DID YOU KNOW?
Wide Heels Hurt Knees
Scientists have discovered a link between wide-heeled women's shoes and osteoarthritis of the knee in the women who wear them.

ESTATE TALK
QTIP Elections Void When They Have No Effect on Estate Tax Liability
The IRS recently issued Rev. Proc. 2001-38, which provides that an election for qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) will be treated as null and void for purposes of §§2044(a), 2056(b)(7), 2519(a), and 2652 when the election will have no estate tax consequences.

MEDI-MINUTES
HCFA Becomes Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced at a press conference that the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has a new name: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMMS). 

NATIONAL NOTES
AoA Offers Grant Money to Innovative Programs for Caregiver Support
Families provide about 80% of eldercare in America. The U.S. government would have to increase its eldercare programs by 400% to reach the level of care provided by family caregivers. For this reason, the Administration on Aging (AoA) is making approximately $6 million available for innovative programs to help families and informal caregivers.
 

TAX TID-BITS
Watch Out for the ReciprocalGift Trap
The Eighth Circuit recently affirmed a Tax Court ruling that the gifts of three couples to each other's children were actually indirect gifts to their own children. However, the Eighth Circuit reversed the Tax Court's decision that the wives involved in the indirect gifts should be subject to accuracy-related penalties.