Cite as: 520 U. S. 93 (1997)
Opinion of Kennedy, J.
It is suggested that § 20.2056(b)-4(a)'s direction to value the marital deduction as a spousal gift refers to a gift tax qualification regulation, § 25.2523(e)-1(f), and a Revenue Ruling interpreting it, Rev. Rul. 69-56, 1969-1 Cum. Bull. 224. Post, at 116 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment). The suggestion misunderstands the regulations and the Revenue Ruling. Section 20.2056(b)-4(a) concerns how to determine the "value, for the purpose of the marital deduction, of any deductible interest." Before determining an interest's value under § 20.2056(b)-4(a), one must decide the extent to which the interest qualifies as deductible.
There is a structural problem with interpreting § 20.2056(b)-4(a) as directing reference to § 25.2523(e)-1(f) for valuation purposes. Qualification and valuation are different steps. Section 25.2523(e)-1(f) prescribes conditions under which an interest transferred in trust qualifies for a marital deduction under the gift tax. It tracks the language of § 20.2056(b)-5(f), which prescribes the same conditions for determining whether an interest transferred in trust qualifies for a marital deduction under the estate tax. Any interest to which § 25.2523(e)-1(f) would apply, were its principles understood to be incorporated into § 20.2056(b)-4(a), would, of necessity, already have been analyzed under the same principles at the earlier, qualification stage of the estate-tax marital-deduction inquiry under § 20.2056(b)-5(f). So under the suggested interpretation, whether or not an interest passed the qualification test, there would never be a need to value it. If it failed, there would be nothing to value; if it passed, its value would never be reduced at the valuation stage. The qualification step of the estate-tax marital-deduction inquiry would render the valuation step superfluous.
We do not think the Commissioner adopted this view of the regulations in Revenue Ruling 69-56. The Revenue Ruling held that a trustee's power to:
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