-342- items of income, deductions, and credits attributable to the portion of the trust of which the person is deemed the owner. Sections 672 through 678 prescribe a number of detailed rules with respect to various circumstances under which a grantor or other person will be deemed the owner of all or a portion of a trust. For example, section 674(a) generally provides a grantor will be treated as the owner of any portion of a trust whose income, without the approval of an adverse party, is subject to a power of disposition held by the grantor or a nonadverse party. In still another instance, section 675(3) provides a grantor will be treated as the owner of any portion of a trust in respect of which the grantor has directly or indirectly borrowed the corpus or income of the trust, where the grantor has not completely repaid the loan, including interest, before the beginning of the taxable year. However, section 675(3) does not apply to a loan from the trust bearing an adequate interest rate and having adequate security, if the loan is made by an independent trustee to the grantor. In applying the grantor trust rules described above, the principle of substance over form is particularly applicable considering the potential for manipulation of trusts. See Zmuda v. Commissioner, 79 T.C. 714 (1982), affd. 731 F.2d 1417 (9th Cir. 1984); Lazarus v. Commissioner, 58 T.C. 854, 864 (1972), affd. 513 F.2d 824 (9th Cir. 1975). The grantor of a trust mayPage: Previous 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011