Amount realized
Encyclopedia
Amount Realized is defined by § 1001(b) of Internal Revenue
Code
, and is one of two variables in the formula used to compute gains and losses when determining gross income
for tax
purposes. The Amount Realized – Adjusted Basis tells the amount of Realized Gain (if positive) or Realized Loss (if negative).
Computation of gain and loss is governed by § 1001(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
of the property (other than money) received." Generally, this translates to the value of what the taxpayer receives in the exchange.
exchange, 2) relief of a legal obligation owed to a third party, 3) relief of a legal obligation owed to the party receiving property, and 4) other profit
transactions.
A good illustration for determining realization for income tax purposes is stock. For example: at the beginning of the taxable year, Sally buys stock in XYZ Corp. for $10 per share. By the end of the taxable year, Sally's stock in XYZ Corp. is worth $20 a share. In this case, would Sally have to report the appreciation in her stock as taxable income? Because Sally has not sold her stock (or otherwise exchanged it), she has not realized the stock's appreciation. If Sally had sold the stock in XYZ Corp. at $20 per share, the sale would be a realization event whereby Sally would recognize income (in this case, a gain). Realization would also occur if Sally exchanged her stock for a new car or for a certain amount of services.
In a transaction where property is exchanged for other property, no realization event occurs where this is no legal distinction between the exchanged properties. According to the Supreme Court in Cottage Savings,
The facts in Cottage Savings present an example of where realization occurs when property is exchanged for property. Cottage Savings Association (CSA) sold interest in home mortgages to four savings and loans associations. At the same time, CSA bought interest in mortgages held by the same four savings and loans associations. "The fair market value of the package of participation interests exchanged by each side was approximately $4.5 million." (Essentially, CSA and the four savings and loans associations exchanged $4.5 million worth of mortgage interests.) The Supreme Court held that a realization event under § 1001 had occurred:
According to Burke and Friel, there are policy arguments to be made for and against taxing appreciation. If Congress did choose to tax appreciation, taxpayers' tax income would likely match their economic income; "it would thus tend to place on the same tax footing persons who are economically similarly situated." However, the current system allows the IRS a degree of "administrative convenience." Moreover, it is arguably unfair to treat unrealized gains as income where the taxpayer may not have the appropriate funds to cover the tax liability, presumably forcing the taxpayer to sell the asset in question simply to pay the tax resulting from it. In the end, economic gain will be taxed. "Realization is fundamentally a matter of timing . . . [t]he unrealized total gain, of course, may fluctuate from time to time as the property's value changes, but that total will be treated as income only on realization. To describe realization as a matter of timing should, nonetheless, not be seen as a dismissive comment. In taxes, as in life, timing can be everything . . . ."
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
Code
Internal Revenue Code
The Internal Revenue Code is the domestic portion of Federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 26 of the United States Code...
, and is one of two variables in the formula used to compute gains and losses when determining gross income
Gross income
Gross income in United States tax law is receipts and gains from all sources less cost of goods sold. Gross income is the starting point for determining Federal and state income tax of individuals, corporations, estates and trusts, whether resident or nonresident."Except as otherwise provided" by...
for tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
purposes. The Amount Realized – Adjusted Basis tells the amount of Realized Gain (if positive) or Realized Loss (if negative).
Computation of gain and loss is governed by § 1001(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Statutory definition
Section 1001(b) of the Internal Revenue Code defines the amount realized as "the sum of any money received plus the fair market valueFair market value
Fair market value is an estimate of the market value of a property, based on what a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured buyer would probably pay to a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured seller in the market. An estimate of fair market value may be founded either on precedent or...
of the property (other than money) received." Generally, this translates to the value of what the taxpayer receives in the exchange.
Calculating amount realized
In order to have an "amount realized" there must be a kind of exchange. This exchange is known as a "realization event." The first step in calculating the amount realized is determining when an exchange that qualifies as a "realization event" has occurred. Section 1001 requires that there be an exchange where the taxpayer receives money or other property in the transaction. In Helvering v. Bruun, the United States Supreme Court has held that a "[g]ain may occur as a result of exchange of property, payment of the taxpayer's indebtedness, relief from a liability, or other profit realized from the completion of a transaction." To state it more clearly, the Supreme Court lists four events that trigger realization of gain or loss: 1) a propertyProperty
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
exchange, 2) relief of a legal obligation owed to a third party, 3) relief of a legal obligation owed to the party receiving property, and 4) other profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
transactions.
A good illustration for determining realization for income tax purposes is stock. For example: at the beginning of the taxable year, Sally buys stock in XYZ Corp. for $10 per share. By the end of the taxable year, Sally's stock in XYZ Corp. is worth $20 a share. In this case, would Sally have to report the appreciation in her stock as taxable income? Because Sally has not sold her stock (or otherwise exchanged it), she has not realized the stock's appreciation. If Sally had sold the stock in XYZ Corp. at $20 per share, the sale would be a realization event whereby Sally would recognize income (in this case, a gain). Realization would also occur if Sally exchanged her stock for a new car or for a certain amount of services.
In a transaction where property is exchanged for other property, no realization event occurs where this is no legal distinction between the exchanged properties. According to the Supreme Court in Cottage Savings,
[u]nder our interpretation of § 1001(a), an exchange of property gives rise to a realization event so long as the exchanged properties are "materially different"—that is, so long as they embody legally distinct entitlements.
The facts in Cottage Savings present an example of where realization occurs when property is exchanged for property. Cottage Savings Association (CSA) sold interest in home mortgages to four savings and loans associations. At the same time, CSA bought interest in mortgages held by the same four savings and loans associations. "The fair market value of the package of participation interests exchanged by each side was approximately $4.5 million." (Essentially, CSA and the four savings and loans associations exchanged $4.5 million worth of mortgage interests.) The Supreme Court held that a realization event under § 1001 had occurred:
[b]ecause the participation interests exchanged by Cottage Savings and the other [savings and loans associations] derived from loans that were made to different obligors and secured by different homes, the exchanged interests did embody legally distinct entitlements. Consequently, we conclude that Cottage Savings realized its losses at the point of the exchange.
Impact
To suggest that Congress could tax unrealized gain is not to suggest Congress intends to do so. The realization requirement is a pervasive, popularly supported aspect of our tax system, and there is no indication Congress is about to reverse course in this regard.
According to Burke and Friel, there are policy arguments to be made for and against taxing appreciation. If Congress did choose to tax appreciation, taxpayers' tax income would likely match their economic income; "it would thus tend to place on the same tax footing persons who are economically similarly situated." However, the current system allows the IRS a degree of "administrative convenience." Moreover, it is arguably unfair to treat unrealized gains as income where the taxpayer may not have the appropriate funds to cover the tax liability, presumably forcing the taxpayer to sell the asset in question simply to pay the tax resulting from it. In the end, economic gain will be taxed. "Realization is fundamentally a matter of timing . . . [t]he unrealized total gain, of course, may fluctuate from time to time as the property's value changes, but that total will be treated as income only on realization. To describe realization as a matter of timing should, nonetheless, not be seen as a dismissive comment. In taxes, as in life, timing can be everything . . . ."
Additional reading
- Donaldson, Samuel. Federal Income Taxation of Individuals: Cases, Problems, and Materials. 2nd Edition.
- Old Colony Trust Co. v. Comm., 279 U.S. 716 (1929).
- Comm. v. Glenshaw Glass Co., 358 U.S. 426 (1955).
- Cesarini v. U.S., 296 F.Supp. 3 (N.D. Ohio 1969).
- Pellar v. Comm., 25 T.C. 299 (1955).
- Roco v. Comm., 121 T.C. No. 10 (2003).