Estate of Barr v. Commissioner

40 T.C. 227 (1963)

From our private database of 46,500+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Estate of Barr v. Commissioner

United States Tax Court
40 T.C. 227 (1963)

Facts

Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) had a policy of declaring an annual wage dividend for its employees if the company did well financially. Under this policy, any employee who was alive and employed on the last day of the year had a right to receive the wage dividend for that year. If the employee died after the year’s end but before receiving the dividend, the employee still had a right to the dividend, which Kodak would pay to the employee’s estate. However, if an employee died before the year’s end, the employee was not entitled to receive a wage dividend. For employees who died mid-year, Kodak’s board of directors voted whether to pay any announced dividend to the deceased employee’s family as a death benefit. Typically, the board voted to pay the wage dividend, but not always. William Barr worked for Kodak and died in March 1957. In 1958, Kodak declared that it would pay a wage dividend for work performed in 1957. Although Barr was not alive on the last day of 1957, the Kodak board voted to pay Barr’s 1957 wage dividend to his widow as a death benefit. When Barr’s estate filed its estate-tax return, it did not include the wage-dividend payment in the gross estate. The commissioner of Internal Revenue (commissioner) (defendant) determined that the wage-dividend payment was part of Barr’s gross estate because it had belonged to Barr. Thus, the commissioner assessed additional estate taxes based on the dividend amount. The estate petitioned the United States Tax Court for a determination that the wage-dividend payment was not part of Barr’s gross estate.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Pierce, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 832,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,500 briefs - keyed to 994 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership