Top 10 Tax Headlines from North America As part of California's annual budget ordeal, rather than enacting new taxes, the legislature enacted (and the Governor signed) various income shifting and tax acceleration provisions. On December 23, 2008, President Bush signed the Worker, Retiree,and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (H.R. 7327) (the "WRERAct"), which provides that owners and beneficiaries ofIRAs and other defined contribution plans who are required to takerequired minimum distributions ("RMDs") from their plans in tax year 2009, will generally be able to leave their money in their plans (hopefully to grow) without suffering anypenalty for failure to withdraw. The normal rules still apply for 2008. As we all know, Michael Jackson died this past summer. Although the stories of his unusual lifestyle and abuses have flooded the media, it appears that his estate plan was rather conventional. Summer has given way to fall, and Congress has returned from its August recess. In addition to facing other substantial initiatives, it has less than three months to address federal estate tax law. The British Columbia and Ontario governments have each released a general description of transition rules for the upcoming replacement of the provincial sales tax in those provinces (“PST”) with a sales tax (the “HST”) harmonized with the federal GST. Failing to comply with various federal group health plan mandates, including COBRA and HIPAA portability, just got riskier and costlier for employers. Canadian income trusts flourished in the earlier part of this decade and provided significant tax benefits to their investors, particularly to investors exempt from Canadian income tax and investors not resident in Canada. As many of you know, the federal estate tax exemption (or credit equivalent) increased on January 1, 2009 from $2 million per person to $3.5 million. The IRS is about to start detailed employment tax audits of 6,000 U.S. employers to determine whether those employers are properly reporting and paying Federal employment taxes. Congress has resurrected a prior Stimulus Act proposal allowing most taxpayers, not just small businesses, to extend the NOL carryback period under section 172 for up to five years for 2008 and 2009 NOLs. | 
