2001 Articles

Chairman’s corner October 2001 Welcome to the first edition of the Federal Taxation Newsletter for the 2001-2002 year.

Chairman’s corner By John B. Truskowski June 2001 Representatives of the Federal Tax Section Council traveled to Washington, D.C. on May 10 to meet with legislative representatives of Senators Durbin and Fitzgerald and Representatives Hastert and Crane.

Chairman’s corner By John B. Truskowski January 2001 This is the third issue of our newsletter for the 2000-2001 year. You should find the updates and articles of interest and helpful in your practice.

Estate and gift tax update By David R. Reid March 2001 The estate and gift tax area is at a crossroad. President Bush has promised to repeal "the death tax."

Estate tax repeal By Robert J. Krupp October 2001 Has the estate tax been repealed? It depends on what your definition of "repeal" is.

Individual income tax update By James S. Zmuda June 2001 In Vinick v. United States, 205 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2000), the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ("First Circuit") reversed a district court ruling that a corporate officer was a responsible person for purposes of Code §6672, which imposes a 100% "penalty" tax regarding the failure to withhold employment taxes.

Individual income tax update By James S. Zmuda March 2001 In Service Center Advice 200105062, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") has advised service centers that they cannot abate individual estimated tax penalties resulting from income attributable to a conversion of a traditional Individual Retirement Account ("IRA") to a Roth IRA.

Individual income tax update By James S. Zmuda January 2001 The Internal Revenue Services ("IRS") has issued Form 8869, Qualified Subchapter S Subsidiary Election, to be used by a parent S corporation to elect to treat one or more of its eligible subsidiaries as a qualified Subchapter S subsidiary ("Q Sub").

IRS and SSA announce new benefit limits for 2001 By Thomas Vasiljevich January 2001 The Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration have announced the annual cost-of-living adjustments to various benefit limitations.

IRS rules that a trade association’s advertising program does not produce UBTI By John B. Truskowski March 2001 Trade associations and other tax-exempt organizations are subject to tax on their unrelated business income.

A new definition of income By Kelli E. Madigan October 2001 Historically, interest and dividends have been treated as income while capital gains have been treated as principal.

An overview of the New minimum distribution rules: a “uniform” approach By James S. Zmuda March 2001 On January 11, 2001, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") issued new proposed minimum distribution regulations.

Recent developments in corporate and partnership tax By Michael L. English October 2001 In Seggerman Farms, Inc., T.C. Memo. 2001-99, the Tax Court ruled that the shareholders of a family corporation recognized gain on the transfer of assets to their controlled corporation where the liabilities assumed by the corporation exceeded the shareholders' adjusted basis in the property transferred.

Recent developments in estate and gift tax By Michael L. English June 2001 1. Service issues proposed regulations on ESBTs. The Service has issued proposed regulations on the qualification and treatment of electing small business trusts (ESBTs).

Recent developments on estate and gift tax By Michael L. English January 2001 The Service, in REG-106511-00, issued proposed regulations relative to the filing of an application for an automatic six month extension of time to file an estate tax return.

Tax court discusses continuity of business enterprise requirement By John B. Truskowski January 2001 In a recent decision, the U.S. Tax Court discussed the continuity of business enterprise, a judicially established and regulatory requirement for tax-free reorganizations.

Tax planning opportunities using the new 18 percent capital gain rate By Edward J. Hannon & Jonathan M. Cesaretti June 2001 The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (the "1997 Act") changed the rate at which federal income tax was imposed on long-term capital gain rates. As originally enacted, the 1997 Act created three rates, a 28% rate, a 25% rate and a 20% rate