ESTATE TALK
Estate Planning with LSD?
No, this article has nothing to do with Timothy Leary. The LSD of the estate planning community is the "lump sum distribution," which can sometimes produce significant tax benefits for individuals who have participated in a certain type of company retirement plan and can afford to give those assets away.
 

HEALTH HAPPENINGS
Research Points to Protein as Alzheimer's Culprit
Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences have discovered that a protein found in patients with Alzheimer’s disease can disrupt brain signals and therefore may contribute to the memory losses of Alzheimer’s disease.
 

LEGAL LINES
Tax Court Throws Out §25.2702-3(e), Example 5
The Tax Court recently held that a grantor's retained interests in two grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) with two-year terms should be valued as annuities for a specified term of years and not as annuities for the shorter of a term certain or the period ending upon the grantor's death. 

MEDI-MINUTES
Medicare Changes Under Public Law 106-554
Part 1 of a Series: On December 21, 2000, President Clinton signed into law the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, part of Public Law 106-554. 

NATIONAL NOTES
HHS Will Not Implement Prescription Drug Law
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala is refusing to implement a law aimed at cutting prescription drug prices by allowing the drugs to be reimported from Canada. In a letter to President Clinton, Shalala cited "serious flaws and loopholes" that "make it impossible . . . to demonstrate that [the law] is safe and cost effective." 

TAX TID-BITS
Pay Income Taxes Online at Officialpayments.com
As of January 12, 2001, the IRS will begin accepting online payments for Form 1040 income taxes, Form 1040ES Estimated Payments, and Form 4868 extensions of time to file tax returns.