On December 29, 2022, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals held that transfer and recordation taxes were due on the portion of consideration from a sale of land and related improvements related to reversionary interests in land improvements. The taxpayers argued that the acquisition consisted of two distinct steps: (1) taxable land sales, via special warranty deeds; and (2) non-taxable terminations of ground leases, via lease termination memoranda. The District generally does not tax either the formation or termination of ground leases of less than thirty years. The taxpayers allocated a portion of the purchase price to the land based on the assessed value for real property taxes and paid transfer and recordation taxes on that amount. The taxpayers asserted that the remainder of the purchase price was allocated to the non-taxable terminations of ground leases. Following an audit, the District contended that the acquisition was a single taxable transaction in which the land and buildings transferred to the purchaser and the pre-existing ground leases terminated.
Ultimately, the Court of Appeals held that the taxpayers had not accounted for – and owed tax on – reversionary interests in the land improvements transferred between parties. Because the consideration attributed by the taxpayers to the ground lease terminations also included a portion attributable to the taxable reversionary interests in land improvements, the Court of Appeals remanded the case to the Superior Court to resolve the factual issue.
District of Columbia v. Design Ctr. Owner (D.C.) LLC, 286 A.3d 1010 (D.C. 2022).