Section 2036 Proves Potent IRS Weapon Against Family Limited Partnerships

Taxpayers’ successful uses of Family Limited Partnerships (FLPs) to shield wealth from estate taxes and gift taxes are being challenged by the IRS with Code Section 2036.  Sec. 2036 “pulls back” into the taxable estate all assets over which the taxpayer retains direct or indirect control, subjecting them to transfer taxes.  These assets can include those transferred to FLPs where taxpayers act carelessly in conducting relationships with the entity.  The IRS’ use of Code Section 2036 has recently resulted in taxpayer losses in court and now represents the major challenge to a FLP’s viability.  To assist accountants and their clients engaged in FLPs, this article analyzes Sec. 2036 and details current tax developments, particularly the June 2003 decision in the remanded case of Strangi. The article also provides specific tax planning procedures for accountants to undertake when advising clients engaged in FLPs, so as to safeguard taxpayers’ assets against Sec. 2036 attack

Family Limited Partnerships Under Attack: Is the End Near?

Family Limited Partnerships (FLPs) represent unique vehicles for transferring wealth, such as family businesses, from one generation to another, permitting parents to gradually transfer business ownership to children while maintaining control over operations.  FLPs also serve as significant shields against the effects of gift and estate taxes, since valuation discounts can be employed to reduce the fair market value of partnership interests transferred to children and other family members.  However, these tax savings have resulted in aggressive audit and court challenges by the IRS.  For accountants, responding to these challenges for their clients means understanding both how the financial and tax aspects of FLPs operate.  This article details the critical nontax aspects of FLPs and presents a thorough examination of current tax developments, including the June 2002 appellate court decisions.  Finally, the article discusses specific steps accountants should take in advising their clients to protect family assets and defend against IRS attacks

Music in Medicine: Enhancing Emotion Recognition in Medical Students

Previous studies have shown that visual art courses for medical students have improved their diagnostic skills. A music course in a similar fashion may enhance their ability to recognize patient emotion in the patient’s voice. Identifying patient emotion via auditory cues allows future physicians to appropriately respond to patients’ mental states and provide empathetic care. This study proposes that medical students who complete a course in recognizing emotional cues in music will outperform a control group in correctly identifying emotion in the human voice. Participants were randomly divided into control and experimental groups, in which only the latter completed a lesson in recognizing varying emotional styles in a musical passage. After completion of the music course by the experimental group, both groups were asked to match the emotions “happy,” “sad,” “angry,” “hesitant,” and “curious” to recordings of the human voice with those emotional inflections. The latter two were considered to be the more challenging emotions to identify. Each group’s scores were compared using an independent t-test. The experimental group mean score was 0.84, which was significantly higher compared to that of the control group, 0.34 (P\u3c.05). Additionally, the control group was more likely to incorrectly identify the voice recordings with the inflections “hesitant” and “curious,” considered to be more challenging than the remaining three emotions. These results corroborated the hypothesis that students receiving a primer course in recognizing emotional cues in music would be better prepared to identify emotion in human voice. The results also imply that the music course may aid students in identifying more complex emotions that may not be explicit in a patient’s tone of voice. Medical students who are aware of their patients’ emotional state without being explicitly told may be able to foster a greater degree of doctor-patient trust via their heightened sense of empathy

A CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVE ON THE BA DINH ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

This paper presents one of the four recommendations on the conservation and presentation management of the Ba Dinh Archaeological Site drafted during the 2nd Asian Academy for Heritage Management Field School in Hanoi in 2005. It presents the site’s background and identifies heritage issues, significance and values. It also covers the appropriate international charters and protocols on cultural conservation of heritage sites. It concludes with a statement on the impact of Ba Dinh to the people of Vietnam as regards their cultural and historical heritage and its worth in nation building

Multiple-unit franchising and performance outcomes

The economic and social contribution of franchising is widely reported. Although, most studies have examined franchising from the single-unit typology, multiple-unit franchising is found to be a popular and pervasive retailing strategy throughout the world. Despite this, there is a paucity of prior research examining the factors influencing the achievement of the four franchising imperatives. This represents an important gapin the organizational choice literature. Therefore, this study empirically examines the impact of the four franchising imperatives (i.e. unit growth, system uniformity, local responsiveness and system wide adaptation) (Bradach 1995) upon franchise system operational performance across the four key governance structures (i.e. master franchising, area development franchising, area representative franchising and incremental franchising). Based on a sample of 347 Australian franchisors, the findings indicate that there are significant differences in the way in which three of the four imperatives (i.e. unit growth, system uniformity and system-wide adaptation) impact on performance across different governance structures. Practical and managerial implications and future research direction are discussed

Kennesaw State University Men\u27s Ensemble, Chorale, and Chamber Singers, Sacred Music of Fauré and Mozart

This KSU School of Music performance by the KSU Men\u27s Ensemble, Chorale, and Chamber Singers led by Director of Choral Activities, Dr. Leslie Blackwell, features Gabriel Fauré\u27s Requiem and Mozart\u27s Vesperae solennes de confessore (K. 339) with guest organist Brian Parks.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2105/thumbnail.jp

Cosmetic obsolescence? User perceptions of new and artificially aged materials

This paper presents the findings of a user study which explored tactile and aesthetic responses to new and artificially aged mobile phone cases made from bamboo, walnut, cork, leather, brushed titanium, plastic and rubber. The paper outlines test methods for accelerated ageing of the external enclosures of consumer electronics based on the types of wear experienced in use, and the use of semantic differential scales (SDS) to probe user attitudes to these materials. The results indicate that preferences for the materials tested were extremely subjective, and even a single participant can have conflicting requirements for the characteristics of the materials (for example, sleek and shiny yet easy to grip). Whilst in general participants preferred the new materials and saw the ageing process as negative, there were examples where the aged samples either scored more highly due to durability (titanium) or received positive comments about the aesthetic changes caused by severe ageing (bamboo and leather). This study captured the participants' immediate, visceral response to the materials, which may be very different to their feelings towards materials and objects that they have owned and interacted with for a period of time

Processual antecedents of perceived channel conflict in franchising

In this study, we develop and examine the network of relationships explaining perceived conflict in franchise relationships from a franchisee perspective. Our research contributes to the current knowledge of asymmetric exchange relationships through demonstrating the importance of a franchisee's expectations confirmation, relational trust and relationship satisfaction in franchisee assessments of network conflict. The goal of this paper is to empirically examine (1) the relationship between franchisee perceptions of information quality (information dissemination and information search) and the confirmation of franchisee performance expectations, (2) franchisee characterizations of their relationships with their franchisors in terms of relational sentiments such as trust and relational satisfaction, communication and conflict management, (3) the relationship between franchisee satisfaction and perceived conflict, and (4) the moderating effect of franchisee experience on the relationship between franchisee satisfaction and franchisee perceptions of conflict. Empirical results, utilizing a sample of 345 franchisees in Australia, present strong evidence for the support of nine of the ten hypotheses drawn from the conceptual model. Specifically, data reveal that in an effort to cultivate a network of cooperative and satisfied franchisees, franchisors should adopt strategies that promote the timely dissemination of relevant and meaningful pre- and post-entry information, open communication exchange, transparent conflict management systems and personalized support in accommodating individual franchisee needs

Prehabilitation for Shoulder Dysfunction in Breast Cancer

Objective: To evaluate prehabilitation exercises to improve shoulder pain and abduction range of motion (ROM) after breast cancer surgery; to evaluate methods of exercise teaching; to assess postsurgical seroma formation. Design: Pilot study Setting: Academic medical center Participants: 60 breast cancer patients were randomly assigned to either personal exercise instruction, group 1, n=36, or video only instruction, group 2, n=24. Interventions: Shoulder exercises were assigned to both groups 1 month prior to surgery at an outpatient visit. Group 1 received personal instruction on exercises, plus written exercise instruction, and a link to access an online video. Group 2 received only written exercise instruction and a link to access the online video. Main Outcome Measures: Exercise compliance, pain (via visual analog scale), shoulder abduction ROM (via goniometer), and presence or absence of seroma. Results or Clinical Course: 76% of study patients chose to exercise. There was no difference in exercise compliance between personal instruction versus video teaching. (75%, 24/32 in-person vs. 77%, 10/13 video only, OR=1.03). 66% of patients (20/30) lost greater than 10 degrees shoulder abduction ROM at 1 month post surgery. 29% of patients (9/31) had worse shoulder pain at one month post surgery than at baseline (24%, 6/25 exercisers, and 50%, 3/6 non-exercisers). 15% of patients (4/27) had worse shoulder pain at 3 months post surgery than at baseline (8%, 2/25 exercisers, and 100%, 2/2 non-exercisers). Prehabilitation exercise program inferred no additional risk of seroma formation (21%, 7/33 exercisers vs. 22%, 2/9 non-exercisers OR=.94). Conclusion: In-person teaching does not appear superior to video teaching for prehabilitation exercises in breast cancer. A high quality randomized controlled trial is necessary to assess efficacy of prehabilitation for improving post surgical outcomes. Prehabilitation exercises do not appear to increase risk of seroma formation in breast cancer surgery