As I have previously discussed, a tax court upheld the use of formula value clauses in estate planning in Wandry v. Comm’r. Specifically, the tax court stated that “the use of a simplified formula gift clause (that is, one that did not involve disclaimer or charitable elements) as a method of avoiding an inadvertent tax gift by an IRS upwards revaluation of the value of gifted property” was appropriate. The Government appealed the decision to 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, but before the court could render a judgment, the government withdrew their appeal. At this time, there is no indication as to why the Government decided to withdraw their case.
See Charles Rubin, Wandry Appeal Withdrawn, rubinontax, Oct. 23, 2012.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
