Is a distribution made to a surviving spouse that was rolled to her IRA but can be traced to her deceased spouse's IRA account eligible for the death benefit exception to Section 72(t)?  Considering a nearly $100,000 penalty was on the table, the taxpayer in the case of Gee v. Commissioner (127 TC No. 1) certainly hoped the Tax Court would answer yes. 

Unfortunately for her, the Tax Court answered in the negative.  We look at the facts of her case, as well as the whole question of whether a surviving spouse should elect to treat an IRA as his/her own or take it as a beneficiary.

The materials can be downloaded at http://www.edzollars.com/2006-07-29_IRA_Spouse.pdf .

The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services (who had an email newsletter on this topic earlier this week), located on the web at http://www.leimbergservices.com .

And now for something completely different-coverage of FASB.  Well, actually there is a tax angle to this one, as FASB has issued FASB Interpretation 48 in final form in June that will deal with uncertain tax positions.  The new interpretation will create some real problems for CPAs, especially those who both handle tax matters and have any sort of attest relationship with the client (including compilations, reviews and audits) that deals with GAAP statements.

The materials can be downloaded from http://www.edzollars.com/2006-07-22_FASB_Podcast.pdf , though the actual FASB interpretation needs to be downloaded from their site ( http://www.fasb.org/st/#int48 ) due to copyright issues-and you will want to download it.

The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, on the web at www.leimbergservices.com .

The logic of the application of the IRC to specific situations at times seems to defy common logic, and this week we look at a specific case of such.  In this case, the Tax Court decided that a reasonable cause for late filing that allowed a taxpayer to avoid the late filing penalty was that the court believed the taxpayer in reality had mailed the return on time, even if as a matter of law the return was late filed.  This is an extension of the issue discussed in the October 2005 podcast on proving timely filing.

The case in question is Gregorian v. Commissioner, TC Summary 2006-99.

The materials can be downloaded from http://edzollars.com/2006-07-15_Late_Filing.pdf .

Apologies for some of the audio glitches you'll notice this week.  For various reasons this week I used my Windows laptop to record the podcast--and, as should be clear, the machine proved "suboptimal" even though it used the same tools (hardware and software) as the old Mac iBook I normally use.  We'll be back on the iBook in next week's podcast.

The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, located on the web at http://www.leimbergservices.com .

The issue of the taxation of prepaid purchase discounts that may need to be refunded if purchase goals are not met has resurfaced as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Tax Court in the case of Westpac Pacific Foods v. Commissioner.  The Ninth Circuit's views on this topic differ both from those of the Tax Court and the IRS, each of which has it own views o this topic.

In the podcast, the question to be addressed is what do we tell our clients who are faced with this issue? 

The materials for this podcast can be downloaded from http://edzollars.com/2006-07-08_Westpac_Advances.pdf .

The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, located on the web at http://www.leimbergservices.com .

For our one year anniversary show, we take a look at the newly released regulations under Section 199 as they define construction found at Regulation §1.199-3(m).  These definitions are key for anyone who works with clients in construction related entities. 

The materials for this podcast can be downloaded at http://edzollars.com/2006-07-01_Construction.pdf .

As I noted last week, I returned this week from visiting Syracuse, New York where  I presented a couple of continuing education courses for the New York Society of CPAs, and this was one of the topics we talked about in the course I gave Tuesday.

This podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, on the web at http://www.leimbergservices.com .