Estate of Jean Simon Andre Arnaud, Deceased Emile Furlan v. Commissioner Internal Revenue Service

Appellant-Taxpayer, the Estate of Jean Simon Andre Arnaud, appealed from an adverse decision issued by the Tax Court. Arnaud was, at the time of his death, a nonresident alien domiciled in France. The issue on this appeal is whether a tax treaty between France and the United States (“French Tax Treaty”) entitles the Estate of Arnaud (“Taxpayer”) to compute the estate tax utilizing the unified credit of $62,800, which is applicable to the estates of citizens or residents of the United States. The Tax Court held that Taxpayer was only entitled to the unified credit applicable to nonresident aliens and that the French Tax Treaty did not require otherwise. We affirm.

I. FACTS

The decedent, Jean Simon Andre Arnaud, and his surviving wife, Elaine Arnaud, were citizens and residents of France. Included in the decedent’s gross estate was a parcel of real property located in California which was owned by the decedent and his wife as community property.

For purposes of this appeal, we need not delve into the details of the original or amended return or the deficiency notice. Taxpayer claimed a marital deduction of $17,417 and a unified credit of $62,800. Taxpayer is entitled to claim the…