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Key Provisions Of The IRS Restructuring And Reform Act Of 1998 Research Paper

Tax Letter The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998: Summary of the Key Provisions

Just the other day, on July 22, his Excellency the President signed into law the above mentioned Act. In basic terms, the Act brings fourth significant changes in not only the management but also the oversight of the IRS. This letter will focus on the Acts' key provisions.

Capital Gains Holding Period

Previously, non-corporate tax payers' capital gains have been exposed to a three-tier structure -- with one of these distinct levels recommending a 28% mid-term rate for capital assets held for 12 consecutive months (but for less than 18 months). This new Act does away with this particular mid-term rate and replaces it with a maximum rate of 20% for gains raked in by non-corporate taxpayers from the sale of some capital assets held for 12 consecutive months (and beyond). It is important to note that before the enactment of this Act, the 20%...

Joint Income Tax Returns
Under this Act, a spouse will find it easier to set up innocent spouse status. An innocent spouse could be defined as that spouse who at the time of signing the joint return is unaware that the tax attributable to the other spouse suffers an understatement. As per the provisions of the Act, it will be possible for a spouse to be relieved of a tax deficiency liability if the said person can establish that they:

Filed a joint return with an understatement of taxes owed; the understatement must result from erroneous items of the spouse; and the person applying for innocent spouse relief must not have known about the errors caused by the other spouse. (United States General Accounting Office, 1999, p. 14)

In that regard, therefore, the spouse does not need to demonstrate that certain AGI percentage thresholds have been…

Sources used in this document:
References

Berson, S.A. (2001). Federal Tax Litigation. New York, NY: Law Journal Press.

United States General Accounting Office. (2002). IRS Management: IRS Faces Challenges as it Restructures the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate. Washington, DC: General Accounting Office.
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