Burrell's Estate v. Commissioner

In this petition for review, petitioner seeks to set aside an order of the Tax Court upholding the Commissioner’s refusal to allow a deduction from the amount of the tax on the estate of petitioner’s deceased husband, who died July 28, 1943, of the amount of her state and federal income taxes for the tax years 1941, 1942 and 1943, amounting to $10,344.12, which she paid after his decease.

The reported income of the wife for the three years was community income. After its receipt by the husband in his business, it was put in a joint bank account, the amount of which remaining at the time of the husband’s death was included in his gross estate.

The petitioner claims that under Section 811(e) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C.A. § 811 (e) (1), she is entitled to deduct the amount of her income taxes for the three years paid after his death. The ground of this claim is, in the final analysis, that she had no separate property at any pertinent time and that by the making of the tax returns in 1941, 1942 and 1943 of her half of the community income, she made a contribution to the husband’s estate by which the husband became obligated to pay her income tax. This is described…