Tax Policy

Using Political Futures Markets to Forecast Your Estate Tax Exemption

You can tell your readers care about you when for four weeks you don’t post, and they begin to inquire after your health. Thank you, and your publisher is pleased to report that he is alive and very well! This has been a very busy month. No one seems to have gotten the memo that [...]

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Variable Prepaid Forwards – Hedge At Your Own Risk…

At KYEstates, we’re happiest reporting on taxpayer victories, but if we have to report a loss, it mitigates our disappointment when the case is interesting. Anschutz v. Comm’r, 135 T.C. No. 5 (July 22, 2010), is that sort of case: an interesting taxpayer loss.  In this instance, a very expensive taxpayer loss (likely exceeding $21 [...]

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The Tax Man Likes Home Additions, But Not Tear-Downs

Anyone who has been following Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings is up to speed on the judicial activism/strict construction debate. Strict construction of an exclusion from taxable income powered a notable win for the IRS in Gates v. Comm’r, 135 T.C. 1 (July 1, 2010), a very interesting income tax case that will have implications for private [...]

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What Will Happen to Your Income Taxes in 2011?

On the estate tax front, it’s been a Macbeth/Faulkner fortnight in Congress – full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Meanwhile, however, the clock is also ticking on expiration of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, potentially affecting many private clients and business owners. To that end, readers may be quite interested in the [...]

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Breaking News – $5m Exemption and 35% Rate Sought As Amendment to Small Business Jobs Bill

It may be a lazy summer day in the Eastern United States, but not on the transfer tax news front. The Hill reports here and Pat Lynch’s blog reports here that Senators Kyl and Lincoln introduced legislation late on Tuesday, July 13 that would require the Senate Finance Committee to amend to amend H.R. 5297 [...]

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Your Offshore Retirement “Plan B”

KYEstates’ prior retirement planning coverage has explored options for a $6 million asset base.  With this post, we’re pleased to make our coverage applicable to a wider audience, and encourage readers not to worry quite as much about their own situations, even if they see this post on a bad day for the stock market. [...]

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Update: Forecasting the Fate of the Estate Tax

KYEstates readers, thanks for your patience. Yes, post volume has been down. That’s not because the transfer tax world has suddenly become boring – perish the thought. Rather, it’s been an extraordinarily busy month. First, your publisher visited his brother in Brooklyn and then went to his 10th Reunion. That was a little tough, because [...]

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Announcing the KYEstates Estate Tax Forecasting Contest

KYEstates readers, do you miss the halcyon days of 2003, when Howard Dean told us that “you have the power“? We can’t bring those days back, but we are happy to report that in 2010: You have the power…to let your own voice be heard about what is going to happen with the estate tax. [...]

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House Passes Bill on 10-Year GRAT Terms; Craziest Probate Case of the Year?

As other T&E bloggers have capably noted (e.g., Gary Beyer here and Hani Sarji here), the House passed H.R. 4849 (the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010) on March 24. The vote was 246-178 in favor of the bill (see the full report on the vote from the New York Times here). KYEstates alerted [...]

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Mr. Filburn, Meet Mr. Attlee – Taxes, The Health Care Bill, and You

Unless you are a truly basketball-crazed KYEstates reader, by now you are well aware that the Health Care Bill passed the House last night.  This legislation is significant, and that is an understatement. Both supporters and detractors of the bill might see this as America’s analogue to July 5, 1948, when the Attlee Cabinet’s National [...]

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