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Tax Articles

Deducting Charitable Contributions from a Trust that Does not Permit Charitable Contributions

Uncle Bill comes to your office in a bit of a tizzy with two beers in one hand and three notices from the IRS in the other. Unbeknownst to you, he wants to discuss deducting charitable contributions from a trust that doesn’t, technically, permit charitable contributions. Although you are not unaccustomed to his unannounced visits, they are nevertheless jarring at 7:15 on a Tuesday morning. You note that Aunt Ethel recently explained that Bill has

Scott St. Amand April 29, 2021

Income Tax Issues

Tax Articles

Deducting Legal and Professional Fees

Income tax deductions are rather like hard truths. A client may not want to hear that an item is not deductible, but you know in your heart of hearts that you cannot, in good conscience, advise them otherwise. No doctor relishes the prospect of telling a patient that he is terminal. Often met with a similar grief-stricken reaction, explaining to a client that the “big ticket” deduction that they wanted to claim (or in my

Scott St. Amand April 29, 2021

Income Tax Issues

Tax Articles

Payments to Surviving Spouse under Settlement Agreement of Decedent Spouse’s Estate

Mrs. Theodosia Frost, who claims a distant and somewhat spurious relation to Aaron Burr, comes to you in rather a dither, as only a rich widow might muster. Her husband’s ungrateful spawn, Theodosia’s stepdaughter Janice, had the unfailing gall to contest her late husband’s trust, and she now needs your help to mop up the pieces. You stop Theodosia and explain that you are many things, but a family law attorney, you are not, and

Scott St. Amand April 29, 2021

Income Tax Issues

Tax Articles

Filing Joint Returns Under IRC § 6013 – Consequences and Benefits

IRC § 6013 permits the filing of joint returns by spouses. It should be noted that the Code has not adapted to the times, and it still lists “husbands and wives” as the only persons who may make a single return jointly. For purposes of equality and inclusion, and to stick it to the patriarchy, I will use the term spouses. The most interesting aspect of IRC § 6013 is the ability for a delinquent

Scott St. Amand April 29, 2021

Income Tax Issues

Tax Articles

Deductibility of Non-Professional Attendant Care Provided by a Family Member

Uncle Bill took a nasty turn on the forklift at work a couple of months back. That Bill was in a motorized vehicle-related accident came as little shock to your delicate system, after all Bill was (and still is, to your knowledge) the only person in the history of Biddeford, Maine to ever get a DUI on a lawnmower, but he paid for the mayor’s peonies (scattered like the remnants of a ticker-tape parade across

Scott St. Amand April 29, 2021

Income Tax Issues

Tax Articles

Loss of Consortium Damages Excludable under IRC § 104(a)(2)

A couple of years back, Uncle Bill was in an unfortunate forklift accident. Bill filed a lawsuit in Maine, where the accident occurred, and in the complaint, Bill alleged that the injuries and damages suffered were the result of acts of negligence, reckless, willful and/or wanton acts of the tannery for whom Bill was employed. The lawsuit requested damages for economic injuries (medical bills), for noneconomic injuries of mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life,

Scott St. Amand April 29, 2021

Income Tax Issues

Tax Articles

Ex-Spousal Transfers of Property Long After Divorce

On February 14, 2013, Jethro and Lee Ann’s divorce became final. Though the divorce was a foregone conclusion in your view, given Jethro’s unrepentant kleptomania and penchant for setting things on fire, still Uncle Bill and Aunt Ethel are torn up about their only son’s marital woes. You think your lucky stars that you are a tax attorney and stay away from family law like the plague. Nonetheless, you have developed relationships with the family

Scott St. Amand April 29, 2021

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Scott St. Amand November 28, 2023

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Scott St. Amand June 26, 2023

Norberg v. Commissioner
T.C. Memo. 2022-30

On April 5, 2022, the Tax Court issued a Memorandum Opinion in the case of Norberg v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo. 2022-30). The primary issue presented in Norberg v. Commissioner was whether the settlement officer abused its discretion in upholding a notice of intent to levy and denying the petitioners’ request

Scott St. Amand January 24, 2023

Salter v. Commissioner
T.C. Memo. 2022-29

On April 5, 2022, the Tax Court issued a Memorandum Opinion in the case of Salter v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo. 2022-29). The primary issues presented in Salter v. Commissioner were (i) whether the Code section providing exception from imposition of additional tax resulting from early distribution from retirement plan applied;

Scott St. Amand November 23, 2022

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