Hundreds of bills are filed in the Texas Legislature every time it meets. Only a few make it to the Governor’s desk. Here are a few that have and have not been well publicized. Following a brief explanation of each bill, you’ll find a link to the bill on the Texas Legislature’s website. Expanded Exemptions…
Applicable Federal Rates for June 2019
On May 16, the IRS announced the applicable federal rates for June 2019 in Rev.Rul. 2019-14. The Section 7520 rate remains at 2.8% (still a good time to consider GRATs). The annual short-term, midterm and long-term rates are up slightly to 2.37%, 2.38% and 2.76%. That Revenue Ruling can be found here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-19-14.pdf
Taxpayer Misapplied Rules Re: Optional Deduction on Estate or Income Tax Returns
The Second Circuit handed down a decision on March 13, 2019, in the case of Harrell v. Commissioner. Mrs. Harrell had received distributions from the New York City Employees’ Retirement System in 2009 and 2010, as the beneficiary of Howard Wilkerson who died in 1994. The benefits were payable to her as an annuity, which…
A More Efficient IRS – Hopefully
In an extraordinary bipartisan effort, top tax writers from both the House and Ways and Means Committee and from the Senate Finance Committee put together legislation to improve how the IRS works: modernize it, improve taxpayer services and strengthen taxpayer protections. On March 28, the Taxpayer First Act of 2019 was introduced in both the…
New Procedures for Getting EINs
On March 28, 2019, the IRS made a sudden change in how taxpayer ID numbers can be obtained “as part of its ongoing security review.” The change is effective May 13. The IRS said that only individuals with tax ID numbers may request employer ID numbers as the “responsible party” on the application. In other…
Interest Rate Inversion
Maybe it’s a good time to do GRATs, and maybe they really won’t work so well. Financial commentators in Forbes, Barron’s, and other publications, and in online sites like TheStreet.com and Bloomberg.com, have been talking about something called an “inverted yield curve” since last summer. Basically, they all explain that the yield curve is the…
Applicable Federal Rates for April 2019 – What Will May Bring?
On March 18, 2019, the IRS released the AFRs for April. The Section 7520 rate is 3.0%, down from 3.2% in February and March, and even lower than the 3.4% rate in January. The annual short-term, midterm and long-term rates are 2.52%, 2.55% and 2.89%. The Section 382 adjusted long-term rate is 2.19% and the…
Two Proposed Estate Tax Acts
The New Bernie Sanders Estate Tax Act In case you were wondering what Democrats are thinking about where they would like to take the estate tax laws, Thursday Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) clarified that by filing S. 309 named “For the 99.8% Act.” The act would radically modify federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes….
Applicable Federal Rates for January
Every month, IRS and the Treasury issue a Revenue Ruling listing the “applicable federal rates” (“AFRs”) for the next month. In Rev.Rul. 2019-3, 2019-IRB (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-19-03.pdf), the January annual short-term, mid-term and long-term rates are set at 2.72%, 2.89% and 3.15%, respectively. The 7520 rate is 3.4%, down from 3.6% in November and December, and…
Tesla Credit Phase-Out
For quite some time, purchasers of electric vehicles have received a special tax credit. That tax credit has been a boon to those who have purchased Tesla automobiles. However, that’s coming to an end. In IR 2018-252 issued December 14, 2018, and in Notice 2018-96, 2018-52 IRB (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-18-96.pdf), the IRS said Tesla has sold more than…