In a prior article, I wrote about the importance of properly prepared Form 706 Estate Tax Return, discussing a Private Letter Ruling (“PLR”) that highlighted some common mistakes made on the Form 706.[1] In that article, I discussed issues related to the marital deduction and the allocation of a decedent’s unused Generation Skipping Transfer Tax…
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In a recent Tax Court case[1], the Court held that the combined value of ten checks written prior to the decedent’s death, but cashed after his death, was included in the gross estate of the decedent. However, as discussed below, the IRS had conceded that three of the ten checks were not included in the…
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In a recent case out of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the Court held that attorney fees awarded plaintiff’s counsel who was handling the case pro bono, that is, free of charge, were not income to the plaintiff who was represented by the attorneys receiving the fees.[1] In the…
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In a recent Tax Court case[1], the Court held that husband and wife taxpayers failed to meet the so-called real estate professional exception to the passive activity rules resulting in the Court denying their excess deductions from rental real estate. The passive activity rules related to rental real estate activities are a little more complex…
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***This article is a follow-up to a prior article from 2019 which can be found here. Life insurance is a great tool that can serve a variety of purposes. Most often, it is thought of as an income replacement/hedge against premature death to provide for one’s family, and it is certainly a great tool to…
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In a recent Chief Counsel Advice (“CCA”) issued by the IRS, the IRS concluded that the taxpayer’s sale of stock did not qualify for the gain exclusion as Qualified Small Business Stock (“QSBS”) under Section 1202 since the business of the corporation was akin to brokerage services.[1] The IRS concluded that the corporation’s business, one…
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In a recent Chief Counsel Advice (“CCA”) issued by the IRS, the IRS concluded that the taxpayer’s sale of stock did not qualify for the gain exclusion as Qualified Small Business Stock (“QSBS”) under Section 1202 since the business of the corporation was akin to brokerage services.[1] The IRS concluded that the corporation’s business, one…
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Under current law, the unified credit against estate and gift tax sits at $10,000,000, subject to indexing for inflation (the “Exemption”).[1] As a result of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, this number increased from $5,000,000 effective January 1, 2018 and through December 31, 2025, with the number set to drop back down to $5,000,000on…
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In a recent case out of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, the Court denied the IRS’ motion for summary judgment and refused to aggregate the gift of partial interests in real estate together for purposes of valuing the gifts and thus determining appropriate discounts.[1] The IRS alleged that no discount…
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