On October 19th, the Senate began debating a motion to proceed to the bankruptcy reform bill (H.R. 2415). H.R. 2415 has already cleared the House. The Senate meets at 4:30 p.m. today to discuss procedural issues that concern the bill.

******************

On October 6th, the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations (REG-105235-99) that clarify whether gain from the sale or exchange of an individual debtor's principal residence is available for the individual debtor's bankruptcy estate. Under the proposed rules, the IRS held that a Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate succeeds to the usual sale or exchange gain exclusion if the debtor otherwise satisfies code requirements.