- 65 - existence of a plan is given very little weight in the absence of supporting evidence tending to show that the Commissioner’s position is erroneous. Niedermeyer v. Commissioner, supra at 291. Instead, this Court has relied primarily on objective evidence, such as a written plan, corporate minutes confirming the existence of a plan, or a writing or other communication from an involved third party, or the lack thereof, as the most compelling evidence of the existence of a firm and fixed plan evidencing a taxpayer’s intention regarding the redemption of its stock. Id.; see also Monson v. Commissioner, supra; Roebling v. Commissioner, 77 T.C. 30 (1981); Bleily & Collishaw, Inc. v. Commissioner, supra. By focusing on the intent of the redeeming corporation and the redeemed shareholder on the date of the redemption, both this Court and the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Zenz have attempted to cull after-the-fact attempts on the part of taxpayers to link unrelated transactions in order to achieve favorable tax treatment, see Niedermeyer v. Commissioner, supra, from those situations where the taxpayer intentionally structures two or more transactions as part of a plan to terminate the taxpayer’s ownership interest in a corporation, see Zenz v. Quinlivan, supra. An analysis of whether or not a firm and fixed plan existed also entails an examination of any uncertainty in consummating the alleged plan. Although a binding commitment to the plan isPage: Previous 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 Next
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