In some instances when the taxpayer makes a charitable donation, the loss of revenue to the government, and the corresponding gain to the taxpayer, far exceeds the benefit to the charity. Some of these losses may be generated by government sanctioned complex transactions and even government...

Treasury recently announced proposed regulations under section 2032 explaining valuation rules for assets when the decedent elects to apply the alternate valuation date. The regulations first provide background information about the statute, including legislative history and case law...

Portability of estate tax exemptions has been called the best estate tax planning idea for a surviving spouse since the unlimited marital deduction in 1981. This article explains portability, including the recent Senate testimony urging its adoption

At least 4.4 million families in the U.S. are blended ones that include step-children and step-parents. For tax purposes, these steps receive preferential treatment for their status because they are on the one hand included as family members for many income tax benefit sections, but on the other...

When giving both to your family and to your charity, you must follow the rules carefully to qualify for a charitable deduction. The article discusses the recent Tamulis case, other split interest charitable deduction cases, and the doctrine of substantial compliance

The article discusses the Ninth Circuit's recent Bigelow case. The issues on appeal were: 1) whether the Tax Court erred in its finding that there was an implied agreement of income retention from the property the decedent transferred to her FLP, and 2) whether the Tax Court erred in its holding...

The purpose of this article is to propose a simpler verifiable gift tax, to reassert basic principles of transfer taxes, to encourage simple, outright gifts, and to eliminate some of the major abuses in the current gift tax regime. To accomplish these goals, the proposed tax would simplify gift...

Prior to 2011, the most efficient estate tax planning for married couples required a minimal level of asset equalization. In order to take maximum advantage of all existing wealth transfer tax exemptions and credits, each spouse needed to own, in an estate tax sense, enough assets to be able to...