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Article: Barriers to the application of the constructive receipt doctrine.
- Article from:
- Tax Executive
- Article date:
- January 1, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Tax Executives Institute, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Barriers to the Application of the Constructive Receipt Doctrine
I. Overview
The doctrine of constructive receipt --largely formulated by the courts, but also defined in the regulations(1) --complements the doctrine of actual receipt as a test of realization in that it prevents a cash-basis taxpayer from deliberately turning his back on income and thereby selecting the year in which he reports it.(2) Not recognizing the constructive receipt of income as realized income clearly would open the door to tax avoidance and, possibly, tax evasion.
The doctrine of constructive receipt generally applies whenever a cash-basis taxpayer is entitled to money, ...