§ 1.857-7 Earnings and profits of a real estate investment trust.

(a) Any real estate investment trust whether or not such trust meets the requirements of section 857(a) and paragraph (a) of § 1.857-1 for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 1960 shall apply paragraph (b) of this section in computing its earnings and profits for such taxable year. (b) In the determination of the earnings and profits of a real estate investment trust, section 857(d) provides that such earnings and profits for any taxable year (but not the accumulated earnings and profits) shall not be reduced by any amount which is not allowable as a deduction in computing its taxable income for the taxable year. Thus, if a trust would have had earnings and profits of $500,000 for the taxable year except for the fact that it had a net capital loss of $100,000, which amount was not deductible in determining its taxable income, its earnings and profits for that year if it is a real estate investment trust would be $500,000. If the real estate investment trust had no accumulated earnings and profits at the beginning of the taxable year, in determining its accumulated earnings and profits as of the beginning of the following taxable year, the earnings and profits for the taxable year to be considered in such computation would amount to $400,000 assuming that there had been no distribution from such earnings and profits. If distributions had been made in the taxable year in the amount of the earnings and profits then available for distribution, $500,000, the trust would have as of the beginning of the following taxable year neither accumulated earnings and profits nor a deficit in accumulated earnings and profits, and would begin such year with its paid-in capital reduced by $100,000, an amount equal to the excess of the $500,000 distributed over the $400,000 accumulated earnings and profits which would otherwise have been carried into the following taxable year. For purposes of section 857(d) and this section, if an amount equal to any net loss derived from prohibited transactions is included in real estate investment trust taxable income pursuant to section 857(b)(2)(F), that amount shall be considered to be an amount which is not allowable as a deduction in computing taxable income for the taxable year. The earnings and profits for the taxable year (but not the accumulated earnings and profits) shall not be considered to be less than (i) in the case of a taxable year ending before October 5, 1976, the amount (if any) of the net capital gain for the taxable year, or (ii) in the case of a taxable year ending after December 31, 1973, the amount (if any), of the excess of the net income from foreclosure property for the taxable year over the tax imposed thereon by section 857(b)(4)(A).