Gifts of tangible personal property and closely-held business interests typically are made without a paper trail (e.g., cancelled check or deed recording). Because gift tax returns are not due until April 15 of the calendar year following the transfer, a non-compliant taxpayer can game the...

For close to a century, an important (but unfortunate) feature of the Internal Revenue Code has been a rule that the tax basis of any asset is made equal to its fair market value at death. Notwithstanding the substantial revenue losses associated with this rule, Congress has retained it for...

Annually, the U.S. government collects nearly $3 trillion of income and employment taxes. With respect to these collections, Form 1040 (U.S. Individual Income Tax Return) seeks to ensure taxpayer accuracy. Currently, two sets of players dominate the Form 1040 preparation and submission process:...

The elevated exemption level under the federal transfer tax system (now in excess of $23 million for a married couple) has opened up new and abusive tax-avoidance opportunities. In many areas of the tax law, the substance over form doctrine historically has been effective in controlling such...

One of the principal reasons why we enter into contracts is to prevent the occurrence of opportunistic behavior. To illustrate, suppose that in anticipation of his daughter's wedding the following week, a homeowner contracts with a painter to have his home painted at an agreed-upon price of $500...

There is little doubt that as health care costs soar, health care issues will continue to predominate the political agenda. the enormity of these costs cannot be overstated. By the year 2000, the United States is projected to spend approximately $1.8 trillion annually on health care; if the...

The receipt of workplace fringe benefits has become increasingly ubiquitous. As a result of their employment, employees often receive a cornucopia of fringe benefits, including frequent-flier miles, hotel rewards points, rental car preferred status, office supply dollar coupons, cellular...

When taxpayers file their tax returns, they are often worried about the prospect of an Internal Revenue Service (Service) audit. To date, the position of the Service and of professional organizations has been that tax return preparers cannot take into account audit risk in evaluating the merits...

In yesteryear, at death, taxpayers confronted a Janus-faced tax system: on the one hand, they had to endure a harsh transfer tax regime that could significantly deplete the size of their estates; on the other hand, they could take solace in the fact that the income tax system erased their...

Congress needs to reconsider whether Code section 2104(a) which subjects the ownership of domestic stock by nonresident aliens to estate tax merits retention. This analysis offers several reasons as to why policy makers should introduce legislation that either repeals this Code section or...