Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Revisiting Allocation of Basis Issues

By David E. Kahen and Elliot Pisem
December 31, 2015

The courts have taken varying approaches to determining the basis of stock that is received by an insurance policyholder in exchange for the policyholder's surrender of membership rights in a mutual insurance company, in a “demutualization” transaction. While this may seem to be a narrow and abstruse question, the approaches taken by the courts may have application in other areas of the tax law affecting analogous transactions.

Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in Dorrance v. United States, Docket Nos. 13-16548, 13-16635 (Dec. 9, 2015), reversing Dorrance v. United States, 111 AFTR 2d 2013-1280 (D. Ct. Arizona), reversed the district court decisions in that case, agreed with the government position that the policyholder's basis in the stock did not include any part of the premiums paid by the policyholder for insurance, and concluded that the entire proceeds from the subsequent sale of the stock by the policyholder constituted gain. (The decisions of the district court in Dorrance in 2012 and 2013 were discussed by the authors in an earlier article in this newsletter's ALM sibling, New York Law Journal. See, E. Pisem and D. Kahen, “Diverse Approaches to Allocation of Basis in Demutualizations,” N.Y.L.J., April 18, 2013.

This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It Image

Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later Image

The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.

A Lawyer's System for Active Reading Image

Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.

Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent Trolls Image

With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.