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It is apparent from petitioner’s evasive testimony and from
the total record that petitioners were more concerned with
ensuring that the beneficial ownership of the stock was
transferred to the children in tax-advantaged form than they were
with the formalities of FLPs. Indeed, petitioner, as general
partner, did not maintain any books or records for the
partnerships other than brokerage account statements and
partnership tax returns. Those tax returns were prepared months
after the transfers of the partnership interests. Thus, they are
unreliable in deciding whether petitioners transferred the
partnership interests to the children before or after they
contributed the stock to the partnerships. The same is true of
the certificates of ownership reflecting the transfers of the
partnership interests, which were not prepared until at least
several weeks after the transfers. The informality is not
surprising, inasmuch as petitioners alone, individually, or on
behalf of their minor children were united in purpose and acted
without restraint by any adverse interest. As a result, however,
petitioners have presented no reliable evidence that they
contributed the stock to the partnerships before they transferred
the partnership interests to the children. At best, the
transactions were integrated (as asserted by respondent) and, in
effect, simultaneous.
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