(a) In general. Section 642 (i) provides that amounts distributed during taxable years ending after December 31, 1963, by a cemetery perpetual care fund trust for the care and maintenance of gravesites shall be treated as distributions solely for purposes of sections 651 and 661. The deduction for such a distribution is allowable only if the fund is taxable as a trust. In addition, the fund must have been created pursuant to local law by a taxable cemetery corporation (as defined in §1.642 (i)-2 (a)) expressly for the care and maintenance of cemetery property. A care fund will be treated as having been created by a taxable cemetery corporation (“cemetery”) if the distributee cemetery is taxable, even though the care fund was created by the distributee cemetery in a year that it was tax-exempt or by a predecessor of such distributee cemetery which was tax-exempt in the year the fund was established. The deduction is the amount of the distributions during the fund's taxable year to the cemetery corporation for such care and maintenance that would be otherwise allowable under section 651 or 661, but in no event is to exceed the limitations described in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section. The provisions of this paragraph shall not have the effect of extending the period of limitations under section 6511.

(b) Limitation on amount of deduction. The deduction in any taxable year may not exceed the product of $5 multiplied by the aggregate number of gravesites sold by the cemetery corporation before the beginning of the taxable year of the trust. In general, the aggregate number of gravesites sold shall be the aggregate number of interment rights sold by the cemetery corporation (including gravesites sold by the cemetery before a care fund trust law was enacted). In addition, the number of gravesites sold shall include gravesites used to make welfare burials. Welfare burials and pre-trust fund law gravesites shall be included only to the extent that the cemetery cares for and maintain such gravesites. For purposes of this section, a gravesite is sold as of the date on which the purchaser acquires interment rights enforceable under local law. The aggregate number of gravesites includes only those gravesites with respect to which the fund or taxable cemetery corporation has an obligation for care and maintenance.

(c) Requirements for deductibility of distributions for care and maintenance—(1) Obligation for care and maintenance. A deduction is allowed only for distributions for the care and maintenance of gravesites with respect to which the fund or taxable cemetery corporation has an obligation for care and maintenance. Such obligation may be established by the trust instrument, by local law, or by the cemetery's practice of caring for and maintaining gravesites, such as welfare burial plots or gravesites sold before the enactment of a care fund trust law.

(2) Distribution actually used for care and maintenance. The amount of a deduction otherwise allowable for care fund distributions in any taxable year shall not exceed the portion of such distributions expended by the distributee cemetery corporation for the care and maintenance of gravesites before the end of the fund's taxable year following the taxable year in which it makes the distributions. A 6-month extension of time for filing the trust's return may be obtained upon request under section 6081. The failure of a cemetery to expend the care fund's distributions within a reasonable time before the due date for filing the return will be considered reasonable grounds for granting a 6-month extension of time for section 6081. For purposes of this paragraph, any amount expended by the care fund directly for the care and maintenance of gravesites shall be treated as an additional care fund distribution which is expended on the day of distribution by the cemetery corporation. The fund shall be allowed a deduction for such direct expenditure in the fund's taxable year during which the expenditure is made.

(3) Example. The application of paragraph (c)(2) of this section is illustrated by the following example:

(d) Certified statement made by cemetery officials to fund trustees. A trustee of a cemetery perpetual care fund shall not be held personally liable for civil or criminal penalties resulting from false statements on the trust's tax return to the extent that such false statements resulted from the trustee's reliance on a certified statement made by the cemetery specifying the number of interments sold by the cemetery or the amount of the cemetery's expenditures for care and maintenance. The statement must indicate the basis upon which the cemetery determined what portion of its expenditures were made for the care and maintenance of gravesites. The statement must be certified by an officer or employee of the cemetery who has the responsibility to make or account for expenditures for care and maintenance. A copy of this statement shall be retained by the trustee along with the trust's return and shall be made available for inspection upon request by the Secretary. This paragraph does not relieve the care fund trust of its liability to pay the proper amount of tax due and to maintain adequate records to substantiate each of its deductions, including the deduction provided in section 642(i) and this section.

[T.D. 7651, 44 FR 61596, Oct. 26, 1979]