Publication 550 |
2000 Tax Year |
Related Party Transactions
Special rules apply to the sale or trade of property between
related parties.
Gain on Sale or Trade
of Depreciable Property
Your gain from the sale or trade of property to a related party may
be ordinary income, rather than capital gain, if the property can be
depreciated by the party receiving it. See chapter 2 in Publication 544
for more information.
Like-Kind Exchanges
Generally, if you trade business or investment property for other
business or investment property of a like kind, no gain or loss is
recognized. See Like-Kind Exchanges, earlier, under
Nontaxable Trades.
This rule also applies to trades of property between related
parties, defined next under Losses on Sales or Trades of
Property. However, if either you or the related party disposes
of the like property within 2 years after the trade, you both must
report any gain or loss not recognized on the original trade on your
return for the year in which the later disposition occurs.
This rule generally does not apply to:
- Dispositions due to the death of either related
party,
- Involuntary conversions (see chapter 1 of Publication 544),
or
- Trades and later dispositions whose main purpose is not the
avoidance of federal income tax.
If a property holder's risk of loss on the property is
substantially diminished during any period, that period is not counted
in determining whether the property was disposed of within 2 years.
The property holder's risk of loss is substantially diminished by:
- The holding of a put on the property,
- The holding by another person of a right to acquire the
property, or
- A short sale or any other transaction.
Losses on Sales or
Trades of Property
You cannot deduct a loss on the sale or trade of property, other
than a distribution in complete liquidation of a corporation, if the
transaction is directly or indirectly between you and the following
related parties.
- Members of your family. This includes only your brothers and
sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, spouse, ancestors (parents,
grandparents, etc.), and lineal descendants (children, grandchildren,
etc.).
- A partnership in which you directly or indirectly own more
than 50% of the capital interest or the profits interest.
- A corporation in which you directly or indirectly own more
than 50% in value of the outstanding stock (see Constructive
ownership of stock, later).
- A tax-exempt charitable or educational organization that is
directly or indirectly controlled, in any manner or by any method, by
you or by a member of your family, whether or not this control is
legally enforceable.
In addition, a loss on the sale or trade of property is not
deductible if the transaction is directly or indirectly between the
following related parties.
- A grantor and fiduciary, or the fiduciary and beneficiary,
of any trust.
- Fiduciaries of two different trusts, or the fiduciary and
beneficiary of two different trusts, if the same person is the grantor
of both trusts.
- A trust fiduciary and a corporation of which more than 50%
in value of the outstanding stock is directly or indirectly owned by
or for the trust, or by or for the grantor of the trust.
- A corporation and a partnership if the same persons own more
than 50% in value of the outstanding stock of the corporation and more
than 50% of the capital interest, or the profits interest, in the
partnership.
- Two S corporations if the same persons own more than 50% in
value of the outstanding stock of each corporation.
- Two corporations, one of which is an S corporation, if the
same persons own more than 50% in value of the outstanding stock of
each corporation.
- An executor and a beneficiary of an estate (except in the
case of a sale or trade to satisfy a pecuniary bequest).
- Two corporations that are members of the same controlled
group (under certain conditions, however, these losses are not
disallowed but must be deferred).
- Two partnerships if the same persons own, directly or
indirectly, more than 50% of the capital interests or the profit
interests in both partnerships.
Multiple property sales or trades.
If you sell or trade to a related party a number of blocks of stock
or pieces of property in a lump sum, you must figure the gain or loss
separately for each block of stock or piece of property. The gain on
each item may be taxable. However, you cannot deduct the loss on any
item. Also, you cannot reduce gains from the sales of any of these
items by losses on the sales of any of the other items.
Indirect transactions.
You cannot deduct your loss on the sale of stock through your
broker if, under a prearranged plan, a related party buys the same
stock you had owned. This does not apply to a trade between related
parties through an exchange that is purely coincidental and is not
prearranged.
Constructive ownership of stock.
In determining whether a person directly or indirectly owns any of
the outstanding stock of a corporation, the following rules apply.
Rule 1.
Stock directly or indirectly owned by or for a corporation,
partnership, estate, or trust is considered owned proportionately by
or for its shareholders, partners, or beneficiaries.
Rule 2.
An individual is considered to own the stock that is directly or
indirectly owned by or for his or her family. Family includes only
brothers and sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, spouse,
ancestors, and lineal descendants.
Rule 3.
An individual owning, other than by applying rule 2, any stock in a
corporation is considered to own the stock that is directly or
indirectly owned by or for his or her partner.
Rule 4.
When applying rule 1, 2, or 3, stock constructively owned by a
person under rule 1 is treated as actually owned by that person. But
stock constructively owned by an individual under rule 2 or rule 3 is
not treated as owned by that individual for again applying either rule
2 or rule 3 to make another person the constructive owner of the
stock.
Property received from a related party.
If you sell or trade at a gain property that you acquired from a
related party, you recognize the gain only to the extent that it is
more than the loss previously disallowed to the related party. This
rule applies only if you are the original transferee and you acquired
the property by purchase or exchange. This rule does not apply if the
related party's loss was disallowed because of the wash sale rules,
described later under Wash Sales.
Example 1.
Your brother sells you stock for $7,600. His cost basis is $10,000.
Your brother cannot deduct the loss of $2,400. Later, you sell the
same stock to an unrelated party for $10,500, realizing a gain of
$2,900. Your reportable gain is $500 -- the $2,900 gain minus the
$2,400 loss not allowed to your brother.
Example 2.
If, in Example 1, you sold the stock for $6,900 instead of $10,500,
your recognized loss is only $700 -- your $7,600 basis minus
$6,900. You cannot deduct the loss that was not allowed to your
brother.
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