Surface Transportation Act Paves New Road to Estate Tax Reporting Compliance

The Surface Transportation Act enacted in July includes a number of tax compliance measures—including some paving the way for the IRS to close gaps in inconsistent estate basis reporting and imposing additional filing requirements on estates. This article by Stefanie J. Lipson of Greenberg Glusker takes a look at the estate basis filing and reporting provisions, particularly the ‘‘separate statement’’ provision that directs practitioners and tax preparers to submit a ‘‘statement’’ to the IRS and any beneficiary who receives property showing the same information as that found on the estate tax return.