5 Mass. App. Ct. 780 | Mass. App. Ct. | 1977
The executor asserts error in the judgment of a Probate Court upholding the Commissioner’s allowance of only the standard deduction for inheritance tax purposes where the executor had claimed credit for itemized deductions but had not elected to take them in accordance with the provisions of the statute, G. L. c. 65, § 27, as amended by St. 1969, c. 560. The Commissioner’s brief, relies heavily on official announcements and manuals published by him and the State Tax Commission in 1969 and 1970 (Announcement, September 3, 1969, and Announcement, October 22, 1969, Inheritance and Estate Taxes Procedural Manual, §23 [1970], reprinted in Appendix to Barrett and Bailey, Taxation, at 462-469, 493-495 [2d ed. 1970]), to support his argument that the election requirement for itemized deductions under § 27 applies to estates whose probate value is less than $100,000 rather than only to those whose gross value is less than $100,000. As the Commissioner correctly observed, courts ordinarily give weight to the interpretation of statutes by agencies charged with enforcing them. School Comm. of Springfield v. Board of Educ. 362 Mass. 417, 441, n.22 (1972). Devlin v. Commissioner of Correction, 364 Mass. 435, 439 (1973). Board of Educ. v. Assessor of
So ordered.