Laws, Regulations & Annotations

P

625.0000 PARENT-CHILD TRANSFER

Annotation 625.0193

625.0193 Step Transaction. Judicial decisions have indicated that it is proper to apply the substance-over-form or step transaction doctrine to property transfers that accomplish a change in ownership in multiple steps in an attempt to avoid reappraisal. The doctrine is applicable even if the various steps accomplish a business purpose other than avoidance of increased taxes.

The exception to the general rule is found in the legislative intent language of section 2 of Chapter 48 of the Statutes of 1987 (Revenue and Taxation Code section 63.1), which provides, in substance, that the parent/child exclusion applies to transfers by eligible transferors to eligible transferees even if such transfers are immediately followed by a transfer to a corporation, partnership, trust or other legal entity if the transferee(s) is/are the sole owner(s) of the entity. The Board's legal staff is of the opinion the same result should follow when an eligible transferor's parents or children also own interests in the entity. Subsequent transfers of ownership interests among the children or to non-eligible transferees would constitute a change in ownership if one person or entity obtained a majority interest in the entity or if more than 50 percent of the total ownership interests were transferred. C 4/5/1988.