Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. & Subsidiaries - Page 65




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          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 is             






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