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Probate & Trust Law Section Conference Manual ... - Minnesota CLE

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approximately a 1.98% Norseman membership interest, rather than the 2.39% interest<br />

determined by the taxpayers’ appraiser.<br />

See Wandry at pp. 23 & 24.<br />

Applying the Wandry formula to our hypothetical situation above, the surviving spouse’s<br />

disclaimer might look something like this:<br />

I hereby disclaim a sufficient number of acres of that certain xxx County <strong>Minnesota</strong> real<br />

estate described on Exhibit A attached hereto so that the fair market value of said real<br />

estate for <strong>Minnesota</strong> and federal estate tax purposes shall be $1,000,000. Although the<br />

number of acres of real estate disclaimed is fixed as the date of this disclaimer, that<br />

number is based on the fair market value of the disclaimed real estate. I understand the<br />

value of the real estate as reported on the decedent’s estate return is subject to challenge<br />

by the Internal Revenue Service and/or the <strong>Minnesota</strong> Department of Revenue. If the<br />

IRS or the <strong>Minnesota</strong> Department of Revenue challenges such valuation and a final<br />

determination of a different value is made by the IRS, the <strong>Minnesota</strong> Department of<br />

Revenue or a court of law, the amount of land disclaimed shall be adjusted accordingly so<br />

that the value of the real estate disclaimed equals the amount set forth above, in the same<br />

manner as a federal estate tax formula marital deduction amount would be adjusted for a<br />

valuation redetermination by the IRS and/or a court of law.<br />

Such a disclaimer would be a renunciation of a given dollar amount of the real estate, rather<br />

than a fixed percentage or fractional portion of the real estate. Under the terms of this<br />

disclaimer there would be transferred to the credit trust that percentage of the real estate that<br />

equaled $1,000,000. Consequently, there would be no adverse tax consequence if the value of<br />

the real estate as finally determined differed from the amount reported on the decedent’s estate<br />

tax return. If that were to be the case, the credit trust would simply be funded with a different<br />

percentage of real estate. This approach is preferable to a disclaimer of a fixed percentage or<br />

fraction of the real estate which can result in an over-funding of the credit trust if the value of<br />

the real estate is increased upon final determination.<br />

Signalingits continued disapproval of defined value clauses, the IRS has indicated it will not<br />

acquiesce in the Wandry decision. I.R.B. 2012-46 (November 13, 2012). Keep in mind,<br />

however, that Wandry was a gift tax case. While the IRs remains uncomfortable with<br />

taxpayers using defined value clauses to describe the amounts of their gifts, formula<br />

disclaimers have long been approved under the disclaimer regulations. Moreover, the<br />

disclaimer of a pecuniary portion of a hard-to-value asset was explicitly approved by the 8 th<br />

Circuit Court of Appeals in Estate of Christiansen v. Commissioner,130 T.C. 1 (2008)<br />

(reviewed by the Court), aff’d, 586 F.3d 1061 (8th Cir. 2009).Consequently, a pecuniary<br />

9

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