QUOTE (Young Curmudgeon @ Feb 22 2008, 04:11 PM)

I think you're off the hook for a controlled group. I don't have the reg. in front of me, I've attached some wording from the Vogel Fertilizer case below, but for a controlled group, wouldn't you need to establish 80% common control with 5 or less owners?
Section 1561(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 limits a "controlled group of corporations" to a single surtax exemption. Section 1563(a)(2) provides that a "controlled group of corporations" includes a "brother-sister controlled group," defined as "[t]wo or more corporations if 5 or fewer persons . . . own . . . stock possessing (A) at least 80 percent of the total combined voting power . . . or at least 80 percent of the total value . . . of each corporation, and (B) more than 50 percent of the total combined voting power . . . or more than 50 percent of the total value . . . of each corporation . . ., taking into account the stock ownership of each such person only to the extent such stock ownership is identical with respect to each such corporation." An implementing Treasury Regulation interprets the statutory term "brother-sister controlled group" to mean two or more corporations if the same five or fewer persons own "singly or in combination" the two prescribed percentages of voting power or total value. One shareholder, Vogel, owned 77.49% of the outstanding stock of respondent Vogel Fertilizer Co. Another shareholder, Crain, owned the remaining 22.51%. Vogel also owned 87.5% of the voting power in Vogel Popcorn Co. and 90.66-93.42% of the value of its stock. Crain owned no stock in Vogel Popcorn. Respondent claimed refunds for taxes paid in certain tax years for which it did not claim a full surtax exemption, asserting that respondent and Vogel Popcorn ed., Supp. III). Now members of a controlled and respondent was therefore entitled to a full surtax exemption for each taxable year. When the Internal Revenue Service disallowed the refund claims, respondent filed suit for refund in the Court of Claims, which held that respondent was entitled to a refund.
ASG is another matter. You'll have to combine the plans for testing if you have either a CG or an ASG.
The 5 person rule applies for a brother-sister controlled group; what about a parent-subsidiary controlled group?