The United States Tax Court recently decided yet another case[1] involving conservation easements and the corresponding charitable contribution deduction. Such cases have been prevalent lately, although recent cases have dealt more with syndicated conservation easements and the IRS’s failure to follow certain procedural rules.[2] In the subject case of this article, however, the Court, for…
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Being in the midst of the holiday season, many people are making gifts to friends, family members, employees, and others important to them. Rarely is much thought given to the income tax consequences of such gifts. A recent case from the Tax Court illustrates how gifts between an employer and employee are treated.[1] Income Tax…
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Reasonable compensation has been a relatively hot topic this year. Charles Allen previously discussed the Blossom case in which the taxpayers were penalized for understating the compensation of the two owners/officers of an S corporation.[1] While Charles’s discussion focused on employment taxation, Josh Sage followed up with an article on the resulting income taxation consequences…
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“If the government treats tax-advantaged transactions as shams unless they make economic sense on a pre-tax basis, then it takes away with the executive hand what it gives with the legislative.”[1] Despite these words issued by the Ninth Circuit in 1995, the Internal Revenue Service continues to challenge certain investments that Congress expressly encourages through…
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A recent Private Letter Ruling (“PLR”) issued by the IRS highlighted the importance of a properly prepared Form 706 Estate (and Generation Skipping Transfer) Tax Return (“706”).[1] The PLR granted the requesting Estate a 120-day extension to make a QTIP election (discussed below) as well as divide the QTIP Trust into a Generation Skipping Transfer…
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Tax rules relating to S corporations are a frequent and often time-consuming problem. With the release of Revenue Procedure 2022-19[1], the IRS just made it easier for S corporations to confirm compliance with tax rules and also has eased the administrative burden on the IRS in dealing with these taxpayers. The Internal Revenue Code provides…
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As mentioned in my previous article on the general probate process in Mississippi, the term “probate” technically only refers to the process of proving a will as valid.[1] However, it is most commonly used as a catch-all term to encapsulate the entire probate and estate administration processes, both for testate and intestate estates. The main…
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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has recently issued an opinion that discusses a number of topics especially important to asset protection and trust attorneys.[1] Some of the issues discussed involve trust law, tax law, asset protection law, and contract law. As recognized in the dissent, the court’s conclusions on a number of these issues…
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In recent years, estate planners and tax practitioners have been utilizing incomplete non-grantor trusts, or ING trusts, with increased frequency. The most common use of ING trusts has been to minimize state income taxes, but an often-overlooked aspect of ING trusts is their effectiveness as a tax planning tool at the federal level. ING trusts…
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Probate, a word that strikes fear into the hearts of untold masses. Everyone knows that probate is an extremely complex, time consuming, and expensive process. But is it really? Certainly, in many circumstances it can be, but such is not always the case. In this article, I will outline the basics of the probate process…
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