Private Client
Articles
Speeches
J.D.,
Harvard Law School,
1984,
Notes Editor, Harvard Law Review
B.A.,
Pomona College,
1981,
cum laude
District of Columbia
Massachusetts
Maryland
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Tax Court
American Bar Association (Sections of Taxation and Real Property, Probate and Trust) Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
Office of Tax Legislative Counsel, U.S. Department of Treasury, 1995-2001
Law Clerk to Chief Judge Spottswood W. Robinson, III, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1984-1985
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Beth Shapiro Kaufman is a member in Caplin & Drysdale’s Washington, D.C. office. She rejoined the firm’s private client group in 2001 after working for over six years in the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy. Serving first as Attorney Advisor and then as Associate Tax Legislative Counsel, Ms. Kaufman had principal responsibility for all tax policy matters affecting trusts and estates, including estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, as well as income taxation of trusts and estates.
Services
At Caplin & Drysdale, Ms. Kaufman assists wealthy individuals with their estate planning. She also advises lawyers and other professionals on complex issues regarding estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. She is frequently retained by counsel to assist in estate and gift tax audits and to advocate a taxpayer’s position before the Internal Revenue Service. Ms. Kaufman has been particularly active in obtaining section 9100 relief for failed generation-skipping transfer tax exemption allocations.
Highlights
While with the government, Ms. Kaufman was the primary Treasury representative involved in the legislative and regulatory developments affecting the taxation of trusts and estates. Legislative projects included the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Regulatory projects included regulations on qualified domestic trusts, generation-skipping transfer tax, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, adequate disclosure for gift tax purposes, separate share, definition of foreign and domestic trusts, and valuation tables.
Professional Activities
- Frequent lecturer on topics related to estate planning and has spoken before numerous professional groups, including the University of Miami Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the Federal Tax Institute of New England, ALI-ABA, the ABA Tax and Real Property, Probate and Trust Sections, the AICPA Estate and Gift Tax Committee, and the American Bankers’ Association
- Speaker, Estate Tax Legislative Update, American Bar Association, Section of Taxation 2010 May Meeting, May 6-8, 2010
- Panelist, Upcoming Estate Tax Legislation: What You Need to Know in 2010, The Knowledge Congress, February 22, 2010
- Speaker, Tax Planning Proposals for a New Era, District of Columbia Bar, Section of Taxation & Estate Planning Committee in co-sponsorship with the Estates, Trusts & Probate Law Section, January 14, 2010
- Speaker, Failure to Allocate GST Exemption: How Does the IRS Spell Relief?, 31st Annual Duke University Estate Planning Conference - Duke University School of Law, October 15-16, 2009
- In the fall of 2002, Ms. Kaufman taught a course in income taxation of trusts and estates as part of the NYU Institute at the Internal Revenue Service
Awards and Honors
- Ranked as a Top Lawyer in the 2010 edition of Chambers USA: Band 4 in Wealth Management (Eastern Region) - Nationwide
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America from 2003-2010 as well as in Super Lawyers from 2007-2009; also listed in Super Lawyers' Top 50 Women Lawyers in Washington
- Recognized as the Top Lawyer of Washington in the Trusts & Estates category by the Washington Business Journal in 2008
- Named one of the best Washington lawyers in Washingtonian’s 2007 and 2009 biennial listings of Top Lawyers; also included in Washingtonian’s listing of 160 of the area’s best financial planners, wealth managers, accountants, and estate attorneys
Selected Recent Publications
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