PUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT
FUND 2001 LP; VIRGINIA HISTORIC
TAX CREDIT FUND 2001 LLC; TAX
MATTERS PARTNER,
Petitioners-Appellees,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL No. 10-1333
REVENUE,
Respondent-Appellant.
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA,
Amicus Supporting Appellees.
2 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT
FUND 2001 LLC; VIRGINIA
HISTORIC TAX CREDIT FUND 2001
SCP, LLC; TAX MATTERS PARTNER,
Petitioners-Appellees,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL No. 10-1334
REVENUE,
Respondent-Appellant.
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA,
Amicus Supporting Appellees.
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT
FUND 2001 LLC; VIRGINIA
HISTORIC TAX CREDIT FUND 2001
SCP, LP; TAX MATTERS PARTNER,
Petitioners-Appellees,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL No. 10-1336
REVENUE,
Respondent-Appellant.
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA,
Amicus Supporting Appellees.
Appeals from the United States Tax Court.
(Tax Ct. Nos. 716-08; 870-08; 871-08)
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 3
Argued: January 25, 2011
Decided: March 29, 2011
Before NIEMEYER, DUNCAN, and KEENAN,
Circuit Judges.
Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge Duncan
wrote the opinion, in which Judge Niemeyer and Judge Kee-
nan joined.
COUNSEL
ARGUED: Ivan C. Dale, UNITED STATES DEPART-
MENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellant.
David Decoursey Aughtry, CHAMBERLAIN, HRDLICKA,
WHITE, WILLIAMS & MARTIN, Atlanta, Georgia, for
Appellees. ON BRIEF: John A. DiCicco, Acting Assistant
Attorney General, Richard Farber, Tax Division, UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.,
for Appellant. Hale E. Sheppard, CHAMBERLAIN,
HRDLICKA, WHITE, WILLIAMS & MARTIN, Atlanta,
Georgia, for Appellees. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, Attorney
General of Virginia, E. Duncan Getchell, Jr., State Solicitor
General, Stephen R. McCullough, Senior Appellate Counsel,
Charles E. James, Jr., Chief Deputy Attorney General,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Richmond, Vir-
ginia, for Amicus Supporting Appellees.
OPINION
DUNCAN, Circuit Judge:
This appeal presents the question of whether certain trans-
actions between a partnership and its partners amounted to
4 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
"sales" for purposes of federal tax law. During an audit, the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue (the "Commissioner")
challenged the way that Virginia Historic Tax Credit Fund
2001, LLC ("2001 LLC"), as the tax matters partner of Vir-
ginia Historic Tax Credit Fund 2001 LP ("2001 LP"), Virginia
Historic Tax Credit Fund 2001 SCP, LLC ("SCP LLC") and
Virginia Historic Tax Credit Fund 2001, SCP, LP ("SCP LP")
(collectively, "the Funds"), reported a series of transactions
with investor partners in the Funds’ 2001 and 2002 federal tax
returns. The United States Tax Court found that the Funds had
properly characterized these transactions, and the Commis-
sioner appealed. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse
the Tax Court and find that the Commissioner properly
treated the challenged transactions as "sales" under I.R.C.
§ 707.
I.
The facts in this case are not in dispute. Our recitation is
drawn primarily from the Tax Court’s findings of fact and the
parties’ stipulations. By way of background, we begin by
describing Virginia’s Historic Rehabilitation Credit Program
(the "Virginia Program"), in which the Funds were designed
to participate. We then turn to the details of the Funds and the
challenged transactions before summarizing the findings of
the Tax Court.
A.
Because the cost of renovating historic property often
exceeds the property’s market value, many states have
enacted legislation designed to encourage investment in this
area.1 Virginia has chosen to provide an incentive to historic
developers in the form of tax credits. Under the rules of the
Virginia Program, any person rehabilitating a historic prop-
1
There is also federal support for historic rehabilitations in the form of
federal tax credits. See I.R.C. § 47.
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 5
erty can seek state approval and certification of the project by
the Virginia Department of Historic Resources ("DHR").
Once the property is certified, its developer is entitled to
receive tax credits of up to twenty-five percent of eligible
expenses incurred in renovating the property. See Va. Code
Ann. § 58.1-339.2. These state tax credits can be applied
dollar-for-dollar against Virginia income tax liability.
At times, the amount of historic tax credits issued to a his-
toric property developer exceeds the developer’s income tax
liability. Unlike some other states, Virginia does not allow tax
credits to be sold or transferred in this event. Virginia does,
however, have a partnership allocation provision that permits
state tax credits allocated to a partnership to be divided among
the partners "as the partners or shareholders mutually agree."2
Id. This provision is often used by developers to "allocate a
disproportionate share of [their] State tax credits to limited
partners whose [monetary] contributions then fill the credit
gap." Va. Historic Tax Credit Fund 2001 LP v. C.I.R., T.C.
Memo 2009-295, 2009 WL 4980488, at *2 (2009).
Although the scheme described above reflects the rules of
the Virginia Program both as originally enacted in 1996 and
as currently in force, a brief change that occurred in these
rules is relevant to the instant appeal. Before Virginia final-
ized its Program rules, some historic renovation projects
began under the assumption that the Program would permit
the sale or transfer of credits. To protect projects that had
begun under this assumption, Virginia temporarily amended
its program in 1999 to allow for a one-time transfer (i.e., sale)
of credits for projects that received certification prior to the
publication of the Program’s final regulations.3 Such transfers
had to be approved by the director of DHR.
2
Virginia also permits credits to be carried over for up to ten years "[i]f
the amount of such credit exceeds the taxpayer’s tax liability for such tax-
able year." Va. Code Ann. § 58.1-339.2.
3
This one-time transfer provision was codified in 1999 legislation
amending the original state rehabilitation statute, but was terminated
before final Program Regulations were published. The parties do not dis-
pute that the one-time transfers from developers to the Funds that occurred
under this temporary provision were valid.
6 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
B.
In 2001, Daniel Gecker ("Gecker"), Robert Miller
("Miller"), and George Brower ("Brower") came together to
set up the Funds in question. All three had previously been
consultants in the design and implementation of the Virginia
Program and were familiar with its workings and limitations.
One such limitation was that smaller historic renovation proj-
ects were still having difficulty obtaining funding. To address
this issue, they structured the Funds as partnerships that inves-
tors could join by contributing capital. The Funds would use
that capital to partner with historic property developers reno-
vating smaller projects, in exchange for state tax credits.
Gecker, Miller, and Brower became principals of the Funds
and designated four linked partnership entities as Fund part-
ners. They named 2001 LLC as the Funds’ general partner
and tax matters partner, and 2001 LP as the "source partner-
ship" that would partner with historic developers. Gecker and
Miller each held a 35% interest in the general partner, 2001
LLC, with Miller’s interest held through his wholly owned
entity BKM, LLC. Brower held the remaining 30% interest.
2001 LLC became, in turn, the 97% owner of 2001 LP. 2001
LLC also became the 99% owner of two pass-through part-
ners, SCP LLC, and SCP LP, which were lower-tier partner-
ships.4 SCP LLC and SCP LP were each 1% owners in 2001
LP; the remaining 1% interest in 2001 LP was reserved for
sale to investors, as was a 1% interest in SCP LLC and SCP
LP.
The Funds began soliciting investors willing to contribute
capital to the partnership in exchange for the allocation of
state tax credits in late 2001. The precise rates of return
offered to investors differed slightly depending on the partner-
ship through which they invested—2001 LP, SCP LLC, or
4
The Tax Court’s opinion includes a pictorial representation of the
Funds’ organization. See Va. Historic, 2009 WL 4980488, at *5.
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 7
SCP LP—but otherwise the arrangements were the same.
Each investor was promised a certain amount of tax credits
and a limited partnership interest in the Funds in exchange for
a capital contribution to the Funds. The lower-tier partner-
ships passed their capital contributions on to 2001 LP.
Investors received a confidential offering memorandum
(the "offering memo") and partnership agreements that set
forth their arrangement with the Funds in detail. For every
$.74 - $.80 contributed by an investor, the Fund would pro-
vide the investor with $1 in tax credits. If such credits could
not be obtained, the partnership agreement promised a refund
of capital to the investor, "net of expenses." J.A. 438.
The partnership agreement also explained that each inves-
tor (or, in the agreement, "Limited Partner") would be given
"a percentage participation in the Partnership equal to one
percent (1%) multiplied by a fraction the number [sic] of
which is the number of units owned by the Limited Partner
and denominator of which is the total number of units out-
standing." J.A. 438. In practice, however, this complex for-
mula appears not to have been applied: the subscription
agreements signed by the investors indicate that most were
simply given a .01% interest in the Funds, irrespective of their
capital contributions, although some subscription agreements
for SCP LP state that a 1% interest was acquired.5 These
slight discrepancies were of limited importance, however, as
the offering memo explained that investors should expect to
receive no material amounts of partnership income or loss.
5
As the Commissioner has pointed out, given that hundreds of investors
ultimately signed such agreements, the ownership percentages contained
in the subscriptions agreements do not add up to a total 1% interest in each
Fund being held by investors, as they should. In any event, the precise
ownership interest of each investor is unimportant; what is noteworthy is
that the Funds were structured so that the investors owned in total only a
1% interest in each Fund.
8 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
The partnership agreement and offering memo also
addressed the Funds’ plan for partnering with developers. The
Funds would become a .01% limited partner in selected his-
toric property development partnerships (termed "Operating
Partnerships" in the partnership agreement), and would pro-
vide capital contributions in exchange for tax credits. How-
ever, the Funds promised not to "make a capital contribution
in excess of $100 to an Operating Partnership until the Gen-
eral Partner has received certification from the [DHR] that the
rehabilitation constitutes a qualified rehabilitation and the
amount of qualified rehabilitation expenditures paid or
incurred by the Operating Partnership." J.A. 438. In other
words, the partnership agreement stated that the Funds would
invest only in completed projects, thereby eliminating a sig-
nificant area of risk. In addition, the Funds’ agreements with
their Operating Partners provided that the Operating Partners
would reimburse the Funds in the event that any of their cred-
its could not be delivered or were later revoked by the state.
At least some of these agreements were further backed by
guarantors.
The offering memo also explained how the Funds would
pay their operating expenses. The Operating Partnerships
would "make available to the General Partner a total of
$20,000 to pay for the cost of the Partnership’s annual
accounting expenses and other Partnership operating
expenses." J.A. 2073. Should annual expenses be higher than
this, the General Partner promised to fund them, explaining
that "[a]lthough the General Partner does not have any signifi-
cant amount of assets, it is not anticipated that the annual
operating expenses of the Partnership will be high." Id.
Between November 2001 and April 2002, 282 investors
signed partnership agreements, subscriptions agreements, and
options agreements with the Funds. The source partnership,
2001 LP, obtained 181 investors, while SCP LLC obtained 93
investors and SCP LP obtained eight investors. The subscrip-
tion agreements specified the dollar amount contributed by
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 9
each investor, and stated that this amount was paid in
exchange for the allocation of a corresponding number of tax
credits "simultaneously with Investor’s admission." See, e.g.,
J.A. 2086 (emphasis added). The options agreements gave the
Funds the sole option to purchase each partner’s interest for
fair market value during 2002, and assigned to Gecker a lim-
ited power of attorney to execute all documents necessary to
effectuate these purchases.
In total, the Funds collected $6.99 million from investors
between November 2001 and April 2002. During this same
time period, the Fund paid a total of fifteen developers $5.13
million, at a price of $.55/$1 tax credit, to obtain $9.2 million
in historic rehabilitation tax credits. Approximately one-third
of these tax credits were purchased from developers under
Virginia’s one-time transfer provision; the rest were obtained
in exchange for capital contributions to Operating Partner-
ships with which the Fund partnered. In April 2002, the Funds
distributed to investors "Schedules K-1"6 designating to each
investor his promised amount of tax credits and attaching the
DHR Certificates of Rehabilitation from the Funds’ Operating
Partnerships. J.A. 261-62. However, "[s]pecific credits were
not designated as being allocated to any one particular inves-
tor . . . ; instead the investors were informed of the amount
allocated to them from the pool of credits." J.A. 262. The
Funds then exercised their option to buy out all investors in
May 2002, paying them each .001 times their contribution for
a total buyout cost of approximately $7,000.
C.
The instant dispute arose from the way the Funds reported
this series of transactions in their federal tax filings. In both
their 2001 and 2002 Forms 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership
6
"A Schedule K-1 is used as part of the tax return to report the partner’s
share of income, credits, deductions and other items resulting from the
partnership." Hansen v. C.I.R., 471 F.3d 1021, 1026 n.6 (9th Cir. 2006).
10 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
Income, the Funds reported the money paid to Operating Part-
nerships in exchange for tax credits as partnership expenses
and reported the investors’ contributions to the Funds as non-
taxable contributions to capital. The Funds’ returns therefore
reflected that the Funds sustained a total of $3.28 million in
losses for 2001 and 2002.
The Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") audited the Funds
and challenged their characterization of investors’ funding as
"contributions to capital." Instead, the Commissioner con-
cluded that the investors were not actual partners of the
Funds, and that "these investors’ capital contributions to the
partnership and receipt of the state income tax credits in
return was a sale of income tax credits to the investors." J.A.
342. Accordingly, the Commissioner believed that the Funds
should have reported the money they received from investors
as income.
The IRS issued to the Funds six Final Partnership Adminis-
trative Adjustments ("FPAAs"),7 which reflected its conten-
tion that investors’ contributions should have been reported as
income on the Funds’ 2001 and 2002 returns. Based on the
numbers provided by the Funds in their tax returns, the Com-
missioner originally calculated that the Funds should have
recognized income in the amount of $4.02 million. The par-
ties have since stipulated that if the Commissioner is correct,
the Funds should have reported income of $1.53 million as a
result of investor contributions.8 The parties have also stipu-
7
"[W]hen the IRS disagrees with a partnership’s reporting of any part-
nership item, it must issue a Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment
. . . before making any assessments against the partners attributable to
such an item." Marriott Int’l Resorts, L.P. v. United States, 586 F.3d 962,
964 (Fed. Cir. 2009); see also I.R.C. §§ 6223(a)(2), (d)(2), 6225(a).
8
The parties agreed upon this number through the following calcula-
tions: The Funds received from investors $6.99 million in contributions,
paid to Developers $5.13 million, and incurred syndication costs and other
commissions of $330,986, resulting in a net gain of $1.53 million if the
Commissioner prevails in his characterization of the transactions.
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 11
lated that although the Commissioner originally challenged
both the Funds’ 2001 and 2002 returns, if the Commissioner
prevails, the gains realized by the Funds will be treated as
having occurred in 2002.
D.
The Funds disputed the Commissioner’s characterization of
their partnership arrangement and timely filed petitions for
readjustment of partnership items with the Tax Court pursuant
to I.R.C. § 6226(a). At trial, the Commissioner presented two
bases for his assertion that the FPAAs were correct: (1) under
the substance-over-form doctrine, the investors were not
"bona fide" partners in the Funds for federal tax purposes, but
instead were mere purchasers; and (2) the transactions
between the investors and the partnerships were "disguised
sales" under I.R.C. § 707. The Commissioner only needed to
establish one basis to prevail.
After trial, the Tax Court issued an opinion rejecting both
of the Commissioner’s assertions. It first found that the inves-
tors were in fact partners for federal tax purposes under the
partnership test announced by the Supreme Court in Commis-
sioner v. Culbertson, 337 U.S. 733 (1949). The Tax Court
reasoned that the partnership agreements, the parties’ conduct
in their execution, the parties’ statements, the testimony of
disinterested persons, the relationship of the parties, and the
control of income and purposes for which it was used all
pointed to a conclusion that the investors and the Funds fully
intended to enter into a partnership arrangement.
The Tax Court further found that the substance-over-form
doctrine did not dictate that the partnership arrangement
between the investors and the Funds was not bona fide. It
found that investors’ contributions did not reflect merely the
purchase price of credits; instead, "the contributions were
pooled to facilitate investment in the developer partnerships,
to purchase additional credits under the one-time transfer pro-
12 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
vision . . . , to cover the expenses of the partnerships, to insure
against the risks of the partnerships, and to provide capital for
successor entities . . . ." Va. Historic, 2009 WL 4980488, at
*14. The Tax Court also found that investors bore sufficient
risk to make them partners, including the risks that developers
might not provide the promised tax credits or that the credits
might be revoked. The Tax Court acknowledged that "inves-
tors received assurance that their contributions would be
refunded" if the tax credits were not received or were
revoked, but found this assurance counteracted by the lack of
a guarantee "that the resources would remain available in the
source partnership to do so." Id.
The Tax Court also rejected the Commissioner’s argument
that the transactions between the investors and the Funds were
"disguised sales" under I.R.C. § 707. Section 707(a)(2)(B)
allows the Commissioner to treat a transaction that occurs
between a partner and his partnership as though it occurred
"between the partnership and one who is not a partner" if the
partner transfers money to the partnership in exchange for "a
related direct or indirect transfer of money or other property
by the partnership to such partner," such that the transaction
is "properly characterized as a sale or exchange." The Tax
Court found that although such transactions are "presumed
sales" when they occur within two years of one another, the
transactions here were not disguised sales because the transac-
tions were "not simultaneous" and the investors faced "entre-
preneurial risks" in the partnership. T.C. Memo 2009-295, at
*16. This appeal followed.
II.
On appeal, the Commissioner makes the same two argu-
ments he made before the Tax Court: that the investors were
not bona fide partners of the Funds, and that even if they
were, the transactions between the investors and the Funds
should nevertheless be classified as sales for federal tax pur-
poses under the relevant Code provisions and regulations.
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 13
Assuming, without deciding, that a "bona fide" partnership
existed, we nevertheless find that the Commissioner properly
recharacterized the transactions at issue as "sales" under
I.R.C. § 707.9
In the sections that follow, we first set forth the rules and
regulations governing the question of when a purported part-
nership transfer should be reclassified as a sale. Normally, we
would then proceed to consider our standard of review and
whether the transactions at issue should be reclassified under
these rules. However, the Funds make a preliminary argument
that their transactions should not be analyzed under these
rules because no transfer of "property" occurred between the
Funds and their investors. Accordingly, we address this argu-
ment before turning to the appropriate standard of review and
consideration of the relevant criteria to determine whether a
"disguised sale" occurred here.
A.
A partnership is not itself liable for the payment of income
taxes; instead, partnerships operate as "pass-through" entities
and each partner must pay taxes on his or her allocated share
of the partnership’s income or loss.10 See I.R.C. §§ 701, 702;
9
The Department of the Treasury specifically contemplates that its regu-
lations regarding disguised sales can be applied before it is determined
whether a valid partnership exists. See Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3 (1992) ("If
a person purports to transfer property to a partnership in a capacity as a
partner, the rules of this section apply for purposes of determining whether
the property was transferred in a disguised sale, even if it is determined
after the application of the rules of this section that such person is not a
partner." (emphasis added)).
10
This allocation from the partnership to each partner occurs in accor-
dance with the partnership agreement and is reported on a Schedule K-1.
See I.R.C. § 704; Salman Ranch Ltd. v. United States, 573 F.3d 1362,
1365 n.4 (Fed. Cir. 2009). Each partner’s individual taxes must reflect the
same allocations that are reported on this schedule. See Salman Ranch,
573 F.3d at 1365 n.4.
14 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
Hillman v. I.R.S., 250 F.3d 228, 230 (4th Cir. 2001); see also
Salman Ranch Ltd. v. United States, 573 F.3d 1362, 1365
(Fed. Cir. 2009). "However, each year a partnership must file
an information return (IRS Form 1065) reporting items of
gross income and allowable deductions." Salman Ranch, 573
F.3d at 1365 n.4 (citing I.R.C. § 6031(a)). Items that must be
reported include "gains and losses from sales or exchanges of
capital assets." I.R.C. § 702. But I.R.C. § 721 provides that
"[n]o gain or loss shall be recognized to a partnership or to
any of its partners in the case of a contribution of property to
the partnership in exchange for an interest in the partnership."
Similarly, "[n]o gain or loss shall be recognized to a partner-
ship on a distribution to a partner of property, including
money." Id. § 731(b). In other words, whereas a partnership
must report any proceeds received from the sale of its assets
as taxable income, partners’ contributions to capital and a
partnership’s distributions to partners are tax-free.
These rules have been recognized as susceptible to manipu-
lation by persons wishing to shield transactions that are more
accurately characterized as sales from their proper tax conse-
quences. See, e.g., Otey v. C.I.R., 70 T.C. 312, 317 (1978);
Campbell v. C.I.R., 943 F.2d 815, 822 (8th Cir. 1991); see
also Staff of Joint Comm. on Tax’n, 98th Cong., 2d Sess.,
General Explanation of the Revenue Provisions of the Deficit
Reduction Act of 1984, at 225 (1985) ("Joint Comm. Report")
(expressing Congress’s concern that "partnerships had been
used effectively to circumvent the requirement to capitalize
certain expenses"). To guard against this problem, the Tax
Code "recognizes that in some cases partners do not deal with
a partnership in their capacity as partners." Otey, 70 T.C. at
317. Specifically, I.R.C. § 707 "prevents use of the partner-
ship provisions to render nontaxable what would in substance
have been a taxable exchange if it had not been ‘run through’
the partnership." Id.
Section 707, as strengthened by Congress in 1984,11 pro-
11
In the late 1970s, it became apparent that the then-current version of
§ 707 did not go far enough in allowing the IRS flexibility to reclassify
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 15
vides that "[i]f a partner engages in a transaction with a part-
nership other than in his capacity as a member of such
partnership, the transaction shall, except as otherwise pro-
vided in this section, be considered as occurring between the
partnership and one who is not a partner." I.R.C. § 707(a)(1).
Non-partnership-capacity transactions include the situation
where:
(i) there is a direct or indirect transfer of money or
other property by a partner to a partnership,
(ii) there is a related direct or indirect transfer of
money or other property by the partnership to such
partner (or another partner), and
(iii) the transfers described in clauses (i) and (ii),
when viewed together, are properly characterized as
a sale or exchange of property[.]
§ 707(a)(2)(B). Such a transaction, in which a "partner con-
tributes property to a partnership and soon thereafter receives
a distribution of money or other consideration from the part-
nership," is often referred to as a "disguised sale." Canal
Corp. v. C.I.R., 135 T.C. No. 9, 2010 WL 3064428, at *8
(Aug. 5, 2010); see also Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3.
Treasury Regulations clarify which partnership transfers
should be "properly characterized as a sale or exchange of
property" under § 707(a)(2). See Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3. Sec-
tion 1.707-3 applies, by its terms, to transfers of property to
a partnership in exchange for money from the partnership—in
improperly labeled partnership items. See Joint Comm. Report at 225.
Congress therefore revised the provision in 1984 by adding to § 707(a) the
current detailed provisions regarding when a transaction should be consid-
ered to have occurred outside of the partnership capacity. See Deficit
Reduction Act of 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-369, § 73, 98 Stat. 494, 591
(1984).
16 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
other words, the reverse of what occurred here. However,
§ 1.707-6 specifies:
Rules similar to those provided in § 1.707-3 apply in
determining whether a transfer of property by a part-
nership to a partner and one or more transfers of
money or other consideration by that partner to the
partnership are treated as a sale of property, in whole
or in part, to the partner.
Id. § 1.707-6(a). Accordingly, we look to § 1.707-3 to deter-
mine whether the transfers disputed here have the characteris-
tics of a sale.
Section 1.707-3 calls for an evaluation of "all the facts and
circumstances" surrounding the transaction to determine
whether
(i) The transfer of money or other consideration
would not have been made but for the transfer of
property; and
(ii) In cases in which the transfers are not made
simultaneously, the subsequent transfer is not depen-
dent on the entrepreneurial risks of partnership oper-
ations.
Id. § 1.707-3(b)(1) (emphasis added). It goes on to list ten fac-
tors, five of which are of particular relevance here, to be taken
into consideration:
(i) That the timing and amount of a subsequent trans-
fer are determinable with reasonable certainty at the
time of an earlier transfer;
(ii) That the transferor has a legally enforceable right
to the subsequent transfer;
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 17
(iii) That the partner’s right to receive the transfer of
money or other consideration is secured in any man-
ner, taking into account the period during which it is
secured;
...
(ix) That the transfer of money or other consider-
ation by the partnership to the partner is dispropor-
tionately large in relationship to the partner’s general
and continuing interest in partnership profits; and
(x) That the partner has no obligation to return or
repay the money or other consideration to the part-
nership, or has such an obligation but it is likely to
become due at such a distant point in the future that
the present value of that obligation is small in rela-
tion to the amount of money or other consideration
transferred by the partnership to the partner.
Id. § 1.707-3(b)(2).12
Significantly here, § 1.707-3 also sets forth a presumption
that all transfers "made within two years" of each other are
sales, "unless the facts and circumstances clearly establish
that the transfers do not constitute a sale." Id. § 1.707-3(c).
This presumption places a high burden on the partnership to
establish the validity of any suspect partnership transfers. See
Treatment of Transactions Between Partners and Partnerships,
57 Fed. Reg. 44974, 44975 (Sept. 30, 1992) (explaining that
this presumption is included in the regulations "to establish
which party has the burden of going forward in litigation").
12
The additional factors include consideration of lending obligations,
debt obligations, the amount of liquid partnership assets, whether other
persons were "legally obligated to make contributions to the partnership
in order to permit the partnership to make the transfer," and whether the
transactions were structured "to effect an exchange of the burdens and
benefits of ownership of property." See Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3(b)(2).
18 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
B.
The Funds argue that § 707 cannot be applied to recharac-
terize their transactions with investors because these transac-
tions did not involve an exchange of money for "property."13
Specifically, they argue that Virginia’s historic rehabilitation
tax credits are not "property" because they are non-
transferable and non-heritable under state law. There was
thus, they argue, no "transfer of money or other property"
from the Funds to the investors. See I.R.C. § 707(a)(2)(B)(ii).
Because of its reliance on a finding of entrepreneurial risk, the
Tax Court found it unnecessary to reach this issue. See Va.
Historic, 2009 WL 4980488, at *15 n.14. Finding it necessary
to our § 707 analysis, however, we consider it for the first
time on appeal.
The Internal Revenue Code does not define "property" as
the term is used in § 707, and so we must go beyond the
bounds of the statute to determine whether Virginia tax cred-
its count as such. This determination is a hybrid federal and
state law question. See United States v. Craft, 535 U.S. 274,
278 (2002); see also Drye v. United States, 528 U.S. 49, 57
(1999). Craft succinctly explained the dual roles of state and
federal law in determining whether a particular item or
arrangement constitutes property for purposes of federal tax
law:
A common idiom describes property as a "bundle of
13
Appellees also argue that because the partners were acting in their
capacity as partners, and because credits were "allocated" to partners
rather than transferred, there cannot be a § 707 violation here. But this
argument is tautological: the test developed in I.R.C. § 707 and Treas.
Reg. § 1.707-3 is designed to evaluate whether partners are acting in their
partnership capacity when "allocating" property. Thus, the only way we
can determine whether the Funds and their investors were acting in their
capacity as partners during these transactions is to consider the "facts and
circumstances" of the transactions as instructed by I.R.C. § 707 and Treas.
Reg. § 1.707-3.
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 19
sticks"—a collection of individual rights which, in
certain combinations, constitute property. State law
determines only which sticks are in a person’s bun-
dle. Whether those sticks qualify as "property" for
purposes of the federal tax lien statute is a question
of federal law.
Craft, 535 U.S. at 278-79. Although Craft examined the char-
acterization of property for purposes of the federal tax lien
statute, I.R.C. § 6321, we believe the same basic analysis
adheres in determining whether a particular "bundle of sticks"
constitutes property for purposes of I.R.C. § 707.14
Accordingly, to determine whether Virginia’s historic reha-
bilitation tax credits are "property" for federal tax purposes,
we ask whether they embody "some of the most essential
property rights." Id. at 283. In particular, the Supreme Court
in Craft identified the "right to use the property, to receive
income produced by it, and to exclude others from it," as fun-
damental property rights. Id. Similarly, in Drye, the Supreme
Court placed primary emphasis on the "breadth of the control
the taxpayer could exercise over the property" and whether
the right in question was "valuable." (internal marks and quo-
tations omitted). 528 U.S. at 60-61. Drye noted that transfera-
bility, although not essential, is also a relevant factor. See id.
at 60 n.7.
14
Other circuits have extended the Craft analysis beyond I.R.C. § 6321.
For example, in In re Greene, 583 F.3d 614, 620 (9th Cir. 2009), the Ninth
Circuit followed the Fifth Circuit in applying this same analysis to deter-
mine whether a certain declaration qualified as "‘any amount of interest
that was acquired’ within the compass of Section 522(p)" of the Bank-
ruptcy Code. We recognize that I.R.C. § 6321 has been interpreted as
establishing a particularly expansive definition of "property," see Drye,
528 U.S. at 56, and that perhaps § 707 is not intended to reach quite so
broadly. However, although there might be some variation between the
two sections’ definitions of property, this variation is not relevant to the
instant appeal. On these facts, it is clear that the Funds’ exchange of tax
credits for money was a transfer of "property" as the term is used in either
section.
20 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
Applying these factors to the instant case, we find that the
transfer of tax credits from the Funds to investors under the
circumstances presented here constituted a transfer of "proper-
ty."15 It is clear on these facts that the Funds’ tax credits were
both "valuable" and imbued with "some of the most essential
property rights." See Craft, 535 U.S. at 283; Drye, 528 U.S.
at 60. That the Funds’ tax credits had pecuniary value is evi-
denced by the fact that the Funds used the credits to induce
investors to contribute money.16 Additionally, the Funds exer-
cised proprietary control over the tax credits: once the historic
developers allocated to the Funds the rights to use or distrib-
ute these credits, the Funds could exclude others from utiliz-
15
It bears emphasizing that we are not deciding whether tax credits
always constitute "property" in the abstract. Rather, we are asked to decide
only whether the transfer of tax credits acquired by a non-developer part-
nership to investors in exchange for money constituted "a transfer of prop-
erty" for purposes of § 707. See Charley v. C.I.R., 91 F.3d 72, 74 (9th Cir.
1996) (finding that even though frequent flyer miles may not be "gross
income" in the abstract, a taxpayer who arranged what was in essence a
"sale" of his miles to his employer was liable for the income received from
transferring these miles); cf. United States v. Griffin, 324 F.3d 330, 354-55
(5th Cir. 2003) (finding that as-of-yet unissued historic development tax
credits were not property when they were in a state agency’s possession,
even though the tax credits took on property attributes after they were dis-
tributed to historic developers).
16
The Funds point to the Supreme Court’s decision in Randall v. Lofts-
garden, 478 U.S. 647 (1986) to argue the contrary—that these tax credits
did not have any value in themselves. Randall is readily distinguishable,
however, because it considered whether the receipt of tax credits was itself
the receipt of "income," finding quite logically that it was not, as it would
defeat the purpose of a tax credit if the credit had to be reported as income
before it could be used to offset income. See id. at 657 ("Unlike payments
in cash or property received by virtue of ownership of a security . . . the
‘receipt’ of tax deductions or credits is not itself a taxable event, for the
investor has received no money or other ‘income’ within the meaning of
the Internal Revenue Code."). As we have explained, we are not asked in
this case to decide whether tax credits in general constitute "property" or
"income." Instead, we are asked only to determine whether a party’s deci-
sion to exchange its tax credits for money, rather than utilize them, means
that the "payment in cash" the party receives should be categorized as "in-
come."
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 21
ing the credits and were free to keep or pass along the credits
to partners as they saw fit.
As for the tax credits’ transferability, although Virginia law
prohibits historic tax credits from being bought and sold
directly, this is a nominal prohibition. As the facts here illus-
trate, it is a relatively simple matter in Virginia to effectuate
a third-party transfer by forming a partnership with an inter-
ested buyer who is then "allocated" the credits in exchange for
a contribution to the partnership. To hold that these tax cred-
its, which the Funds undeniably gave to investors in exchange
for money, are not property simply because they could not be
directly bought and sold would elevate form over substance
in precisely the manner we are advised to guard against. See
Craft, 535 U.S. at 279 ("In looking to state law, we must be
careful to consider the substance of the rights state law pro-
vides, not merely the labels the State gives these rights or the
conclusions it draws from them.").
Furthermore, including the exchange of tax credits for dol-
lars within the scope of § 707 "property" comports with Con-
gress’s intent to widen the provision’s reach in 1984.
Congress strengthened § 707 specifically because of concern
"that taxpayers ha[d] deferred or avoided tax on sales of prop-
erty" and that courts were allowing "tax-free treatment in
cases which were economically indistinguishable from sales
. . . ." H.R. Rep. No. 98-861, at 860 (1984) (Conf. Rep.); see
also United States v. G-I Holdings Inc., No. 02-3082, 2009
WL 4911953, at *19 (D.N.J. Dec. 14, 2009) (explaining that
the "well-known" intent of Congress in enacting
§ 707(a)(2)(B) was to "instruct[ ] courts to question more
stringently" those "transactions in which a partnership contri-
bution was followed by a partnership distribution"). To com-
bat this problem, the Department of the Treasury was
instructed to promulgate new regulations, which allow for a
flexible evaluation of "all the facts and circumstances" in
determining whether any particular transaction should be
treated as a sale. Joint Comm’n Report at 231; see also I.R.C.
22 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
§ 707(a)(2); Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3(b)(1). This Congressional
and regulatory treatment strengthens our conclusion that a
transfer of tax credits in exchange for money qualifies as a
transfer of "property" on the facts before us.
C.
(i)
Having found that the Funds’ exchange of tax credits for
investor contributions included the transfer of "property" from
the Funds to investors for purposes of § 707(a)(2)(B), we turn
to the question of whether these transfers should be properly
recharacterized as "sales" under that provision and the factors
enumerated in Treasury Regulation § 1.707-3. However,
before addressing the particulars of the transactions at issue,
we must determine the level of deference we owe to the Tax
Court’s holding that these transactions did not meet the dis-
guised sale criteria of I.R.C. § 707 or Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3.
The Tax Court’s holding relied largely on its factual find-
ings, which we review for clear error. See McHan v. C.I.R.,
558 F.3d 326, 331 (4th Cir. 2009). However, the ultimate
issue of whether a transaction is properly characterized as a
"sale" is legal in nature. See Frank Lyon Co. v. United States,
435 U.S. 561, 581 n.16 (1978) ("The general characterization
of a transaction for tax purposes is a question of law subject
to review. The particular facts from which the characteriza-
tion is to be made are not so subject."); Am. Realty Trust v.
United States, 498 F.2d 1194, 1198-99 (4th Cir. 1974) (con-
cluding, when evaluating the federal tax treatment of a sale-
and-lease-back transaction, that "the determination of the
bona fides of [the] transaction involves, ultimately, a legal
conclusion, albeit one grounded in underlying findings of
fact."). Accordingly, we will review the Tax Court’s factual
findings for clear error, but will review de novo its legal con-
clusion that the transfers here did not constitute a "sale."
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 23
(ii)
We begin, as Treasury Regulation § 1.707-3 requires, with
a presumption that the Funds’ exchange of tax credits for
investor contributions was a sale because the transfers undis-
putedly occurred well within two years of one another. See
Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3(c). This presumption can be overcome
only if we determine that the facts as found by the Tax Court
"clearly establish[ed] that the transfers do not constitute a
sale." Id. We consider those facts in light of the factors enu-
merated in § 1.707-3(b).
Treasury Regulation § 1.707-3(b)(2) first instructs us to
consider whether "the timing and amount of a subsequent
transfer [were] determinable with reasonable certainty at the
time of an earlier transfer." Id. § 1.707-3(b)(2)(i). In this case,
they were. When investors signed partnership and subscrip-
tions agreements and made their contributions to the Funds,
the Funds promised them a precise number of tax credits in
exchange, so that each investor knew with specificity the size
of the subsequent transfer he or she could expect.17 The Funds
further promised to deliver these credits for use in investors’
2001 tax calculations, making the timing of these transfers
reasonably certain as well.
We next examine whether the investors had "a legally
enforceable right" to the later transfer of credits. Id. § 1.707-
3(b)(2)(ii). This factor also weighs in favor of finding a sale.
The partnership and subscriptions agreements between the
Funds and their investors explicitly promised delivery of tax
17
Although the parties disagree over whether the transfer of credits
occurred "simultaneously" with investor payments, as the subscriptions
agreements stated, or at the point when Schedules K-1 were distributed to
investors several months later, as the Tax Court found, this factual dispute
is not of critical importance. Even if we assume that the tax credits were
not allocated to the investors until Schedules K-1 were distributed, the
timing and amount of these subsequent transfers were known when inves-
tors made their contributions to the Funds.
24 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
credits to investors in exchange for capital contributions. Had
the Funds acquired tax credits that they then refused to allo-
cate to investors, the investors could have pursued a breach of
contract claim against them.
The third relevant factor is whether "the partner’s right to
receive the transfer of money or other consideration is secured
in any manner." § 1.707-3(b)(2)(iii). The investors’ contribu-
tions were secured in several ways. First, the Funds promised
that investor capital would be refunded if sufficient credits
could not be obtained or were revoked.18 Second, the Funds
protected investors’ contributions by requiring their Operating
Partnerships to agree to refund the Funds’ contributions in the
event that promised credits were not delivered.
Moreover, investors’ receipt of tax credits was further
secured by the Funds’ promise to give investor money only to
Operating Partnerships that had "received certification from
the [DHR] that the rehabilitation constitutes a qualified reha-
bilitation and the amount of qualified rehabilitation expendi-
tures . . . ." J.A. 2069. The Funds’ promise not to make any
significant investment until rehabilitations were already guar-
anteed to meet state approval meant that there was little risk
of funding being given to Operating Partnerships who could
not deliver credits in return.
The Treasury Regulation’s ninth factor—whether "the
transfer of money or other consideration by the partnership to
the partner is disproportionately large in relationship to the
partner’s general and continuing interest in partnership prof-
its"—strongly counsels in favor of finding a disguised sale.
18
It is true that investors were promised only a refund of their contribu-
tions "net of expenses." J.A. 438. However, there was very little risk that
any expenses would be deducted from their contributions, given that Oper-
ating Partnerships agreed to pay $20,000 of the Funds’ expenses, the Gen-
eral Partner agreed to pay the rest, and "it [wa]s not anticipated that the
annual operating expenses [would] be high." J.A. 2073.
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 25
Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3(b)(2)(ix). The investors had essentially
no interest in partnership profits under their arrangement with
the Funds. According to their subscription agreements, most
investors owned a .01% partnership interest in one of the
Funds, even though the partnership agreements reflect that a
more complicated apportionment mechanism had been con-
templated. In any event, investors were likely unconcerned
about the precise amount of their partnership interest because
the offering memo told them to expect no material amounts
of partnership profits. Thus, the transfer of tax credits to each
investor by the partnership had no correlation to each inves-
tor’s interest in partnership profits whatsoever. To the con-
trary, the size of each transfer was tied exclusively to the
amount of money the investor contributed to the Funds.
Finally, the Treasury Regulation’s tenth factor, whether
partners had any "obligation to return or repay the money or
other consideration to the partnership," id. § 1.707-3(b)(2)(x),
also points toward finding a sale. After receiving the tax cred-
its, the investors had no further obligations or relationship
with the partnership. Instead, they were free to use the credits
for their own benefit.
Particularly in light of the presumption that a sale occurred
unless clearly demonstrated otherwise, the foregoing factors
strongly counsel for a finding that these transactions were
sales.19 We note as well that the partnership status of the
investors to the Funds was transitory in nature. Investors
joined at the end of 2001 or beginning of 2002 and were all
bought out for the proverbial pittance, through the power of
attorney given to Gecker at the time they entered the partner-
ship, in May 2002, soon after tax filings were due. Although
this factor is not included in the Department of the Treasury’s
19
Appellees have pointed to no reason to think that any of the five
§ 1.707-3(b)(2) factors not analyzed here counsel against finding a "sale."
These additional factors simply are not of particular relevance to the way
the instant transactions were structured.
26 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
regulations, the Joint Committee deems it relevant, explaining
that "[t]ransitory partner status (which limits the duration of
a purported joint undertaking for profit) suggests that a pay-
ment is a fee or is in return for property." Joint Comm. Report
at 228; see also G-I Holdings Inc., 2009 WL 4911953, at *21
(examining this factor, drawn from the legislative history, in
evaluating whether a disguised sale occurred).
Instead of examining the enumerated § 1.707-3(b)(2) fac-
tors, the Tax Court conducted its own evaluation of the inves-
tors’ level of "entrepreneurial risk," which it is certainly free
to do. Section 1.707-3(b)(2) simply reflects those characteris-
tics the Department of the Treasury, given its experience and
expertise, thinks significant. See Treas. Reg. § 1.707-3(b)(1)-
(2). Thus, although we would have found the Tax Court’s
analysis of the factors helpful, we cannot say that a court in
every instance is required to tick through them mechanically.
Even if the Tax Court’s independent assessment of entrepre-
neurial risk was appropriate, however, we believe its conclu-
sions in that regard miss the mark.
Again, § 1.707-3(b)(1) explains that a transaction should be
reclassified as a sale if: (1) the transfer of money "would not
have been made but for" the transfer of property in exchange;
and (2) the later transfer "is not dependent on the entrepre-
neurial risks of partnership operations." There is no dispute
that the "but for" test is satisfied here. The Tax Court instead
relied on its conclusion that the Funds’ investors, after giving
their money but before receiving tax credits in exchange,
faced the "entrepreneurial risks" involved in the Funds’ part-
nership operations. It clarified as follows:
[T]he partners faced the risk that developers would
not complete their projects on time because of con-
struction, zoning, or management issues. They also
faced the risk that the DHR would not be satisfied
with the rehabilitation and the developers would not
receive the credits. Finally, they faced the risk that
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 27
the DHR would revoke the credits and recapture
them in later years. Accordingly, the partners risked
their anticipated net economic benefit.
...
The investors also faced risks from the partnerships’
ownership interests in the developer partnerships.
These risks ranged from liability for improper con-
struction to the risk of mismanagement or fraud at
the developer partnership level. . . . Further, the
investors faced the risks of fraud by another investor,
retroactive changes in the law, and litigation in gen-
eral.
Va. Historic, 2009 WL 4980488 at *14-15.
Upon closer examination, however, these risks appear both
speculative and circumscribed. As the Tax Court acknowl-
edged, "[t]he investors received assurance that their contribu-
tions would be refunded if . . . the anticipated credits could
not be had or were revoked." Id. at *14. It is true, as the court
recognized, that there was indeed no guarantee that resources
would remain available in the source partnership to make the
promised refunds. But it is also true that the Funds were struc-
tured in such a way as to render the possibility of insolvency
remote.
Several facts point to the conclusion that there was no true
entrepreneurial risk faced by investors here. First, investors
were promised what was, in essence, a fixed rate of return on
investment rather than any share in partnership profits tied to
their partnership interests. The Funds explained the fixed
arrangement that they would have with investors in precise
terms in their offering memorandum: "An Investor will make
a capital contribution to the Partnership in an amount equal to
$.74 for each $1.00 of Virginia Historic Credit available for
use by the Investor in calendar year 2001 . . . ." J.A. 2068.
28 VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR
Second, the Funds assigned each investor an approximate
.01% partnership interest and explicitly told investors to
expect no allocations of "material amounts of . . . partnership
items of income, gain, loss or deduction." J.A. 2069. Third,
investors were secured against losing their contributions by
the promise of a refund from the Funds if tax credits could not
be delivered or were revoked. And fourth, the Funds hedged
against the possibility of insolvency by promising investors
that contributions would be made only to completed projects
and by requiring the Operating Partnerships to promise
refunds, in some cases backed by guarantors, if promised
credits could not be delivered.
We find persuasive the Commissioner’s contention that the
only risk here was that faced by any advance purchaser who
pays for an item with a promise of later delivery. It is not the
risk of the entrepreneur who puts money into a venture with
the hope that it might grow in amount but with the knowledge
that it may well shrink. See, e.g., C.I.R. v. Tower, 327 U.S.
280, 287 (1946) (explaining that a partnership involves "shar-
ing in the profits or losses or both"); see also Joint Comm.
Report at 226 (explaining that partners "pool their assets and
labor for the joint production of profit," and that "[t]o the
extent that a partner’s profit from a transaction is assured
without regard to the success or failure of the joint undertak-
ing, there is not the requisite joint profit motive"). For these
reasons, we disagree with the Tax Court’s conclusion that the
Funds "clearly established" that their investors faced entrepre-
neurial risks sufficient to overcome the regulatory presump-
tion that these transactions were sales. We therefore agree
with the Commissioner that the Funds should have included
the money received from investors as income in their tax
returns, and uphold the adjustments in the FPAAs issued to
the Funds in 2002.20
20
We reach this conclusion mindful of the fact that it is "the policy of
the Federal Government" to "assist State and local governments . . . to
VIRGINIA HISTORIC TAX CREDIT v. CIR 29
III.
The decision of the Tax Court is hereby reversed and
remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED
expand and accelerate their historic preservation programs and activities."
16 U.S.C. § 470-1(6). And we find no fault in the Tax Court’s conclusion
that both the Funds and the Funds’ investors engaged in the challenged
transactions with the partial goal of aiding Virginia’s historic rehabilita-
tion efforts. But Virginia’s Historic Rehabilitation Program is not under
attack here.
We are asked only to consider the federal tax treatment of the Funds’
transactions. The Funds remain free to continue their partnership arrange-
ment with investors under Virginia law, and investors remain free to uti-
lize the historic rehabilitation tax credits they receive through this
arrangement in their state tax filings.