Tax Reporting for Grantor Trusts
November 6, 2017
by Jennifer R. Pierce
Typically, a trust must file a separate income tax return for each calendar year. However, for most grantor trusts, filing a separate tax return is optional. The general rule and the alternative methods of reporting are described below. When a trust is a “grantor trust” for income tax purposes…
What Practitioners Need to Know about the New Partnership Audit Rules
November 6, 2017
by Craig R. Cockrell
As you’ve surely heard by now, the Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015 (“BBA”) enacted new IRS procedures for partnership audits for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018. The new audit rules allow the IRS to collect taxes directly from most partnerships rather than from their partners…
So, What's Up With Estate Tax Repeal …
Mid-Fall of last year I was working with a client on a sale of an interest in a closely-held business to a grantor trust. A detailed business valuation was in process when then candidate Trump became President-elect Trump. Suddenly candidate Trump’s campaign platform, which included the repeal of…
Legislative Update: State Tax Laws for 2017
The 91st Arkansas General Assembly recently wrapped up its general session, which generated a number of changes to the State’s tax laws. This article provides a summary of each tax bill signed into law. CORPORATE TAX LAW CHANGES H.B. 1563 – H.B. 1563 amends Ark. Code Ann. §26-51-409(b). This…
Fiduciary Duty To Elect Portability for the Benefit of a Surviving Spouse
May 8, 2017
by Ashley L. Gill
Since Congress introduced the concept of portability with the 2010 Tax Relief Act, attorneys preparing premarital and property-settlement agreements have been attempting to preserve their clients’ rights to utilize the deceased spousal unused exclusion (“DSUE”) for fear of what could happen in the…