The Tax Adviser

Adequate disclosure on gift tax returns: A requirement for more than gifts

Taxpayers may be subject to the risk that an IRS examination could increase (or create) a gift tax or estate tax liability many years after a gift is made. Practitioners can help clients limit this ...
The Tax Adviser

Guide to expensing HVAC costs

Each year, tax professionals who deal with real estate must evaluate the most recent building expenditures and determine which items should be deducted as a repair expense or capitalized. Of all the ...
The Tax Adviser

A walk through the step-transaction doctrine

The IRS may apply the step-transaction doctrine, a rule of substance over form, in a variety of taxpayer circumstances to deny tax benefits derived from a series of transactions that should more ...
The Tax Adviser

Digital asset transactions: Broker reporting, amount realized, and basis

In December 2022, Treasury and the IRS stated that they intended to implement the Infrastructure Act amendments to the Code by issuing new regulations and providing forms and instructions for broker ...
The Tax Adviser

Avoiding an accuracy-related penalty through the reasonable-cause exception

Whether a taxpayer is subject to an accuracy-related penalty due to an understatement of tax is the most-litigated tax issue in recent years. Although the IRS wins a large majority of cases on this ...
The Tax Adviser

Partnership distributions: Rules and exceptions

The basic rule for when a partner recognizes gain as a result of a distribution is found in Sec. 731(a)(1), which applies to both current distributions (from current income and activities) and ...
The Tax Adviser

Foreign pension plans and the US-UK tax treaty

Editor: Kevin D. Anderson, CPA, J.D. In an increasingly global economy, workers are experiencing unprecedented mobility. As such, Americans living abroad, even for a limited time, often participate in ...
The Tax Adviser

Election to group activities for purposes of passive activity loss rules

Editor: Kevin D. Anderson, CPA, J.D. In its decision in Hardy, T.C. Memo. 2017-16, the Tax Court held that a taxpayer had not elected to group two activities together under the passive activity loss ...
The Tax Adviser

Taxation of undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants venture to the United States from all parts of the world and endure enormous challenges in their new life, ranging from cultural ones to those that are language–oriented in ...
The Tax Adviser

Transfer pricing: The C-suite needs to be informed

For the most part, the CEOs of large multinational corporations (MNCs) do not need to know much about tax issues. CEOs are already busy, charged with developing a vision and strategy for growth, ...
The Tax Adviser

Private equity and F reorganizations involving S corporations

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the merger-and-acquisition (M&A) market had a string of years of strong activity. Seemingly overnight, COVID-19 changed the M&A landscape, as many transactions were put ...
The Tax Adviser

The kiddie tax and unearned income from scholarships

Every fall, students all over the country set off to attend various colleges and universities. With the rising cost of higher education, many of these students are looking forward to receiving some ...