Acc 487
Estate Planning
Here is the syllabus for Acc 487 Spring 2004 in pdf format
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
Completed
for the semester, although I may offer one extra credit assignment.
Last homework is down below, due
TEST &
RETURNS&
Example
Here is a sample Trust return from
your corporate tax book. Here is the problem
associated with the answer. This example
is more complex due to extensive DNI computations – recall your problem
virtually all income is distributed. r.. ç NEW
GRADES:
Grades will be on blackboard.
Items relating to
1. Homework (last to be assigned) for 15 points, due NOW.
Query: if an estate or trust receives a section 179
deduction via a passthrough (for example, from a partnership or a sub S corp K-1), we already know the trust cannot use a 179
amount (or do we?). But, (and here is the minor research question) can the 179
amount be allocated or somehow “passed out” to the beneficiaries as opposed to
losing it? Otherwise, it looks like it is lost.
Recall in Trust accounting, rules used for an individual are used in
cases where it may not be clear or stated in trust taxation. You may research any source, you may talk to any
persons, and of course, you may talk with your classmates. I don’t expect a technical analysis, but you
should give me some basis for your conclusion. This is probably a one pager.
2. You might need this for the exam.
3. Trust
return is posted. Also, I should easily
be able to get a sample posted later. I didn’t make it clear earlier so it is due
4. The TEST TWO is
posted! EXAM DUE BEGINNING OF CLASS,
Class Materials
Descent and distribution – Intestate (i.e., what happens without
a Will!) Distribution Texas
Style
Sample Living Will [sometimes called Physician’s directive]
OLDER OUTLINES
Older stuff for an older nonused
book but might have a few jewels of interest: Chapter 1 and 2 outline/overview Chapter
3 overview
Link to RIA Checkpoint:
Here is a link to a brief page with citation examples:
A HUMOROUS “1934” TEXAS WILL (NOT!)
Enjoy
this “classic” will that
many generations of law and estate planning students have passed around! Many
people still feel this way, particularly about the lawyer.
WILL OF A PET
While
not exactly estate planning, I thought this “will”
says it all to/for pet owners.
Stevenson Center Web Site-
Dedicated to pet care
after the pet “owner” is gone and
perhaps no one else wants the pet or the owner wants to make sure their friends
are well taken care of for the rest of their lives…
Sadly, the poodle Jill
has recently passed away.
You might want to check
on the present residents as well as the deceased friends; they all have an
interesting story to share. Obviously,
only pet owners will enjoy these pages.
Estate Planning for Pets-
An interest of mine…
You might want to visit www.professorbeyer.com for some useful
stuff. I also hope to write a paper in this area in the near future.
Possible change of status of
Pets in
Here
is a link to the Living Will, POA, and Health POA examples I will show in
class:
www.trustsandestates.net/EPForms/POAetc.htm
(you
may want to look around at the main site (www.trustsandestates.net) for other
interesting things, some of which we will look at later in class as well. I highly respect Mr. Ice, the author of the
site.
WRITING
Here
is a sample interoffice memo and I
will provide another better example here later and/or in class.
Here is a paper I did a few years ago for law
school. I scanned this in thus it is not
perfect. Also, in those days, we didn’t have italics in certain fonts, so we
underlined items. Also realize that most of the text is out of date. It is not
in html format.
The paper by myself
entitled The World
Of Trusts- Or- Can You Trust What You Hear About Trusts is attached in Word format. It is also in HTML
format, but some of the more extensive formatting has been lost, but otherwise
is quite easy to read, particularly since the footnotes are in HTML and easy to
click to!!!
NOTICE TO ALL CLASSES WHO
TURN IN PAPERS TO ME: I expect to use www.turnitin.com (an internet plagiarism
checker) in the future. Accordingly, either
quit cut and pasting or cite your sources. THIS IS YOUR FAIR WARNING!
Hints for the estate tax return preparation
blank.
Paper Topics
Here
are possible topics for your
paper. UPDATED March 12, 2003. Be
imaginative and come up with something interesting to yourself!
Final Paper Clarifying statement: for graduate students, your paper must be approved by me in advance, it
must be at least 25 pages of text,
not counting bibliography, cover sheets, etc., and it will be reviewed in
relation to other graduate student work. I expect scholarly work from you.
Undergraduate students must write at least a 10 page paper, not counting bibliography, etc.
While I have lenient in the past, this semester I
will not accept a late paper without a serious deduction of points.
Obtaining RIA Checkpoint Initial Password
è è NOTE:
For this initial setup ONLY,
you have to be
using the SHSU system
or a linked SHSU
computer ONLY
at this initial setup time. ç ç
UPDATE: While the URL at the library has been updated
so there is no problem, you may still prefer to follow this procedure as it
actually is faster. One nice thing is it
has a help line phone number for you if you have problems. A letter from RIA:
FOR STUDENTS:
As part of your class work for this semester, your school
has made RIA Checkpoint® available to you. Checkpoint is the premier
web-based research tool available to accounting and tax research
professionals. Thousands of users rely
on Checkpoint as their primary research tool, and you will be getting a head
start on learning how to use this valuable web-based resource.
Registration
for Checkpoint is restricted. You will
have to register using only certain computers that are recognized by the
Checkpoint system. During registration,
you will have to supply your name, e-mail address, and semester enrolling for
to receive your Checkpoint User Name and Password. Checkpoint Registration would then send a
User Name and Password via email for accessing Checkpoint. After you have registered, you can use
Checkpoint from any computer that has Internet access.
To
register:
1.
Go
to one of the computers that are within the institution intranet.
2.
Launch
a browser, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape.
3.
Type
the following in the “address” or “URL” field of the browser:
http://www.RIAhome.com/cploginids
4.
Press
Enter.
5.
Please
fill in the required information on the registration page.
6.
Click
Register, to submit the information.
7.
If
you have any questions please contact RIA’s Technical
Support team at 1-800-431-9025, prompt 4 anytime Monday-Friday 9:00am-8:00pm
Eastern Time.
Or, use this method:
Go
to SHSU home page (www.shsu.edu). You will see the library noted as a link.
Click it. From the Library Home web page you will see “Resources”, which then
activates a bunch of things on screen, so click on "Databases and Indexes" then:
under
Subject List click on "Business and Economics", then you
see a lot of things, but
scroll
down to RIA Checkpoint.
There
is an "initial login" link students will use to get their
id/password. YOU MUST BE USING AN SHSU
computer (and/or perhaps dialin) to get the menu
shown to you in class, else you get a warning you are not using the correct
computer “newtwork”.
You
can use your home email address (you don’t have to use your SHSU email address)
to obtain the password etc. Once you
have the password, you can use any internet service provider system (ISP)
anywhere and gain access to RIA. In other words, you could use AOL, MSN, SWBell, or whatever internet service provider you use. In the past, however there was some trouble
with anyone who had a “@yahoo.com” address, it would not accept that email
address. I don’t know if this was fixed or not. If so, just use your SHSU or
other email address you may have.
After that you can simply click on the RIA
Checkpoint link itself www.checkpoint.riag.com
at your home or any other computer connected to the net.
All this security is to assure only SHSU
students or other authorized folks get access to this program.
Otherwise,
if you can’t get to the SHSU system, use the password given to you by the book,
but it is not of full functionality as the above password technique. I can help you get it set up if you need help
and are out of town and cannot get access to the system.
ZCALC
Here
is a link to www.zcalc.com. We will
eventually download the 30 day evaluation Excel Program add in. DO NOT LOAD THIS
PROGRAM ON A UNIVERSITY NETWORKE
You
will be required to provide Zcalc your email address,
but that is so they can email you your 31 day password. We will use this for a class project, so feel
free to download it.
Once
you have downloaded it and loaded it onto your computer, you then go to your
main start screen and you will see an icon that looks like the Excel
Spreadsheet. It also gives you a choice
as to either Excel 95/97 or Excel 2000.
Your
icon should have a subtitle that says zCALC Tool
box. Merely click on it, and start
playing. It may ask you if it is ok to run, since it has macros, and simply
click ok or whatever. The main fields
you will use while in demo mode are the “planners” and forward/back
arrows. Later start playing with your
own data by establishing new clients and of course feel free to play with your
own data. There are about 10 sample programs (planners) that we have been or
will be talking about in class.