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Target: Abusive Roth IRA DealsTarget: Abusive Roth IRA Deals

It's a shame when promoters turn a legitimate retirement savings vehicle into an abusive tax shelter, but that's what has happened with Roth IRAs. Now the Internal Revenue Service has reacted. With Notice 2004-8,1 the Service in January announced that certain transactions involving Roth IRAs will be treated as listed transactions (also known as tax shelters) under Internal Revenue Code 6011, and that

Natalie B. Choate, Of Counsel

March 1, 2004

3 Min Read
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Natalie B. Choate, of counsel, Bingham McCutchen LLP, Boston

It's a shame when promoters turn a legitimate retirement savings vehicle into an abusive tax shelter, but that's what has happened with Roth IRAs. Now the Internal Revenue Service has reacted. With Notice 2004-8,1 the Service in January announced that certain transactions involving Roth IRAs will be treated as “listed transactions” (also known as tax shelters) under Internal Revenue Code 6011, and that the IRS intends to attack them on several fronts.

Here is the abuse that caught the IRS's attention: A taxpayer owns what the notice calls a “pre-existing business” (such as a corporation or proprietorship) and also owns a Roth IRA. The Roth IRA in turn owns, as the notice puts it,...

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About the Author

Natalie B. Choate

Of Counsel

http://www.nutter.com/

Natalie B. Choate is an Of Counsel in the Trusts and Estates Department. Her practice is limited to estate planning for retirement benefits. Her two books, Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits and The QPRT Manual, are leading resources for estate planning professionals.

Natalie is the founder and former chair of the Boston Bar Estate Planning Committee; a former chair of the Boston Bar Employee Benefits Committee; and a member and former officer of the Boston Probate and Estate Planning Forum. She is a fellow and former Regent of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and former chairman of its Employee Benefits Committee. Named “Estate Planner of the Year” by the Boston Estate Planning Council, Natalie is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. The National Association of Estate Planners and Councils has awarded Natalie the “Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner” designation.

Her articles on estate planning topics have been published in ACTEC Notes, Estate Planning, Trusts and Estates, Tax Practitioners Journal and Tax Management. She is an editorial advisor for Trusts and Estatesmagazine. She writes a web column and “podcast” for MorningstarAdvisor.com

Natalie has taught professional-level courses in estate planning in 49 states, and has spoken at the Heckerling, Notre Dame, Heart of America, New England, Southern California, Mississippi, Tennessee, Washington State and Southern Federal Tax Institutes. Her comments on estate and retirement planning have been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Money, Newsweek, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Forbes, Financial Planning, Financial World and The New York Times.