Supreme Court Decision Syllabus (scotus)

Connelly v. United StatesMichael and Thomas Connelly were the sole shareholders in Crown C Supply, a small building supply corporation. The brothers entered into an agreement to ensure that Crown would stay in the family if either brother died. Under that agreement, the surviving brother would have the option to purchase the deceased brother’s shares. If he declined, Crown itself would be required to redeem (i.e., purchase) the shares. To ensure that Crown would have enough money to redeem the shares if required, it obtained $3.5 million in life insurance on each brother. After Michael died, Thomas elected not to purchase Michael’s shares, thus triggering Crown’s obligation to do so. Michael’s son and Thomas agreed that the value of Michael’s shares was $3 million, and Crown paid the same amount to Michael’s estate. As the executor of Michael’s estate, Thomas then filed a federal tax return for the estate, which reported the value of Michael’s shares as $3 million. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audited t