In this weeks edition of Speaking of Settlements I look back at the recent hearings in Washington, DC where in the US Treasury had invited comment on the final rules related to the taxation of structured settlements, going all the way back to when the last modification to section 104(a)(2) was made in 1996.

As I commented in a previous video, in which Jack Meligan of SPI weighed in, that these hearings were flying very much under the radar in the settlement and tax community, despite the fact that this represented a great opportunity to speak with Treasury about expanding tax free status or clarification on sexual abuse, molestation and wrongful imprisonment.

There was a lot of comment and controversy about the fact that Attorney Dick Risk submitted a request to use the hearings to discuss Treasury's long standing decision to "not decide" on the topic of single claimant Qualified Settlement Funds, or 468B Trusts. Most of the feed back I got from that video and column was that it was the wrong forum to bring this up, while many in the SSP felt that the letter to the committee by NSSTA stating that they represent the opinion of "virtually all structured settlement producers, both defense and plaintiff" was a bit of a reach and not reflective of reality either.

So, today's video gives you a brief update, but as I state in the commentary, we have provided the full and complete transcript of the hearings, the positions put forth by John McColloch of IFS ( Integrated Financial Services ) are right there in the transcript, as are the other responses by NSSTA, SSP and Dick Risk.

Make up your own minds, read the information and decide for yourself if you think this was the appropriate forum to discuss the single claimant QSF issue, Treasury's reaction to it and the chances of expanding clear tax free status to sexual abuse and wrongful imprisonment cases.