Fiduciary Accounting Answer Book (2020)

Highlights of the 2020 Edition:

CONTENTS

Carol A. Cantrell, CPA, JD is a shareholder of Briggs & Veselka Co., one of the largest public accounting firms in Houston, Texas. She is also a Certified Financial Planner. She specializes in estate, tax and financial planning for families, closely held businesses, and investment entities. Prior to her merger with Briggs & Veselka in 2000, she and her husband, W. Patrick Cantrell, operated Cantrell & Company, a boutique tax firm in Houston, specializing in tax planning and IRS representation. Carol is a frequent speaker for national and state professional organizations on income taxation of estates and trusts, partnerships, and S corporations. She is also the author of CCH's Stock Options: Estate, Tax and Financial Planning, a treatise on employee stock options.

As a licensed attorney, Carol represented the Rudkin Testamentary Trust pro bono before the United States Supreme Court in Knight v. Commissioner (2008). In that decision, the Court resolved a circuit split over which administrative costs of an estate or trust are exempt from the 2-percent floor on miscellaneous itemized deductions under IRC Section 67. The court found that Section 67(e) exempts onlycosts that individuals do not "commonly" or "customarily" incur and because it saw no distinction between the investment costs incurred by the Trust and those commonly incurred by individuals, the Court found the Trust's investment advisory fees subject to the floor.

It is the author's sincere desire that this book will help its readers to distinguish between the costs incurred by a fiduciary to comply with the Uniform Principal and Income Act and the Uniform Prudent Investor Act and the costs voluntarily incurred by individual investors.

F. Gordon Spoor has practiced public accounting in St. Petersburg, Florida since 1974. He is married to Chris Spoor and they have four children ranging in age from 27 to 33 and five grandchildren. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of South Florida and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Suncoast Estate Planning Council and holder of a NASD series 65 Registered Investment Advisor Representative license. He is licensed to practice as a CPA in both Florida and Georgia.

He is the managing shareholder of the CPA firm of Spoor & Associates, P.A., and a shareholder in the investment advisory firm of Anderson, Riley & Spoor, P.A. He is active in the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA) and served on its Board of Governors in 2002-2003, as Chairman of the FICPA State Tax Section for two years, and as a member of the Legislative Policy Committees for one year.

He is currently a member of the FICPA Federal Tax Committee, Chairman of the AICPA Trust, Estate & Gift Tax Technical Resource Panel, Chairman of the AICPA Fiduciary Accounting Matters Task Force and has served on a joint committee composed of the FICPA, Florida Bar and Florida Bankers Association regarding the rewriting of Florida's Trust Administration Code and revisions to Florida's Principal & Income Act. Gordon also serves as an expert witness for the State of Florida Board of Accountancy. Additionally, he serves as a discussion leader for continuing professional education courses and has been awarded an outstanding discussion leader award in every year the award has been given since he became a discussion leader in 1992.

He is also the recipient of a 2000-2001 FICPA Presidential Service Award as a result of his efforts on behalf of the FICPA in serving as the lead representative of their Florida Uniform Principal & Income Act task force. He is a frequently published author on subjects relating to estates & trusts as well as the area of general tax practice.

He has published numerous articles covering these topics and others. He is co-author of the FICPA's "Fiduciary Accounting For Florida" course materials and a contributing author to "Florida Law of Trusts – Fourth Edition" (West Publishing). Much of his time is spent consulting in the area of fiduciary accounting and income tax as well as litigation support in trust matters.