The American Institute of CPAs has sent comments to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department asking for changes in the IRS’s
In its
In addition, the AICPA said the IRS should allow processing of the form if “unknown” is an appropriate answer, so long as the form is accompanied by an explanation. That way, the form would not be considered incomplete, which could subject the estate to penalties for failure to file a correct Form 8971 by its due date.
The AICPA also suggested the IRS should ask if the estate tax value is used for income tax purposes, and the form should include the date of the previous supplemental filing. The Institute also said the instructions should include guidance on post Form 706 filing information needed by beneficiaries for determining basis.
The AICPA called on the IRS and the Treasury to issue additional guidance in order to ensure consistent basis reporting between estates and persons acquiring property from a decedent.
The AICPA urged the Treasury and IRS to immediately publish guidance to provide penalty relief if the executor acts in good faith and to provide reasonable cause penalty relief, clarify the time period (if any) that the executor has continuing responsibilities after providing the original statement, treat trusts as the beneficiary, provide a de minimis exemption to the information reporting rules for assets or groups of assets that are not publicly-traded and are of de minimis value, such as $3,000; and provide guidance and clarifications on other issues.
AICPA Tax Executive Committee chair Troy K. Lewis also praised the IRS’s decision to delay the due date for filing a new statement on basis reporting for estates. The IRS and the Treasury issued