Kevin Robertson

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Proposed Regulations Under IRC Section 2704 Seek to Eliminate Discounts on Transfers of Family Business Interests

By Kevin Robertson on September 23, 2016 Posted in Family Business

On Aug. 2, 2016, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service released proposed regulations under Internal Revenue Code (Code) section 2704 (the “Proposed Regulations”). The Proposed Regulations, if finalized in their proposed form, would eliminate most valuation discounts on redemptions and transfers of family business interests among family members when a single family “controls” … Continue Reading

New Basis Reporting Requirements (and Penalties) for Decedents’ Estates

By Christopher Fidler and Kevin Robertson on January 4, 2016 Posted in Estate Planning, Estate Tax

FEBRUARY 2, 2016 UPDATE: The final version of Form 8971 and the Instructions have been posted by the IRS. On July 31, President Obama signed into law the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act (the “Act”) to reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund’s spending authority for another three months. To offset the legislation’s … Continue Reading

Obama Proposes “Middle Class” Tax Increases at Death

By Kevin Robertson on March 24, 2015 Posted in Tax

The prospects of significant tax legislation this year are low. Nevertheless, when the President proposes “tax reform” it makes headlines. The Obama administration’s latest tax proposals for fiscal year 2016 would increase dramatically both the rates of transfer/income taxation at death and the number of people subject to those higher taxes in the event of … Continue Reading

A Disconcerting Proposal from the Senate: Proposed Repeal of Section 1031

By Kevin Robertson on February 7, 2014 Posted in Income Tax, Tax

Last November, Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Max Baucus, released the third package in a series of “Staff Discussion Drafts” proposing various changes to reform the Internal Revenue Code. Of course, it is likely that any major changes to the Code will be shelved until the inevitable discussion begins regarding the difficult process to address federal … Continue Reading

Deceased Spousal Unused Exclusion (“DSUE”)—A Planning Opportunity

By Kevin Robertson on June 5, 2013 Posted in Estate Tax

One of the helpful provisions recently added to federal estate tax law allows a surviving spouse to use any “leftover” or “unused” federal estate tax exclusion amount of a deceased spouse. The federal estate tax exclusion amount has been increased to $5,250,000 in 2013 (to be adjusted for inflation in future years), and many first-to-die … Continue Reading