INCOME TAX

Rev. Rul. 96–31, page 4. LIFO; price indexes; department stores. The April 1996 Bureau of Labor Statistics price indexes are accepted for use by department stores employing the retail inventory and last-in, first-out inventory methods for valuing inventories for tax years ended on, or with reference to, April 30, 1996.

Rev. Rul. 96–32, page 5. Involuntary conversion of a residence; deduction for qualified residence interest. If a principal residence is destroyed, and the land portion is later sold, gain on the scale may be deferred under section 1033(a) if the requirements of that section are met. Taxpayers may continue to deduct otherwise deductible mortgage interest on a destroyed residence during a reasonable period between the destruction of the residence and its sale or reconstruction and reoccupation.