The Atlanta Lawyer November 2011 | Page 27

section u date Tax Law Section Update B Julian A. Fortuna The Saylor Law Firm LLP O n Thursda , October 6, 2011, the Tax Law Section co-s onsored with the Real Estate Law Section a Brea fast CLE meeting at the Buc head Club. The meeting featured a resentation entitled Real Estate Tax Law U date b Trey Webb and Tim Watt of Section s onsor Bennett Thrasher. The resenters initiall held the attention of the audience b awarding Starbuc s gift cards for correct answers to o qui questions concerning tax legislation enacted in 2010. e tax lanning ideas for 2011 and 2012 were as follows 1. Individual tax a ers should consider accelerating income from 2013 into 2012, articularl ca ital gains and qualified dividend income because the highest tax rates on these categories of income are scheduled to increase from 15 to 23.8 and 43.4 , res ectivel , on anuar 1, 2013. fortuna@sa lorlaw.com The Tax Law Section will resent additional CLE Brea fast Meetings at The Buc head Club on Februar 23, 2012 and A ril 24, 2012. The s ea ers and to ics for these meetings will be announced in the near future. Next month I will re ort on the Tax Bar Liaison Committee Meeting scheduled for November 16, 2011 at the Georgia De artment of Revenue where members of Tax Law Sections of the Atlanta Bar Association and the State Bar of Georgia will gather to discuss current issues with State Revenue Commissioner Douglas J. MacGinnitie and select members of his staff. Atlanta Bar Association Tax Law Section member Richard C. Litwin will be one of the moderators of the rogram. 2. Businesses lanning large asset urchases in 2013 should consider accelerating them to 2011 or 2012 because of tem orar bonus de reciation available in the ear of urchase at 100 for 2011 and 50 for 2012. 3. High net worth individuals should consider ma ing significant generational wealth transfers in 2011 or 2012 to ta e advantage of the gift and generation s i ing tax exclusions of 5,000,000. Among the common gifting techniques mentioned were famil limited artnershi s, defective grantor trusts and charitable lead trusts. The resenters also discussed in detail the Passive Activit Loss and Credit rules contained in Section 469 of the Internal Revenue Code and the recent Tax Court decision in Canal Cor v. Commissioner, 135 T.C. No. 9 (2010), which addressed a so-called disguised sale involving a artnershi under Section 707(a)(2)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Of cial News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association November 2011 THE ATLANTA LAWYER 27