Beulah Gladhand died on January 2, 2010. She was survived by two children, Suzie Marachino and her son, Left Gladhand. Suzie and Left qualified as Executors of her estate. She was not a rich woman when she died. Her estate included a house that she and late her husband Clem had purchased together in 1973 for a whopping $75,000. Now the house was worth $750,000. The rest of her estate was about $150,000 in stocks and bonds which she also had bought together with her husband over their marriage.
Case Closed
Brian Peterson went to his Supervisor. “Sir, while this is probably a suicide, there is no note and no evidence of intent to defraud the government. My view is that we’d get our heads handed to us on this.” “Thanks, Brian, let’s call the General Counsel and see what he has to say.” The called the Chief Counsel, “If we can’t prove fraud and have no probable cause to search for a note, there is no sense in wasting our time on this, prepare a closing letter.”
Three weeks later.
Becky saw the envelope from the IRS. It was thin. She tore it open and saw that it was a closing letter. She closed her eyes and let fly a deep sigh and put it in a file. Her next call was to the Mercedes dealer. “Might as well stimulate the economy”.
Next Tax Tale will deal with some crazy questions involving deaths in 2010 and basis issues on capital gains. With that, one precautionary word. If we have another foot of snow here in DC and the power or phone lines get damages, I might be off line for 24 hours. So, don’t give up on me.
J
Well, let me explain.
Brian Peterson blinked into the phone. Then responded, “Well, there was a notation of possible suicide on the autopsy report and I wanted to find out if it was a suicide or not?” “Not to be disrespectful, but what difference should that make to you?” Becky responded. Brian paused thinking of the appropriate answer. “I’m sorry, I certainly didn’t want to cause you any hurt, but if it was a suicide, then we might have to look into whether a fraud assessment was appropriate.” Brian anwered as gingerly as possible and hoping to get off the phone as soon as possible. “Wouldn’t she have to have killed herself, solely to try and save taxes for it to be fraud?” Becky asked. “I mean what if she was depressed and just killed herself, would that be tax fraud?” Brian thought for a second and answered, “no, it wouldn’t and that’s why I asked about a note.”
The Dreaded Phone call
“Hello, is this Becky? This Brian Peterson, I am an estate tax examiner with the Internal Revenue Service, and I am examining Beatrice’s return. I am about to close the file, but I have a question?” “Yessir, I’ll try and answer it, if I know the answer”, Becky replied. “Great, what I need to know is this, did your mother leave a suicide note?” Brian asked. Becky hesitated for a second and answered, “no, why do you ask?”
Eight more months later
Brian Peterson looked at the return on his desk. It was cut and dried, the lady died in a car accident in 2010. He looked at the death certificate and saw Laura Holden’s signature at the bottom, he smiled and looked in the desk drawer at the diamond ring he had bought her when he proposed which was on Friday night. He noticed at that point the third contributing cause of death, suicide. He picked up the telephone and called her. “Hi, honey this is Brian, how’s the smartest most attractive coroner doing?” “Flattery will get you everywhere,” Laura cooed. “This is kind of a business call”, Brian said hesitantly. “What’s up?” Laura replied. “I’m looking at a death certificate for Bea Gooding and your signature is on it, could you pull your file on that case?” Brian asked. “Sure”, Laura answered. She pulled the file and came back to the phone, “Brian, yea, it was a single car accident, no witnesses, drove right into a concrete barrier, died of trauma shortly after the accident, never regain consciousness. I put suicide as a possible contributing cause, because single car accidents are almost always suicides. Why are you interested in my autopsy?” Brian cleared his throat. “Its possible, that her suicide could be grounds to assert tax fraud, we’ve never tried it, but it means about $150 Million of difference taxwise”. “Wow”, Laura replied. “The problem is that its only a hunch on my part”, Laura said. “For all I know she could have dozed off, it was late at night, or she could have been blinded by a car light, or dropped something on the floor and reached down to pick it up. How right do you want me to be on this?” Brian thought for a moment and asked, “Did anyone find a suicide note?” “No, not that I am aware of”, Laura replied. “You need to ask the family that question”.