IRS Nonacquiesces in Wandry

The Tax Court had held in the Wandry case (TC Memo 2012-88) that a fixed-dollar gift of an LLC interest (as opposed to a fixed percentage) was valid for gift tax purposes. This would be very helpful for taxpayers making gifts of hard to value assets. The IRS issued a notice that it will not acquiesce in this decision. AOD appearing at 2012-46 IRB. Some commentators believe this means that Treasury may issue regulations against fixed-dollar gifts, or that they have a better case in the pipeline.

Supreme Court to Review DOMA Challenge

We had earlier highlighted the Second Circuit opinion holding federal DOMA invalid and allowing the marital deduction against the federal estate tax for a same-sex widow, in Windsor, 110 AFTR 2d 2012-6370 (2012 CA2). The U.S. Supreme Court has now agreed to review this case, so we should know in 2013 whether same-sex couples who are legally married under state law are entitled to the same federal tax benefits as heterosexual married couples. Stay tuned!