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 Rev. Rul. 79-35

1979-1 C.B. 294

Section 2033 -- Decendent's Property Interest

IRS Headnote

Survivorship annuity; Germany. The value of a survivor annuity payable to a decedent's surviving spouse by the Federal Republic of Germany under the Law on Indemnification for Nationalist Socialist Injustices for Members of the Civil Service Living Abroad is not includible in the gross estate of the decedent.

Full Text

Rev. Rul. 79-35

In 1933, the decedent was removed from the faculty of a public university in Germany. The decedent moved to the United States in 1934, became a naturalized United States citizen, and remained in the United States until the decedent's death in 1976.

In 1958, the decedent applied for and was found qualified to receive an annuity for the wrongful removal of the decedent from the university faculty under the Law on Indemnification for National Socialist Injustices for Members of the Civil Service Living Abroad, enacted by the Federal Republic of Germany on March 13, 1952. The decedent was held to be entitled to payment of a pension that was equivalent to the pension payable to a professor emeritus of the university. Upon the death of the decedent, the decedent's surviving spouse began receiving a survivor's annuity from the Federal Republic of Germany, based on the pension awarded to the decedent under the Indemnification Law.

Held, the value of the annuity payable to the decedent's spouse pursuant to the Law on Indemnification for Nationalist Socialist Injustices for Members of the Civil Service Living Abroad is not includible, for federal estate tax purposes, in the gross estate of the decedent.