Unclaimed electronic gift cards and stored value cards along with paper gift certificates amount to $8 billion to $9 billion annually nationwide. While a trend for state governments to audit these amounts occurred in the 1990s, now federal auditors are targeting retailers’ income from unclaimed gift cards, with the IRS recently issuing a Field Attorney Advice and an Industry Director’s Directive. John A. Biek, in an article in the Journal of Passthrough Entities, explains the evolution of unclaimed property laws and audits and offers insight regarding questions federal auditors will be examining.

John A. Sikora, in an article in Taxes—The Tax Magazine, examines the final regulations relating to application of Code Secs. 468B and 7872 to exchange funds held by qualified intermediaries and others in connection with exchange transactions.

Tax and nontax considerations often govern the type of entity structure utilized for a particular business venture. Certain factors often come into play throughout the various stages of an entity’s existence—from its organization through its operation and during its liquidation. In an article in Corporate Business Taxation Monthly, Agnes Gesiko analyzes tax and nontax implications arising from the use of various business entities while describing several advantages and disadvantages of utilizing particular entity structures.

As federal inquiries into alleged tax shelters increase, the right to adequate legal representation—long a tradition in American justice—is now often equated with enough funds to see a proper defense through to the end. Innocent tax planners should not be forced to plea bargain guilt for want of enough money to defend themselves against federal prosecutors’ bottomless coffers. Waxing at turns both patriotic and instructive, Charles P. Rettig and Kathryn Keneally, in an article in the Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure, detail a landmark case as well as an ensuing Dept. of Justice memorandum restraining overzealous prosecutors from coercing corporations to drop legal representation of employees.