Fixing Values at Death for Federal Estate Tax Purposes

Abstract

<p>With no readily determined fair market value from market determinations for ownership interests in most farm and ranch entities, it has been necessary to establish values for stock and other equity interests for federal estate tax, federal gift tax and federal income tax purposes as well as for purposes of fairness in making transfers.1 Until 1990, it was an accepted practice to utilize stock transfer restriction provisions to fix values for transfers during life and at death.2 That practice was supplemented by the enactment of legislation in 1990.3 The 1990 provision recognizes instances where values can be fixed at death4 and a recent case has applied those exceptions as well as the rules from the pre-1990 case law.5</p>