2002 Articles

Benefits implications for employers under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 By Thomas Vasiljevich March 2002 Civilian employees who were called to active military duty to support our country's national security initiatives following the tragic events of September 11 may now be returning from such active duty.

Chairman’s c February 2002 One of the goals of the section council over the past two years has been to establish and maintain a dialog with members of the Illinois Congressional delegation.

Chairman’s corner By Edward J. Hannon November 2002 For members of the Federal Taxation Section who have not visited the section's Web site (or perhaps more realistically, did not know it existed), the number that appears above your name on your mailing label is your password.

Chairman’s corner June 2002 Members of the Federal Tax Section Council traveled to Washington, D.C. on May 9th to meet with legislative aides to Senators Durbin and Fitzgerald and Representatives Hastert, Crane and Weller.

Chairman’s corner January 2002 One of the goals of the section council over the past two years has been to establish and maintain a dialog with members of the Illinois Congressional delegation.

Corporate and partnership tax By Michael L. English March 2002 1. Corporate compensation deduction denied. The Tax Court, in Tesco DriveAway Co., Inc., T.C. Memo. 2001-294, ruled that an accrual method corporation could not deduction compensation paid to related cash method taxpayers where the payments were made after the close of its fiscal year but prior to the end of the taxpayer's calendar year.

Corporate and partnership tax update By Michael L. English November 2002 In Revenue Procedure 2002-22, the IRS announced conditions under which it would consider a request for a ruling that an undivided fractional interest in rental real property is not an interest in a business entity.

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act Of 2001 provides for a tax-free method of funding college education By Edward J. Hannon, Jonathan M. Cesaretti, & Raquel Villanueva January 2002 The unique combination of tax and non-tax benefits of Qualified Tuition Plans, also known as Section 529 College Savings Plans ("Section 529 Plans"), make them one of the most important means for saving for higher education today.

Employee benefits update: Provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 By Thomas Vasiljevich November 2002 On July 30, 2002, President George Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the Act), the first post-Enron legislation to address accounting reform. Included in the Act are provisions affecting employee benefits and executive compensation, which this update summarizes.

Estate and gift and generations gifting tax update By Kelli E. Madigan January 2002 In two different Private Letter Rulings the IRS acknowledged two different state court orders reforming trust documents to correct a scriveners' error in the underlying document.

Estate and gift tax update By Sarah Delano Pavlik November 2002 Split-dollar life insurance arrangements. There have been several recent developments in the split-dollar arena.

Estate, gift and generation-skipping tax update By Kelli E. Madigan June 2002 IRS Notice 2002-25: The Notice extends the time period for donees who made charitable contributions in excess of $250 between the period of September 10 and December 31, 2001, to obtain a written acknowledgment from the charitable organization as required under Section 170 (f)(8), or to acquire evidence of a good faith effort to obtain the documentation from such charity, until October 15, 2002.

Individual income tax update By James S. Zmuda June 2002 In 1 122 S. Ct. 1414, 152 L. Ed. 2d 437 (2002), the United States Supreme Court held that an individual's interest in a tenancy by the entirety was a property interest to which a tax lien could attach.

Individual income tax update By James S. Zmuda March 2002 In Mora v. Comm'r, 117 T.C. No. 23 (2001), the Tax Court held a woman was entitled to separate innocent spouse relief under I.R.C. §6015(c) with regard to her former husband's tax shelters.

Individual income tax update: Legislative developments and selected IRS rulings By Thomas F. Arends November 2002 Introduction: The following update is a summary of recent legislative developments and selected IRS rulings in the individual income tax area that was set forth in the Federal Taxation Section's 2002 Federal Tax Conference recently held in Chicago and Bloomington, Illinois.

Individual income tax update: refinancing a personal residence By James S. Zmuda January 2002 Home mortgage rates are at bargain levels. A few key concepts should be remembered in advising clients in refinancing situations.

The Internet and personal property like-kind exchanges— The brave new world By Edward J. Hannon November 2002 Under the rules of section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, a taxpayer will recognize no gain for federal income tax purposes if, among other things, the taxpayer exchanges property that is used in the taxpayer's trade or business or held for investment solely for like-kind property that is used in the taxpayer's trade or business or is held for investment.

The last tax shelter? By Richard M. Colombik January 2002 Tax shelters have been a bad word since legislation was designed to eliminate what was considered abusive.

Tax procedure update By Thomas F. Arends November 2002 Introduction: The following update is a summary of selected topics on IRS tax collection procedure and representation issues presented and discussed at the Federal Taxation Section's Federal Tax Conference recently held in Chicago and Bloomington, Illinois.

The tax treatment of tenant-in-common ownership interests in a like kind exchange is now the subject of a recently issued revenue procedure By Edward J. Hannon & Elizabeth S. Tenney June 2002 On March 20, 2002, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Revenue Procedure 2002-22, which sets forth the conditions under which the IRS will consider a request for private letter ruling on the issue of whether an undivided fractional interest in real property qualifies as qualifying replacement property for purposes of the tax-free like kind exchange rules of Code Section 1031.