Chapter 31: Complex Problem Dissections

This chapter brings the REG curriculum together through integrated problem types rather than isolated rule review. The purpose is to practice identifying the controlling issue sequence when a single fact pattern spans ethics, compliance, entity taxation, planning, and property transactions.

In This Chapter

• Ethics, Professional Responsibilities, and Tax Procedures combines practitioner-duty and procedural issues in applied scenarios.
• Advanced Individual Tax Compliance and Planning integrates income, deductions, limits, and planning choices.
• Entity Tax Compliance (C Corps, S Corps, Partnerships) compares the major entity frameworks within one review set.
• Entity Tax Planning (Formation, Liquidation, Restructuring) applies planning logic to advanced business-entity cases.
• Property Transactions, Nontaxable Exchanges, Depreciation Recapture integrates basis, character, deferral, and recapture issues.

How to Use This Chapter

• Use this chapter after the underlying REG topic chapters have already been studied.
• Focus on issue-order discipline: identify the first controlling rule before calculating anything else.
• Return here during final review when you want multi-topic case practice instead of isolated subrules.

In this section

• Ethics, Professional Responsibilities, and Tax Procedures
  Delve into real-life ethical dilemmas, professional responsibilities, and key tax procedures that CPAs must navigate, including deep dives into Circular 230 and IRS controversies.
• Advanced Individual Tax Compliance and Planning
  Comprehensive strategies for multi-year planning, capital loss carryovers, and AMT considerations, empowering CPA candidates with advanced individual tax compliance insights.
• Entity Tax Compliance (C Corps, S Corps, Partnerships)
  Discover comprehensive insights into complex multi-entity tax compliance for C Corporations, S Corporations, and Partnerships, including consolidated returns, flow-through basis calculations, and special elections.
• Entity Tax Planning (Formation, Liquidation, Restructuring)
  Explore key strategies and tax implications for entity formation, liquidation, and corporate restructuring, including hypothetical examples, buy-sell arrangements, and key code sections.
• Property Transactions, Nontaxable Exchanges, Depreciation Recapture
  Explore in-depth tax treatments for real estate, vehicle trade-ins, casualty losses, and depreciation recapture. Understand nontaxable exchanges (Sections 1031 & 1033), gain and loss computations, and recapture concerns for different property types.