The government filed its response brief in Anschutz Co., et al. v. Commissioner, Nos. 11-9001 & 11-9002 (10th Cir.), on June 22, 2011 (linked below). See our prior coverage here. Not surprisingly, the government argues that the Tax Court got it right in viewing the putatively separate variable prepaid forward contracts and stock loans as two parts of one overall arrangement, designed to monetize the value of the taxpayer’s low-basis stock at the outset of the deal. The Tax Court held that, in substance, the overall arrangement was a sale for tax purposes because the benefits and burdens of owning the stock had been passed to Anschutz’s counterparty. Based on the briefing, it appears that the key question in the case will be whether the IRS and the Tax Court were correct in viewing the transactions as an integrated whole, or whether they must be analyzed separately under the technical provisions applicable to stock loans and variable prepaid forwards.
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