Estate of Orville F. Yetter v. Commissioner
United States Tax Court
35 T.C. 737 (1961)
- Written by Joe Cox, JD
Facts
Orville F. Yetter died on April 29, 1955. His estate (plaintiff) incurred expenses of $2,197.50 for his funeral and burial, which the estate promptly paid. Yetter’s estate filed its fiduciary income-tax return and included a statement declining the right to have Yetter’s burial and funeral expenses utilized as a deduction for calculating his taxable estate for estate-tax purposes. The estate then claimed Yetter’s burial expenses as a deduction on the fiduciary income-tax return for 1955. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue (the commissioner) (defendant) opposed that position, arguing that the burial and funeral expenses were not valid deductions from income taxes and finding a deficiency. The estate then filed suit, basing its argument on a statute that indicated that certain expenses that could otherwise be deducted from the taxable estate computation could then be waived in that context and utilized as income-tax deductions. The commissioner contended that the particular deduction simply was not related to income, regardless of its waiver for estate-tax purposes.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Tietjens, J.)
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