In a recent opinion out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the Court affirmed the Tax Court’s decision denying taxpayers loss on the sale of a residential property as well as depreciation deductions on property that was purportedly used in taxpayer’s business.[1] Additionally, the Court upheld the imposition of the…
Read More
Introduction The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed a District Court’s ruling against a married couple who claimed their losses related to three vacation properties were not limited under the passive activity loss rules of IRC § 469.[1] The couple argued that the management company responsible for renting the property to…
Read More
A recent case shows how a shareholder and corporation, being considered alter egos, can cause unintended consequences. In Lothringer,[1]a corporate shareholder’s individual property was subject to enforced collection action by the IRS to satisfy corporate tax liabilities.[2] The court’s finding that the corporation was the shareholder’s alter ego allowed the IRS to hold the shareholder…
Read More
Introduction Generally, a taxpayer may deduct the fair market value of appreciated property donated to a qualified charitable organization.[1] This provision expands the benefits available to taxpayers with respect to charitable deductions. The result, in effect, is that a taxpayer may gift an appreciated asset in lieu of selling the asset, paying tax, and then…
Read More
In a recent Tax Court opinion, the Court granted the IRS’ motion for summary judgment holding that a state law Nonprofit corporation could not election to be treated as S corporation for federal income tax purposes.[1] Clinton Deckard attempted to make an S election for Waterfront Fashion Week, Inc., a Nonprofit corporation organized under the…
Read More
Here we are coming upon the fourth anniversary of the one of the most shocking nights of our country since perhaps the Battle of Saratoga and one of the largest cash outlays by our government ever known by means of the CARES Act. On the heels of these events Democrats are setting the stage to…
Read More
In trust planning, it is common that a trust beneficiary is appointed as trustee. A lot of confusion surrounds the consequences of appointing a beneficiary as his or her own trustee. On one hand, I have heard people say it is not allowed to have a beneficiary serve as trustee. On the other hand, I…
Read More
It is not uncommon for a property owner to experience a large loss on the sale of a piece of property. It is also not uncommon that an issue exists regarding character of the loss and whether the asset sold was a capital asset or a business asset used in carrying on a trade or…
Read More
It’s common knowledge among tax practitioners that the IRS is not a fan of formula gift clauses that attempt to pin the amount of the gift to a dollar figure such that the actual gift is adjusted in the event of a successful valuation challenge by the IRS.[1] However, in a recent Tax Court case,…
Read More
On July 1, 2020, the new Mississippi Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act went into effect under Sections 33-46 of S.B. 2851, replacing the old Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act under Title 27 Chapter 10 of the Mississippi Code. What does apportionment of estate taxes mean anyway? Apportionment of estate taxes is the determination and allocation…
Read More