In a recent case out of the Court of Appeals for the State of Mississippi, the Court held that a writing titled an “Article of Agreement” (the “Agreement”) was sufficient to convey an interest in real estate to the decedent’s sisters.[1] The primary issue to be decided by the Court was whether the Agreement executed…
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In a recent decision, the Tax Court addressed the complexities of gift tax and qualified terminable interest property (“QTIP”) rules, providing important insights for estate planning professionals and taxpayers alike.[1] The case centered on the interpretation of provisions related to the taxation of transfers between spouses, and in this context, termination of QTIP interests and…
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In a recent article, my colleague Gray Edmondson covered the recent Supreme Court case, Loper Bright[1], and the demise of the Chevron Doctrine.[2] The Loper Bright case was handed down by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2024. As Gray explains in his article, the Chevron case has to do with determining the validity of…
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In a recent Tax Court case, the Court determined that the 90-day deadline for filing a petition for redetermination of employment status is not jurisdictional and thus does not prevent the Court from hearing the case.[1] While an all-too-familiar statute pertaining to the jurisdiction of the Tax Court to hear a matter has generally been…
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As tax planning practitioners, we do not typically see issues we deal with daily become the subject of cases before the United States Supreme Court. This term, we had the Connelly[1] case involving estate tax valuation of a decedent’s stock in a corporation funding a redemption buy-sell with corporate-owned insurance. Shortly thereafter, the Supreme Court…
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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a Tax Court opinion dealing with the effect of lifetime transfers by a mother (Mary) to her son (Peter).[1] At issue was the nature of those transfers. On the one hand, Mary Bolles and her estate argued that the transfers constituted loans from Mary to Peter. On…
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In a previous writing, I discussed the potential of an executor to be personally liable for a decedent’s tax obligations.[1] That discussion was based on lessons learned from a Tax Court opinion,[2] outlining certain steps for executors to consider in minimizing exposure to such personal liability. In 2023, in a split decision, the Ninth Circuit…
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On February 8, 2024, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued its opinion[1] regarding an issue of first impression regarding Mississippi’s Principal and Income Act of 2013 (the “Act”).[2] As a worthwhile note, the Court noted that this is an issue of first impression and acknowledged as well as appeared to oblige the parties so as to…
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Recently, there seems to have been a higher number of cases than usual coming down from courts regarding Tax Court jurisdictional issues. My colleague Parker Durham covered a few of them in a recent article.[1] In a recent case out of the Court of Federal Claims, yet another jurisdictional issue arose.[2] In the present case,…
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Taxpayers who are issued a notice of deficiency by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) have ninety (90) days from the date such notice of deficiency is mailed to file a petition with the Tax Court for a redetermination of the deficiency.[1] Last year, the Tax Court dismissed several cases for lack of jurisdiction when the…
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