IRS notice permits recalculation of marital deductions for same-sex couples
The IRS provided the procedures same-sex married couples should use to recalculate the transfer-tax treatment for property transferred to spouses.
Estate Tax
Account Transcripts Can Substitute for Estate Tax Closing Letters
Account transcripts that contain a specific transaction code and wording can serve as the equivalent of an estate tax closing letter.
QTIP Election Permitted Together With Portability
The IRS will treat a QTIP election as valid in certain situations, including where an executor of an estate makes a portability election to transfer the decedent’s unused applicable exclusion amount.
Tax Planning Opportunities for Tax Attributes and the Decedent’s Final Tax Return
Careful and thoughtful advanced planning can result in substantial tax savings.
Understanding Qualified Domestic Trusts and Portability
This article discuses how transfer-tax rules for noncitizen spouses differ from the transfer-tax rules that apply to spouses who are U.S. citizens or residents.
Consistent Basis Reporting Between Estates and Beneficiaries
Executors and practitioners will have to deal with questions and inconsistencies until the IRS addresses them.
Estate Valuation Discounts Would Be Prohibited Under Proposed Regulations
The IRS issued long-awaited proposed regulations designed to prevent taxpayers from lowering the estate and gift tax value of transferred assets.
Late Portability Elections After the Expiration of Rev. Proc. 2014-18
This item discusses relief available to the executor of an estate that fails to elect portability by failing to timely file an estate tax return.
Guidance Allows QTIP Election Where Executor Elects Portability
The IRS removed a prohibition on making a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) election when the election would have been null and void because the estate had a zero estate tax liability.
Recent Developments in Estate Planning: Part 1
This is the first in a two-part series examining developments in estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax and trust income tax. Part 1 discusses legislative and gift and estate tax developments.
Proposed Regulations Govern Estate Basis Consistency Reporting
The regulations provide rules regarding the consistent basis reporting requirement and the required statement that must be furnished to the IRS and beneficiaries.
Post-Death Events Taken Into Account in Property Valuation
The Tax Court held that the IRS had properly taken into account events that occurred after the decedent’s death in determining the value of property for purposes of an estate’s charitable deduction.
Executor Not Liable as Fiduciary for Unpaid Estate Tax
Practitioners who assist clients with preparing estate tax returns should make sure that they know the very real danger they face if distributions are made from the estate before all the federal estate taxes are paid.
Estates Have Until June 30 to File Estate Basis Form
The IRS announced one last postponement in the due date for filing under rules requiring reporting of the value of an estate’s assets to the IRS and beneficiaries.
Due Date for Estate Basis Reporting Postponed Once Again
The IRS further postponed the due date for the new reporting requirement, under which estates must report the value of estate assets to the IRS and to beneficiaries.
Consider Combining the Tax Benefits of a Preferred Family Limited Partnership With a GRAT
Certain high-net-worth clients might achieve better results by using a preferred family limited partnership rather than an intentionally defective grantor trust or a grantor retained annuity trust.
Recent Developments in Estate Planning (Part 2)
This is the second of a two-part article examining developments in estate, gift, trust, and generation-skipping transfer taxes between June 2014 and May 2015.
Final Rules Guide Use of Portable Estate Tax Exclusion
Final rules govern the requirements for electing portability of a deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse and the rules for the surviving spouse’s use of that amount.
Recent Developments in Estate Planning (Part 1)
This is the first part of a two-part article examining developments in estate, gift, and trust income tax between June 2014 and May 2015. Part 1 discusses gift and estate tax developments.
IRS Announces Delayed Due Date for New Estate Basis Reporting Rules
The IRS issued guidance delaying the due date for compliance with the recently enacted rules that require consistent basis reporting between an estate and anyone acquiring property from the estate.
