On January 1, 2013, the federal estate tax regime in effect from 2001 to 2012 is scheduled to revert to its pre-2001 structure. A 35% rate will soar to a 55% rate. A $5 million exemption will plummet to $1 million. Some deductions and credits enacted in 2001 will disappear while others repealed...

Over the past decade, a number of well-publicized data leaks have revealed the secret offshore holdings of high-net-worth individuals and multinational taxpayers, leading to a sea change in cross-border tax enforcement. Spurred by leaked data, tax authorities have prosecuted offshore tax cheats,...

Typically, the tax treaty entitlement to fiscally transparent entities (‘FTEs’) has been a matter of debate in the arena of international tax. FTEs are not taxed at the entity level but at the level of the persons who have an ownership interest in that entity. Hands down, it is one of the...

In most jurisdictions there are three separate spheres of transfer pricing analysis - income tax, customs and VAT. Although they share policy objectives, terminology and frequently borrowing methodologies from one another these domestic transfer pricing systems are not in harmony. Businesses...

The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have begun considering the harmonization of transfer pricing norms among income tax, customs and VAT regimes. Two conferences have been organized in May of 2006 and 2007. These conferences...

In Estate of Shapiro, the Ninth Circuit held that an individual had a valid palimony claim under Nevada state law. However, the issue was whether the decedent's estate qualified for a deduction for that claim under federal estate tax law

It is difficult to value fractional interests in art because there is virtually no market in those interests. Nevertheless, the Tax Court in Estate of Elkins valued the decedent's fractional interests in multiple artworks, which the decedent and his children highly cherished. First, the court...

The United States is currently trying to manage a fast-moving public health crisis due to the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19). The economic and financial ramifications of the outbreak are serious. This Working Paper discusses these ramifications and identifies three interrelated but potentially...

In the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), Congress included a provision requiring bankruptcy courts evaluating individual debtors' financial circumstances to utilize certain monthly expense standards developed by the Internal Revenue Service for assessing...