Lock It in Now: Deduction for Alimony Set to Expire After 12/31/18 As part of the Tax Cut & Jobs Act of 2017 (the “TCJA”), Congress included provisions to repeal the deduction of alimony under Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) § which called for a corresponding inclusion of alimony in the income of the recipient where such…
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Original Tax Court Opinion I have previously written about the case of Wendell Falls Development, LLC v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo 2018-45. In that case, the Tax Court denied a charitable conservation easement deduction relating to a 125-acre parcel that was part of a total 1,280-acre development outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. I noted that the…
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Overview As of November 23, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) published proposed regulations providing some valuable guidance with respect to the upcoming sunset of the increased estate and gift tax exemption in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”). With the TCJA, the estate tax exemption amount was increased from $5.49 Million to $11.18…
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Overview The Tax Court recently held that a partnership interest assigned to a revocable trust was not an assignee interest but rather was a limited partnership interest, and as result, the discounts for lack or marketability and lack of control were reduced and eliminated respectively. The Estate of Frank D. Streightoff (the “Estate”) argued that…
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One of the most difficult aspects of state and local tax practice is the lack of publicly available guidance addressing a client’s situation. One potentially rich source of guidance are orders issued by administrative tribunals in taxpayer appeals. These orders are similar in form and function to judicial opinions. Unlike judicial opinions, however, these orders…
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Background Surprising to many, qualified retirement accounts received by a spouse in divorce may lose creditor protection, a significant beneficial feature of retirement accounts. In the case of In re Lerbakken, filed on October 16, 2018, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Eighth Circuit held that qualified accounts received by the non-participant spouse pursuant to…
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Background In a recent case out of the Seventh Circuit, a large corporate taxpayer lost a involving three like-kind transactions under IRC 1031. Applying the substance over form doctrine, the Court upheld the imposedtax liability of approximately $437,000,000 and accuracy related penalties under IRC 6662(a) of approximately $87,000,000. In this case, Exelon Corporation (“Exelon”) sold…
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Overview In a recent Tax Court decision handed down in a Memorandum opinion, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) showed that it will continue to be aggressive in denying charitable deductions for transactions they might view as taking abuse of the charitable deduction available under Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) §170. In Chrem v. Comm’r, TC Memo…
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Last week the Tax Court handed down its opinion in Melasky v. Comm’r, 151 T.C. 9 (Oct. 10, 2018). The important issue in Melasky relates to the application of the proceeds of a levy. Four days prior to the date the levy was made, the taxpayer hand-delivered a check to the IRS and properly designated…
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Background In the recent case of Golfwood Square, LLC v. O’Malley, 2018 WL 4370875 (Ill.App., Unpublished, Sept. 11, 2018), the Appellate Court of Illinois held that a creditor could reach assets of a subsidiary LLC to satisfy debts of its parent company’s owner. This is an important case to review in evaluating how to operate…
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