In this article the author reviews developments of approximately the past five to six years in tax malpractice litigation in the estate and gift area. After a brief review of the basic elements of the malpractice cause of action, the author examines the recent cases by category: tax return preparation/filing, planning errors, drafting errors, disclaimers and valuation. The author concludes that a relatively large number of cases are brought in this area and that it likely is the leading area for malpractice suits during the time period involved. The author also notes that tax practitioners frequently avoid liability on statute of limitations grounds, various privity-related arguments and various other procedural reasons. Careful, preventive lawyering is especially important in this area.
Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues, they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes, along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions, saving behavior, the distribution and level of wealth, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.
Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook on Casebook Connect, including lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities. Access also includes an outline tool and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes. With an emphasis on tax planning, Federal Taxation of Wealth Transfers: Cases and Problems integrates stimulating problems with statutes, regulations, and cases to create a highly teachable and student-friendly casebook. This casebook emphasizes problem solving, statutory construction, and policy-analysis skills, and is ideal for 2- or 3-credit courses in estate and gift taxation. The text has been expanded to feature new cases, administrative rulings, and studies. Existing cases and text have been edited or deleted to highlight essential themes. The casebook is logically organized but its flexible organization accommodates reorganizing material to fit individual course structures, and could be used for a basic wealth transfer tax class or to complement an estate planning course. New to the 5th Edition: Alyssa A. DiRusso joins as a co-author, bringing her background in high-net-worth practice and in-house fiduciary administration to broaden the book's perspective. A new introduction to gratuitous transfers in Chapter 1. More detailed analysis of defined value clauses in Chapter 3. A new section on taxation of nonprofit organizations in Chapter 14. New cases throughout the book. Updated values and computations. Professors and students will benefit from: Organization - the book is organized by the three different transfer taxes and by IRC section. Flexibility - the text, cases, and problems allow a focus on statutory construction, planning, or policy. Focus on basics - the book is adaptable to a two- or three-credit transfer tax course, to supplement an estate planning course, or for an LLM course. Detailed textual explanations with references to current cases and administrative rulings--but they also provide historical context and development. Problems that focus on discrete issues to build a solid foundation. Edited cases that focus on fundamentals.
This book is a leader in the field, and as the new publisher we can assure loyal adopters that the basic structure, style and approach of the book remains essentially unchanged from previous editions. The Ninth Edition continues to provide an engaging and insightful introduction to the federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes, placing leading cases in historical context and exploring their practical significance and policy implications. The Ninth Edition reflects statutory changes in rates, exemptions, and other matters included in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, such as the introduction of a new federal deduction for state death taxes to replace the traditional credit mechanism. The new edition also addresses the possibility of temporary or permanent repeal of the estate and GST taxes beginning in 2010, and the attendant uncertainty for planners and policy makers in the meantime.
