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 2005 Index (back)
Report #1
(Monday 1/10)
The institute has finally begun. It was kicked off this
morning by the optional pre-conference Fundamentals session
(the first of three) on FLPs and LLCs from A to Z. It was
presented by Louis Mezzullo. The official kickoff of the Institute
occurred at 2:00 p.m. when the Institute's Director, Tina
Portuondo, gave her opening remarks. This was followed by
an all afternoon session on Recent Developments in Estate,
Gift and Income Taxation that was ably presented by the trio
of Steve Akers, Pam Schneider and Jonathan Blattmachr (with
materials generously provided by Richard Covey and Dan Hastings).
Before reporting in detail on these sessions (which will be
in Report 2 issued Tuesday since the Reports have not been
received yet), here are a few preliminary items.
News Items:
First, Courtesy of our sister List ABA-TAX, the following
was reported earlier today:
Media Relations Office Washington, D.C. Media Contact: 202.622.4000
www.IRS.gov/newsroom Public Contact: 800.829.1040
Revised Schedules K-1 to Reduce Filing Complexity
IR-2005-4, Jan. 10, 2005
WASHINGTON The Internal Revenue Service today announced
the availability of the revised Schedules K-1 for this year’s
filing season. The schedules have been simplified to reduce
common errors and the burden associated with preparation and
filing requirements.
Income, deductions and credits from partnerships, S corporations
and trusts are reported to investors on Schedules K-1. The
new partnership and S- corporation Schedules K-1 will be available
for the 2004 tax year and the trust Schedule K-1 will be available
for tax year 2005.
The redesigned schedules feature an improved layout similar
to that of Form
W-2 as well as streamlined instructions. The schedules are
also scannable, eliminating the risk of transcription errors.
“We’ve modeled this on the well-understood Form
W-2,” IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said. “We
believe this will be easier for taxpayers to follow.”
The Office of Taxpayer Burden Reduction led a collaborative
effort in the redesign of the Schedules K-1, featuring a team
of IRS subject matter experts who took input from external
stakeholders in the tax professional community. The revisions
also incorporate information gathered from public comments
and feedback from focus group participants.
Approximately 25 million Schedules K-1 are filed each year
with the highest number filed by partnerships.
“The revisions to Schedules K-1 will reduce taxpayer
or practitioner preparation time, increase quality and improve
reporting accuracy,” said Larry Gray, Governmental Affairs
Liaison for the National Association of Tax Professionals.
“The Schedules K-1 are now laid-out similar to a Form
W- 2. For example, a code for each amount to be reported in
Box 13 ‘Other Deductions’ is listed on page two
of Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) and is similar to the coding system
used for Box 12 on Form W-2. By using the code information
the taxpayer or practitioner will know specifically where
to correctly report the amount on the taxpayer’s Form
1040.”
The forms are available on IRS.gov. Printed copies of the
forms and instructions are also available by calling the IRS
at 1-800-829-3676.
Second, the RIA Legislative Watch News Service reported
the following today:
Legislative Watch--
President signs bill that extends time to claim 2004 deductions
for tsunami relief donations. On Jan. 7, the President signed
H.R. 241 into law. Under the measure, taxpayers can elect
to claim a charitable contribution deduction in tax year 2004
for donations made through Jan. 31, 2005, for the relief of
victims in areas affected by the Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami provided the contribution is in cash and otherwise
meets the requirements for charitable contribution deductions
under Code Sec.
170. See the Newsstand e-mail for Friday 01/07/05 for bill
language and planning tax planning commentary.
Third, PLI announced the following today:
The book
STOCKER
& RIKOON ON DRAWING WILLS AND TRUSTS which can be
relied upon for the legal, tax, technical, and interpersonal
guidance needed to craft documents that fully express their
client's wishes, help them gain tax and non-tax benefits,
and avoid costly legal challenges, is now available at a 20%
discount. According to PLI, this publication provides everything
you need to more quickly and easily:
* Translate clients' objectives into clear, precise provisions.
* Draft legacies that clearly define articles and legatees.
* Ensure that tax clauses in wills conform to directions provided
in trusts.
* Deal effectively with contingencies that might otherwise
upset wills or trusts.
* Avoid conflicts of interest when representing multiple clients
within families.
Even more, PLI says this publication enables you to help clients
exploit such tax-saving and non-tax strategies as irrevocable
inter vivos trusts, the unified credit, GST exemptions, split
trusts, grantor trusts, and many other vehicles.
Featuring extensive new coverage in its chapter on trusts,
PLI says the updated 12th Edition shows how:
* Trusts continue to confer tax savings despite the effects
of the 2001 estate tax repeal.
* Powers of appointment are another means of affording flexibility
for property held in trust.
* A states-driven movement is gaining momentum to repeal the
Rule Against Perpetuities, which significantly limits donative
freedom.
Plus, you'll find vital new guidance on drafting inter vivos
trusts, continuing trusts, the enforceability of testamentary
provisions, code provisions pertaining to the creation of
QTIPS, the effects of HIPAA, and more.
For further information, contact PLI.
Fourth, the ABA issued the 2003-2004 Lawyer Census
Report today dated October 31, 2003. The highlights
of the report include the following demographic information:
• Overall, membership is quite diverse in terms of
age, firm size and areas of concentration.
• Men comprise 71% of ABA membership.
• Women continue to increase as a percentage of members
(26% in 1995-96 vs.
29% in 2002-03), and tend to be younger than male members.
• The ethnicity of ABA members somewhat lags the lawyer
population (9% of ABA members are minorities compared to 11%
of U.S. lawyers).
• Most members work in private practice (71%).
• Among those in private practice, fewer solo practitioners
are members of the ABA relative to the solo lawyer population
(15% of ABA vs. 48% of U.S.
lawyers).
• Solo practitioners tend to be older (40% over 56
years old with only 6% under 37 years).
• Most lawyer members have their ABA dues paid for
them by their employers (59%).
• Over three-quarters of members (77%) are employed
full-time in the practice of law.
Next, we want to cover (in alpha order) all the vendors
who are here in the Exhibition Hall. They include
the following (among these, the ones with an "*"
following their name are technology related and will be covered
in more depth in later reports):
Adams Capital, Inc.
Advanced Settlements, Inc.
Air Planning, LLC
Alaska Trust Company
American Bar Association
American Express Tax and Business Services American Guaranty
& Trust Co.
American Research Bureau
American Society of Appraisers
Antiquorum Auctioneers
Appraisers and Planners Inc.
Ashton Group
Atlantic Trust
Authoritative.net & zCalc *
Bank of America
Bloomberg Wealth Manager
BNA/Tax Management, Inc. *
Bonhams & Butterfields
Brentmark Software. Inc. *
Briddge Strategies For Art, Heirs & Philanthropy Capital
Management Strategies CCH Tax and Accounting * Charitable
Trust Administration Company Christiana Bank & Trust Company
Christie's Commonwealth Trust Company ComStock Valuation Advisors,
Inc.
Connect2a.com, L.L.C. *
Coutts Bank von Ernst
Coventry First
Crawford & Company
Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management
Doyle New York
Eidelman Associates *
Empire Valuation Consultants, LLC
Estate Valuations & Pricing Systems, Inc./EVP Systems,
Inc. * EstateWorks * FASTER Systems, LLC * Fidelity Charitable
Services Fiduciary Real Estate Advisors LLC Fiduciary Trust
Company International Financial Data Service, Inc. * Firstat
RN Care Management Services Foley & Lardner LLP FOR 1031
Foundation Source Gibraltar Bank Harris Private Bank &
Harris myCFO Harvey E. Morse, P.A.
Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers
Heritance System by Datatech Software
HSBC Private Bank
Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin
Huron Consulting Group
Integrity Marketing Solutions
InterActive Legal Systems *
International Genealogical Search Inc.
LAWGIC LLC *
Lawyer's Weekly, Inc.
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers
LexisNexis *
Madison International Realty, LLC
Management Planning, Inc.
Maple Life Financial
Marsh - Private Client Services
MassMutual Financial Group
MassMutual Financial Group
Masterson Gurr Johns
Mercer Capital
Merrill Lynch
Millea Bros. Ltd.
Nadeau's Auction Gallery Inc.
National Philanthropic Trust
Newkirk Products, Inc.
Nixon Peabody Fiduciary Services
Northern Trust Bank
Paul L. Comstock Co
PENSCO Trust Company
Plexus Financial Technologies LP
PPC
ProDoc, Inc. *
Professional LawCards LLC
Renaissance
RIA *
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Rona Bartelstone Associates, Inc.
Schumacher Publishing, Inc. *
Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving
Skinner
Smith Barney
Sotheby's
South Dakota Trust Company LLC
Southpac Group (McNair, Davis Inc.)
Stack's
The Capital Trust Company of Delaware
The Citigroup Private Bank
The Goldman Sachs Trust Company, N.A.
The Lackner Group, Inc. *
TheInsuranceAdvisor.com
Thomson / Fast -Tax *
Thomson West *
Trugman Valuation Associates, Inc.
Trusts and Estates
U.S. Trust
UNS - United Nursing Services
Vanguard National Trust Company
Wachovia Exchange Services, Inc.
Wachovia Trust
WealthCounsel, LLC *
Wealthwise, LLC *
Willamette Management Associates
Wilmington Trust
Wyoming Bankers Association
Yellowstone Trust Administration
_________________________________________
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT INSTITUTE
Inquiries/Registration
Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning University
of Miami School of Law Center for Continuing Legal Education
P.O. Box 248087 Coral Gables, FL 33124-8087
Telephone305-284-4762 / FAX305-284-6752
Web site www.law.miami.edu/heckerling
E-mail heckerling@law.miami.edu
===========================================
Headquarters Hotel - Fontainebleau Hilton
4441 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33140
Telephone (305) 538-2000, FAX (305) 674-4607 ==================================================
NOTICE: Although audio tapes of all of the substantive session
at the Miami Institute currently are only made available to
Institute registrants for purchase, the entire proceeding
of the Institute are published annually by Lexis/Nexis. For
further information, go to their Web site at http//www.lexisnexis.com/productsandservices.
The text of these proceedings is also available on CD ROM
from Authority On-Demand by LexisNexis Matthew Bender. For
further information, contact your sales representative, or
call (800) 833- 9844, or fax (518) 487-3584, or go to http//www.bender.com,
or write to Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., Attn. Order Fulfillment
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