The attribution, or “deemed ownership,” rules relating to controlled groups of corporations are complex. The rules for parent-subsidiary groups differ from the rules for brother-sister groups. Moreover, the controlled group attribution rules differ from those used in determining affiliated service groups and highly compensated employees (see Chapter 14) and related entities (see Chapter 17). For a comparison, see the chart in the Appendix.
The attribution rules are crucial to the understanding of controlled groups. Frequently, corporations that appear to be totally separate can be in a controlled group because of the application of one or more attribution rules.
 | Q 7:1 What is the effect of the attribution rules? |
| Q 7:2 What attribution rules apply to controlled groups? |
| Q 7:3 Can the same shares go through more than one step of attribution? |
| Q 7:4 What is option attribution? |
| Q 7:5 What is an option? |
| Q 7:6 Can options for controlled group purposes include options directly from the corporation, or are they limited to stock held by other shareholders? |
| Q 7:7 How is an option to buy an option treated? |
| Q 7:8 Can options be used deliberately to create a controlled group? |
| Q 7:9 Can options be used to break up a controlled group? |
| Q 7:10 How is stock attributed from partnerships? |
| Q 7:11 How are limited liability companies (LLCs) treated in terms of the attribution rules? |
| Q 7:12 How is stock attributed from estates and trusts? |
| Q 7:13 How is stock treated which is held by a qualified trust? |
| Q 7:14 How is stock attributed from corporations? |
| Q 7:15 How is stock ownership attributed between husband and wife? |
| Q 7:16 What is the divorce or separation exception to spousal attribution? |
| Q 7:17 What is the noninvolvement exception to spousal attribution? |
| Q 7:18 What attribution rules exist between parent-child and grandparent-grandchild? |
| Q 7:19 Can parent-child attribution cause the parents’ two businesses to be a controlled group? |
| Q 7:20 Is there a convenient methodology for determining whether two corporations are in a controlled group if the husband owns one corporation and the wife owns the other? |
| Q 7:21 How is marital status determined for purposes of attribution? |
| Q 7:22 Didn’t SBJPA of 1996 eliminate family aggregation? Why then are we dealing with it here? |
| Q 7:23 Are there circumstances under which attribution could form alternative controlled groups? |