Hello to all! Well, we are past the national mid-term elections, and so more, not less, uncertainty awaits estate planners and their clients. Will the Bush tax cuts from a few years ago be extended, in whole or in part? Will the lame duck Congress enact retroactive estate tax legislation back to January, 2010? And what will the new Congress this coming January do - if anything - regarding the estate tax? In the meantime, advisors dealing with the estates of clients who have died already in 2010 must analyze the modified carryover basis income tax rules, and get ready to file in 2011 the information form under IRC Sec. 6018 (although IRS has yet to provide a form!).

I participated in a PESI Law & Accounting Conference chaired by Sid Kess last month in Las Vegas - a great educational experience, including not only my own presentation on FLPs, et al, but also chairing a panel with several experienced professionals on what our clients should do in 2010, even at this late date. More about that in my next full newsletter, which I hope to post by mid-November.

Also, at the 30th Annual So CA Tax & Estate Planning Forum, L.A. tax litigation lawyer Chuck Rettig and I presented a panel discussion on Tax Practitioner Standards of Practice and Penalty Avoidance - given the IRS efforts to force practitioners into an ever higher level of practice due diligence, this was an important panel.

In December, I present seminars on ID Estate Planning 2011, sponsored by PESI Law & Accounting, both in Boise (12/) and in Coeur d'Alene (12/3 - this is an 8 hour seminar covering Federal law issues in estate planning, even with the tremendous uncertainty present. Then, in December I also am a faculty member at the WesternCPE Tax, Estate and Financial Planning Conference in Las Vegas - presenting my Valuation course on 12/8 and the Pass-Through Entities course on 12/9. See www.westerncpe.com . Finally, for CPELink (www.cpelink.com), in December I continue my periodic presentation of three (3) related courses - one on Estate Planning, the second on Valuation and the third regarding FLPs et al. So the balance of this year is quite busy!

In the coming Newsletter, I will review briefly several interesting books, including Howard Zaritsky's book on Estate Planning 2010 (complete with a helpful checklist, as well as forms), Keith Schiller's excellent work on "The Art of the Estate Tax Return", and, finally, the Chris Mercer, ASA, book on Buy-Sell Agreements, which certainly is an important area of planning for family-owned business enterprises - especially in light of the Holman case and the 2703 issues involved therein.

I hope each of you has a healthy and happy holiday season, with Thanksgiving just around the corner!

Owen Fiore