INCOME TAX

Rev. Rul. 2003–96, page 386. Lease stripping transaction. This ruling discusses whether section 482 of the Code may apply to allow allocations of the income and deductions arising from a lease stripping transaction entered into by parties that were unrelated at the time the income is stripped from the lease, solely on the basis that the parties were acting in concert or with a common goal or purpose, to arbitrarily shift income or deductions among themselves.

Rev. Rul. 2003–97, page 380. Deductibility of interest. This ruling provides guidance on whether interest accruing on a note is deductible under section 163(a) of the Code, and whether the deduction is disallowed under section 163(1), when a corporation issues units, each consisting of instruments in the form of a note and a forward contract to purchase a quantity of the corporationÊs common stock. The holding of this ruling is modified for units issued on or before August 22, 2003. This ruling also requests comments concerning possible regulations under section 163(1).

Rev. Rul. 2003–98, page 378. Deduction rules; compensatory stock options. This ruling addresses the application of the deduction rules under section 83(h) of the Code with regard to the exercise or disposition of compensatory stock options following certain corporate transactions.

Rev. Rul. 2003–99, page 388. Obsolete revenue rulings. This ruling publishes a list of previously published rulings that have been identified as no longer determinative with respect to future transactions.

Announcements of Disbarments and Suspensions begin on page 414. Finding Lists begin on page ii.