testimony of disinterested persons, the
relationship of the parties, their respective abilities
and capital contributions, the actual control of income
and the purposes for which it is used, and any other
facts throwing light on their true intent--the parties
in good faith and acting with a business purpose
intended to join together in the present conduct of the
enterprise. [Fn. ref. omitted.]
In Luna v. Commissioner, supra at 1077-1078, this Court
distilled the principles mentioned in Commissioner v. Tower,
supra, and Commissioner v. Culbertson, supra, to set forth the
following factors as relevant in evaluating whether parties
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