- 13 - that the $5,640,000 conservation easements meet this standard.6 Absent proof that the trust donated the conservation easements from its income (rather than from the corpus), we cannot allow petitioners to deduct the trust’s charitable contribution. The failure of a party to introduce evidence which, if true, would be favorable to that party gives rise to the presumption that the evidence would be unfavorable if produced. Wichita Terminal Elevator Co. v. Commissioner, 6 T.C. 1158, 1165 (1946), affd. 162 F.2d 513 (10th Cir. 1947). Petitioners argue that the donation must have come from income because the trust agreement obligates the trustee to hold the corpus for the benefit of the remaindermen, his children. While we agree that petitioner was obligated to hold the corpus for the benefit of the remaindermen, this does not dictate that the conservation easements are part of the income portion of the trust. We note that petitioner did not comply with other directives in the trust agreement, such as the requirement to distribute net income at least annually. 6Charitable contributions deductible by a trust under sec. 642(c) would generally be used in computing distributable net income and would therefore be included in income by a person treated as the owner of the trust’s income. See secs. 643, 642(c); sec. 1.671-3(b)(1) and (c), Income Tax Regs. The charitable contribution at issue, however, would not be deductible by the trust under sec. 642(c) because the trust agreement does not authorize charitable contributions. The charitable contribution thus would not be used in computing the trust’s distributable net income or taxable income.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
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