On March 10, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (“Service”) issued Notice 2014?17 (“Notice”). The Notice focuses on the tax treatment of per capita distributions made to members of Indian tribes from funds previously held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior and which were derived from interests in trust lands, trust resources and/or trust assets.
The Department of Interior (“DOI”) is responsible for holding these trust funds on behalf of federally-recognized tribes and certain individual Indians who have an interest in trust lands, trust resources, or trust assets. The Office of Special Trustee within the DOI is tasked with the responsibility of managing these funds.
Prior to 1983, the DOI made per capita distributions of the trust funds directly to the members of the tribes. In 1983, pursuant to the Per Capita Act, however, tribes were given authority to receive the trust funds and hold them in tribal trust accounts for subsequent per capita distributions to members. So, now the DOI can distribute the trust funds to the tribes who, in turn, make the per capita distributions to members.
The law appears fairly clear in that per capita distributions of these funds from the DOI to tribal members are excluded from gross income. The issue, following the enactment of the Per Capita Act, is whether per capita distributions received by members from their tribes are likewise excludable from gross income.
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Larry J. Brant
Editor
Larry J. Brant is a Shareholder and the Chair of the Tax & Benefits practice group at Foster Garvey, a law firm based out of the Pacific Northwest, with offices in Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Washington, D.C.; New York, New York, Spokane, Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Beijing, China. Mr. Brant is licensed to practice in Oregon and Washington. His practice focuses on tax, tax controversy and transactions. Mr. Brant is a past Chair of the Oregon State Bar Taxation Section. He was the long-term Chair of the Oregon Tax Institute, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Portland Tax Forum. Mr. Brant has served as an adjunct professor, teaching corporate taxation, at Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College. He is an Expert Contributor to Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Catalyst. Mr. Brant is a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel. He publishes articles on numerous income tax issues, including Taxation of S Corporations, Reasonable Compensation, Circular 230, Worker Classification, IRC § 1031 Exchanges, Choice of Entity, Entity Tax Classification, and State and Local Taxation. Mr. Brant is a frequent lecturer at local, regional and national tax and business conferences for CPAs and attorneys. He was the 2015 Recipient of the Oregon State Bar Tax Section Award of Merit.
