Study Published on Reform of Estate and Gift Tax System.

• Position: Brief Article

With the future of the federal transfer tax system a hot policy and political issue for 2001, the AICPA Tax Division has completed a report entitled Study on Reform of the Estate and Gift Tax System. The study, whose purpose is to educate, confirms that significant reform is appropriate and should be undertaken as quickly as possible.

Included in the study is an overview of the arguments others have made both for and against the current transfer tax, a summary of the current system, and a description of possible modifications and alternatives, including outright repeal. For each modification or alternative, there is both an analysis of its impact on taxpayer behavior, complexity and compliance, liquidity, redistribution of wealth, tax and succession planning, revenue and...