Several years ago, the SECURE Act was passed, which had major changes to the tax rules relating to retirement plan distributions. Another act on that subject is working through Congress – the Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act. A version…

If a spouse dies and his/her estate does not fully use the decedent’s remaining unified credit, the surviving spouse can use the unused credit if certain conditions are met. One of the conditions is that an estate tax return is…

In Florida, tenancy by entireties (TBE) property of two spouses provides various benefits. These include protection of the assets against creditors of only one spouse, avoidance of probate, and protection of one spouse from unauthorized disposition of TBE property by…

 Ask many estate planners in the U.S. about Brussels IV, and you are apt to get the response “Brussels for what?” While in effect since 2015, it is more unknown than known. In most circumstances, Brussels IV will not impact…

Back in 2000, I wrote here about a case where a taxpayer did not report multiple foreign accounts on an FBAR. The question for the court was whether the $10,000 penalty for a nonwillful failure to file meant  $10,000 per…

Code Sec. 6501(e)(1)(C) extends the normal three-year statute of limitations on assessment to six years as to omissions of Subpart F income. In a Chief Counsel Advice, the extended six-year period was determined to apply to the entire tax liability…

U.S. spouses each have a unified credit that allows for substantial gifting to third parties without requiring the payment of gift tax. What happens if one spouse has assets to be gifted away, but that spouse does not have sufficient…