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Planning on Sharing your Lottery Winnings with your Family: Write it Down Now!
MegaMillions mania is sweeping the nation. With the grand prize over $500 million, people are dreaming of what they would do with the money, and how they would share it with their families and friends. One one hand, the odds of winning – 1 in …
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Israel Debates Enacting an Estate Tax
America isn’t the only place where the imposition of an estate tax is being debated. Israel is currently considering whether to impose one. The proposed exemption amount, that is the amount over which the tax would be imposed, is 15 million NIS (New Israeli Shekels) …
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USA Today: How to leave stocks, bonds, real estate, or small business to your heirs
There’s a good story in USA Today today on estate planning and the estate tax entitled, How to leave stocks, bonds, real estate, or small businesses to your heirs. Like most USA Today articles, it takes complicated concepts and puts them into simple terms, including …
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The Defense of Marriage Act, the Marital Deduction, and the Estate Tax
Recently, the Department of Justice under President Obama has stated that they will no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in court. What many people may not know is that the current case that prompted that decision is about the estate …
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Another Taxpayer Victory in a Family Limited Partnership Case
On February 3, 2010, the Tax Court released it’s decision in Estate of Shurtz v. Commissioner, This case is interesting for a number of reasons. First, even though it involves a family limited partnership, the case is not about the estate taking substantial discounts. In fact, the …
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Still no action on the estate tax
As anyone who has followed my blog knows, on January 1, 2010, the federal estate tax is repealed for one year and one year only, after which it comes back into effect, at a lower exemption ($1,000,000) and a higher rate (55%) than before. Congress …
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IRS Loses Major Gift Tax Valuation Case Involving Single Member LLCs
Yesterday, the Tax Court issued its decision in the case of Pierre v. Commissioner, 133 T.C. No. 2 (2009) which was a resounding defeat for the IRS. In a Federal Gift Tax matter, the IRS tried, and failed to argue that because of the check …
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142 Days Until Armageddon
The clock is ticking. If Congress doesn’t act, on January 1, 2010, the Federal Estate Tax will be repealed. While I’m sure that many people think that this is a great thing, it is not. First, it will be repealed for one year and one …
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Long Term Estate Tax Reform Unlikely in the Coming Year
This past weekend was the annual conference of the American Bar Association Section on Taxation. At one of the sessions focused on the estate and gift tax, aides to Senate Finance Committee Member Charles Schumer (D-NY) and John Kyl (R-AZ) appeared jointly. According to Sen. …
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Time Magazine: Another Victim of the Ponzi Schemers: The IRS
Time magazine published an article today discussing what many tax attorneys and CPAs had already been discussing amongst themselves on internet listservs and at wild and crazy tax attorney/CPA parties for the past few months — the massive amount of tax refunds that are going …
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