Rev. Rul. 57-532

Advice has been requested whether the exemption from documentary stamp tax under section 4343(a)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, relating to a transfer of securities from a trustee to a surviving trustee, is applicable under the following circumstances:

(a) An order of a county court, granting instructions with respect to estate matters, discloses that a certain individual was the sole surviving trustee under a will prior to the appointment of the now surviving trustee.

(b) Certain securities, which constitute assets of the trust, were issued in the trustee's individual name without showing the name or names of co-trustees and without showing the trust capacity in which the securities were held.

(c) Prior to the trustees' death, he executed in blank, assignments of the securities in order to permit their transfer, without complications, to the name of the surviving trustee.

(d) After the trustee's death, his executor delivered the securities to the surviving trustee.

(e) The court instructed the surviving trustee to request the reissuance of the securities in the name of the surviving trustee under the will of the testator.

Section 4321 of the Code imposes a tax on each sale or transfer of shares or certificates of stock, or of rights to subscribe for or to receive such shares or certificates, issued by a corporation.

Section 4331 of the Code imposes a tax on each sale or transfer of any certificate of indebtedness issued by a corporation.

Section 4343(a)(8) of the Code provides that the tax imposed by sections 4321 and 4331 shall not apply to any delivery or transfer from trustees to surviving, substituted, succeeding or additional trustees of the same trust.

In the instant case, the court order established that the person in whose name the securities were issued had been duly appointed as trustee under the will and that such securities were, in fact, trust assets. Accordingly, it is held that the transfer of such securities from the name of the individual to the name of the surviving trustee is exempt from the documentary stamp tax under section 4343(a)(8) of the Code, provided such transfer is accompanied by a properly executed exemption certificate.