Court Opinion

ID: 9640108
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:57:35.995839+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:26.544531
License: Public Domain

HEALY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I think the decision of the Board should be affirmed.
In its natural connotation the phrase “to be distributed currently”, qs found in § 161 (a) (2) and in § 162(b), 26 U.S.C.A. §§ 161 (a) (2), 162(b) would seem to have reference to income which is to be distributed to the beneficiary during the current tax year. Conversely, the phrase “income accumulated or held for future distribution under the terms of the will or trust” would seem to have reference to income accumulated during a tax year or years for distribution in a future tax year.
In this instance the petitioner had a vested interest in the income received by the trustee during the tax year 1932, the income for that year was to be distributed currently to him under the terms of the trust, and he actually received it during that year. I think the whole of it was taxable to him. In its intended aspect as a revenue measure, the construction given the statute by the court has the unsatisfying and not very logical result of making a portion of the current income taxable to the trustee and the remainder of it to the beneficiary, although the latter got and was entitled to receive all of it.