Tax and estate planning updates

To our friends who are tax and estate planning professionals, we hope you're staying warm and healthy. Here is a list of articles that caught our eyes recently. We hope you find them interesting and helpful to your practice as well.

Washington Capital Gains Tax is Due April 18th, 2023 Even Though It is Still Under Appeal by Rachel Robertson, Sweeney Conrad
The Washington Supreme Court unanimously granted a stay of the lower court’s ruling which will allow the Department of Revenue to collect the capital gains tax. The first filing is due April 18, 2023.

How to Make Busy Season Fun (Yes, Fun), Hosted by Jeff Drew, Journal of Accountancy Podcast
If the words "busy season" start your stomach churning, Rabecca Eunis, CPA, knows how you feel. Starting her accounting career with her father's firm, Eunis soon learned to hate the three-month grind to tax day. Her disdain grew so strong that it motivated her to launch her own firm—not to escape tax season but to find ways to make the experience less stressful and more fun.

How Medicare Advantage Scams Seniors | Opinion by Jan Schakowsky and Wendell Potter, Newsweek
Where billions of dollars flow, deceptive actors follow. And nowhere does deception run deeper than how health insurers lure seniors into Medicare Advantage plans—only to leave many retirees struggling to cover their out-of-pocket requirements when their incomes are their lowest.

How to Plan Now for the Higher 2023 Gift, Estate and GST Exemption by Martin Shenkman, Forbes
The gift, estate and generation skipping transfer (“GST”) tax exemption will increase substantially in 2023. What does that mean for your estate planning?

IRS Publishes Draft of 2022 Form 1065 K-2 and K-3 Instructions with Revised Exemptions from Filing by Ed Zollars, Current Federal Tax Developments
The IRS on October 25, 2022, released a draft copy of the instructions for Schedules K-2 and K-3 of Form 1065 for 2022 tax returns.[1]  The draft contains a new formalized program for obtaining information from partners related to reporting on information that impacts information required to be provided to partners for possible use on Forms 1116 and 1118.

KPMG Report: Proposed Foreign Tax Credit Regulations by KPMG
On November 18, 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department and IRS proposed regulations that provide additional guidance relating to the foreign tax credit (“FTC”). The 2022 Proposed Regulations include guidance with respect to the reattribution asset rule for purposes of allocating and apportioning foreign taxes, the cost recovery requirement, and the attribution rule for withholding taxes on royalty payments.

Operating Agreement Revision That Contained §704(b) Language Terminated LLC S Corporation Status by Ed Zollars, Current Federal Tax Developments
Some taxpayers may prefer to use an LLC as the underlying legal entity in which to form what is intended to be an S corporation. But what is too often overlooked is that the LLC’s operating agreement must not create a situation where there is deemed to be multiple classes of “stock” outstanding, or the LLC will not qualify as an S corporation.

Updated Simplified Method for Estate Portability Elections by Ryan Nance, The Tax Advisor
On July 8, 2022, the IRS released Rev. Proc. 2022-32, which updates and expands the simplified method for estates to obtain an extension of time to make a portability election under Sec. 2010(c) (5)(A). The revenue procedure became effective the day it was released, supersedes Rev. Proc. 2017-34, and allows estates with no filing requirement under Sec. 6018(a) to obtain an extension to make a portability election up until the fifth anniversary of a decedent’s date of death, subject to certain requirements.

2023 Projected U.S. Tax Rates by Bloomberg Tax
Using the September 2021 through August 2022 Chained Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) data released by Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bloomberg Tax has projected 2023 inflation-adjusted amounts for many key figures in the Internal Revenue Code. 

The Uses and Abuses of Charitable LLCs featuring Justin T. Miller, ACTEC Trust and Estate Talk Podcast
How are people using charitable LLCs and how are people abusing them? To learn more about this topic, you will be hearing today from ACTEC Fellow, Justin Miller of San Francisco, California. 

Finally, if you subscribe to Leimberg Information Services, here are two views on Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs).

Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts as a Key Technique for Estate Planners by Steve Oshins, Leimberg Information Services
Imagine that there is a type of trust that you can set up where you can transfer assets and not only protect them from creditors and estate tax, but also have access to them through your spouse.  No, this is not a hypothetical world where there are rainbows and unicorns!  This world really does exist!

Most SLATs are Oversold by James Kane, Leimberg Information Services
The popularity of SLATs (spousal limited access trust) is, in my view, a great marketing spin. But, in most cases, SLATs are being oversold. This newsletter describes why I believe that is the case.

Stay safe and healthy.

We do not provide legal or tax advice. You should consult their own legal or tax advisor. This information is intended for educational purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, products, or services.