5th Circuit invalidates health care law’s individual mandate

The Fifth Circuit held that the “individual mandate” under Sec. 5000A, which imposes a “shared responsibility payment” on taxpayers who do not obtain health insurance that provides at least minimum essential coverage, is unconstitutional now that the payment amount has been reduced to zero.

Final regs. eliminate estate and gift tax clawback

The IRS issued final regulations that reconcile the current higher exclusion for the estate and gift tax unified credit amount in effect under the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with the lower unified credit, which is scheduled to go into effect in 2026, eliminating a possible future clawback of the higher exclusion amount.