Norman C. and Rosemary J. Eckersley - Page 6




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                                       OPINION                                        
               Petitioners asserted in their petition that the $500,000 of            
          income and the $527,004 of legal fees were properly reported on             
          their 1999 Schedule C.  Petitioners abandoned those assertions at           
          trial, asserting instead that petitioner received the $500,000              
          from Pacific Bank on a sale of the Crown life policy by                     
          petitioner to Pacific Bank.  As petitioners now see it, the                 
          $500,000, less their basis in the policy, is taxable to them as a           
          capital gain.  Petitioners argue that their basis in the Crown              
          life policy equaled the amount of the premiums that were taxed to           
          them.  Petitioners assert that $181,348.33 of the $500,000 was              
          paid to them for the cash value of the Crown life policy, and the           
          balance, $318,651.67, was paid to them for the policy’s other               
          attributes.                                                                 
               The credible evidence in the record does not allow us to               
          find that petitioners had any basis in the Crown life policy,               
          e.g., we are unable to find that petitioners paid any of the                
          premiums on the policy or included in their gross income any of             
          the premiums.  Nor does the credible evidence allow us to find              
          that the policy had any particular cash value.  Thus, the issue             
          that remains is whether the $500,000 received by petitioners is             
          taxable as ordinary income or as a capital gain.  Respondent                
          observes that petitioners received the $500,000 in settlement of            
          their claim to ownership of the Crown life policy, that the                 







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