The President signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 on Oct. 3, 2008. In addition to the major tax provisions that directly address current financial bailout measures, the new law includes over 300 changes to the Internal Revenue Code, which will have an impact on year-end tax planning.

A private equity firm (PEF) is structured as a partnership in which investors, including PEF employees, become limited partners and the fund’s manager is a general partner. Generally, a PEF, using a variety of funding sources, acquires a public firm, privatizes it, “right-sizes” it free from public scrutiny, then offers stakes of the entity through a public offering.

In an article in Taxes — The Tax Magazine, Raymond J. Elson and Leonard G. Weld examine whether carried interest from a PEF should be taxed at the current 15-percent capital gains rate or as ordinary income.

Just a few years ago, practitioners were uncertain as to what legitimate client objectives could be accomplished with the traditional limited partnership and LLC vehicles. The Tax Court issued opinions that called into question the most fundamental of traditional practices, causing many practitioners to seriously question the viability of these entities as legitimate planning tools.

Fortunately, the appellate courts took a more practical approach, and two recent opinions delivered by the Tax Court continue to expand on that trend. These cases provide solid evidence that many of the cautions advanced in recent years are unnecessary overreactions to perceived Tax Court hostility.

In their Advanced Planning Strategies column in the Journal of Practical Estate Planning, Stan Miller and D. Scott Schrader make some observations derived from recent cases that practitioners will find helpful as they work with their clients to accomplish legitimate planning objectives.

In an article in Corporate Business Taxation Monthly, Charles Goulding, Jacob Goldman, and Taylor Goulding discuss eligible facilities and expenditures that qualify for the new Agricultural Chemical Industry Tax Credit. They also provide examples illustrating the calculation of this tax credit in conjunction with additional tax benefits available for the fertilizer and agricultural industries.