Abstract
This article considers the circumstances under which taxpayers can disavow the form of a transaction they enter in order to claim better tax consequences based on the substance of the transaction. In some situations, the disavowal is noncontroversial because the Internal Revenue Service has blessed the transactions. In a few situations where the Service resists, however, taxpayers are sometimes successful anyway. The focus of the article is on the Tax Court’s 2021 decision in Complex Media, Inc. v. Commissioner, and substantial discussion is devoted to the Third Circuit’s well-known, and sometimes controversial, 1967 decision in Commissioner v. Danielson.
Keywords
substance-over-form doctrine, economic substance, step-transaction doctrine, Zenz v. Quinlivan, Zenzing out, Complex Media, Inc. v. Commissioner, Commissioner v. Danielson, strong proof, Section 351, Watts v. Commissioner
Publication Date
2021
Document Type
Article
Publication Information
Journal of Taxation of Investments, Spring 2021, at 75
Repository Citation
Jensen, Erik M., "When Can Taxpayers Invoke the Substance-over-Form Doctrine?" (2021). Faculty Publications. 2341.
https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/faculty_publications/2341
