In the past three years, we’ve seen an average of 5 to 7 new family limited partnership (FLP) cases per year, primarily in the estate tax context but also the gift tax and even the state tax and divorce arena. We’ve also seen increased IRS oversight of appraisers in particular and tax preparers in general—for example, the IRS’s Return Preparer Review, just released in Dec. 2009. Regulatory revisions will continue apace, especially given the legislative vacuum that will need to be filled on the “expiration” of the estate tax this year.

Where can you get the latest insights and updates from the top tax appraisers? Join Linda Trugman, Chris Treharne, and Jay Fishman for the next BVR teleconference, “Valuation Issues in Estate & Gift Tax,” on March 4, 2010. In particular, Fishman has just returned from a meeting in Washington, D.C.—he’s the only business appraiser on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council—and will share IRS news on tax preparer penalties, concerns about limitations (or elimination) of marketability discounts, and other current topics. Find out more and register for the teleconference here.