In a case this year ( Gribauskas, 116 TC no. 12), the Tax Court ruled that future payments of lottery winnings must be valued for estate tax purposes using the IRC section 7520 valuation tables. This ruling specifically rejected a California district court’s 1999 decision in Shackleford Est. v. United
Advertisement
TOPICS
Tax
Auditor Independence and Tax Practitioners
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE SEC’s NEW AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE RULES could have a significant effect on some tax practitioners. The SEC includes tax among the non-audit services CPA firms provide. AS PROPOSED, THE SEC RULES PUT IN DOUBT whether an auditor can do anything other than review the tax provision in
Financial Reporting
A FASB report de-emphasizes “new economy” considerations and recommends cooperation among national and international standard setters to improve business and financial reporting. Comments are due by July 1 ( accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/fasb/sr_new_economy.pdf ). FASB plans to issue final statements in July on business combinations and intangible assets. The new rules likely will
More Are Giving It Away
Source: IRS, www.irs.gov .
Auditing
New OCC guidance says the agency is not conducting “audits of the auditors” when it reviews banks’ external audits, but instead is assessing how and whether banks are meeting requirements ( www.aicpa.org/belt/notices.htm ).
The CPA’s Role in Fighting Money Laundering.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MONEY LAUNDERING HELPS ILLICIT ORGANIZATIONS by lowering their cost of capital, giving them a competitive advantage over legitimate businesses. NEITHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS NOR THE BUSINESS community alone has the resources to counter international money laundering by drug cartels and other organized criminal groups. ACCOUNTANTS ACTING IN A
Government Accounting And Auditing
A FASAB proposed standard would eliminate the requirement to report changes in certain receivables from the public as a resource on the statement of financing. Comments are due by June 8 ( www.financenet.gov/financenet/fed/fasab/pdf/ed_para80.pdf ). New FASAB guidance amends standards for direct loans and loan guarantees, effective for periods beginning after
FYI
A commission of business and government leaders will propose ways to make the Social Security program more modern and fiscally sound ( www.ssa.gov/ssacommission.htm ). The SEC launches an online margin calculator that helps an investor estimate the likelihood of his or her broker’s issuing a margin call—for insufficient account equity—in
International
Canada’s securities regulator requests opinions on the pros and cons of allowing Canadian and foreign equity issuers to file financial statements according to U.S. GAAP or international accounting standards. Comments are due by June 30 ( www.iasc. org.uk/news/cen8_195.htm ). IFAC exposes a draft statement on strengthening the relationship between bank
Outsourcing a 401(k) Plan
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS How to make the right choices. Outsourcing a 401(k) Plan BY MAUREEN NEVIN DUFFY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WITH 401(k) BALANCES GROWING, SMALL AND MEDIUM- sized companies are finding themselves burdened with myriad responsibilities of operating a retirement plan for employees. Many companies are choosing to outsource the plan to
Passive Loss Carryovers—A Reversal.
The complexity of the tax law has resulted in numerous instances of apparent contradictions between Internal Revenue Code sections. In an effort to eliminate the conflict, the courts usually try to apply some general rules of code construction. In a case of first impression (an issue it had never decided
Advance Agreements Help Businesses Avoid Costly Audits
Business taxpayers can now benefit from yet another alternative tax issue resolution approach offered by the IRS. The new tool is the pre-filing agreement (PFA) program, which lets a taxpayer request an advance IRS examination of specific issues before filing a tax return. Revenue procedure 2001-22, dated January 22, 2001,
Avoid Taxes in Liquidation
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE IRS SAYS DISTRIBUTIONS of customer-based intangibles to shareholders are taxable. When a firm or corporation distributes to its shareholders all of its assets, both tangible and intangible, and ceases doing business, the IRS says there is a taxable distribution of its intangible goodwill. THE CRITICAL ISSUE FOR
Government
SEC to host roundtable discussions on regulating financial portals, global markets ( www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch465.htm ).
Compliance Costs
Source: Tax Foundation, www.TaxFoundation.org.
Home Is Where the Deduction Is
Source: IRS, www.irs.gov .
CPAs Speak Up on New Global Credential
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE CONCEPT OF A NEW GLOBAL CREDENTIAL grew out of the AICPA’s efforts to uncover opportunities to help members continue to excel in a competitive marketplace. STUDENTS SEE XYZ AS A COMPLEMENT to existing professions, rather than as a replacement. The concept of a combined XYZ and CPA
Technology
IASC issues list of terms to be used in XBRL-based financial reports ( www.iasc.org.uk/xbrl/index.html ).
Self-Rent and Passive Losses
Since the enactment of the passive loss rules in 1986, taxpayers have sought ways to produce passive income so they could claim otherwise denied passive losses. The Treasury Department issued regulations to deter some obvious schemes. One regulation deals with self-rent activities. Recently the courts evaluated its validity. Chester Sidell
Fraud
SEC crackdown on Internet securities fraud continues ( www.sec.gov/news/press/2001-24.txt ). SEC files suit against former CUC officers for filing allegedly false company income reports ( www.sec.gov/news/digest/02-28.txt ).
Features
FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
Build reusable Skills in Anthropic’s Claude AI
Instead of rewriting prompts each time, CPAs can turn routine tasks into reusable AI Skills. This Technology Q&A walks through how to build Claude Skills that process files, ask setup questions, and export clean Excel outputs.
From The Tax Adviser
April 30, 2026
Current developments in taxation of individuals: Part 2
April 30, 2026
