Few provisions of the Code have a single, clear meaning that leaves no room for interpretation. Even many of those that, on the surface, appear fairly straightforward, are usually open to alternative “understandings.”...more
4/11/2025
/ 501(c)(3) ,
Charitable Organizations ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Tax ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Nonprofits ,
Penalties ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tax Liability
A parent will sometimes transfer money to a child to enable the child to make an investment that the child could not otherwise make on their own. For example, the child may have identified an attractive business opportunity...more
4/1/2025
/ Borrowers ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
Gift Tax ,
Interest Rates ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment ,
IRS ,
Loans ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Trusts
Charitable organizations are dependent, in no small part, upon the financial support of many successful business owners. The generosity of these individuals and their organizations may be a manifestation of several factors...more
3/21/2025
/ Business Ownership ,
Charitable Organizations ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Compliance ,
Estate Planning ,
Family Businesses ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Partnerships ,
Private Foundations ,
Tax Avoidance ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Planning
According to the New York City Comptroller, the City collected approximately $1.13 billion in Real Property Transfer Tax (“RPTT”) in the FY 2024. The Comptroller’s Office has forecast that $1.21 billion of RPTT will be...more
2/27/2025
/ Charitable Organizations ,
City of New York ,
Exempt Organizations ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Nonprofits ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Real Estate Transfers ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tax Liability ,
Transfer Taxes
Late last year, the Office of the State Comptroller (the “OSC”) estimated that sales and use tax receipts would increase by 2.3% in the SFY 2024-2025. The OSC also projected that collections from sales and use taxes would...more
2/18/2025
/ Appeals ,
Audits ,
Business Entities ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Delinquency Status ,
New York ,
Noncompliance ,
Penalties ,
Personal Liability ,
Sales Tax ,
Shareholders ,
State and Local Government ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Returns ,
Taxation
Many successful business owners attribute some part of their success to their community. For some of these owners, it is not enough to simply acknowledge this “debt”; they feel an obligation to share some of their financial...more
2/10/2025
/ Business Entities ,
Charitable Organizations ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Donations ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Loans ,
Nonprofits ,
Private Foundations ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning
If you’ve worked with the owners of closely held businesses for even just a few years, you have realized they are only half joking when they complain about having the government as a partner. Consider how much federal, state,...more
1/28/2025
/ Business Entities ,
Business Ownership ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Partnerships ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Returns ,
Withholding Tax
You are probably aware that many employers are discarding the fully flexible, remote work policies that were forced upon them – as “nonessential” businesses – during the COVID-19 pandemic[i] and which they retained as an...more
1/22/2025
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employment Policies ,
Income Taxes ,
New York ,
Non-Essential Businesses ,
Non-Residents ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Remote Working ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
State Labor Laws ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Appeals ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning
Just a few weeks ago, many individual taxpayers, driven by what they viewed as the relatively imminent expiration of the enhanced federal transfer tax exemptions, sought advice on how to leverage their remaining exemption and...more
1/14/2025
/ Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Federal Taxes ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Partnerships ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Returns ,
Trusts
Few would argue that the federal government does not have a legitimate interest in preventing, detecting, and punishing tax fraud, money laundering, and other financial crimes. Likewise, I imagine few would disagree with the...more
1/3/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Appeals ,
Bad Actors ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Commerce Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
Jurisdiction ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
NDAA ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reporting Requirements ,
SCOTUS ,
Small Business ,
Stays ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Vacated
How was your Thanksgiving? I hope you celebrated the holiday in a pleasant setting with folks whose company you enjoyed, and with plenty of good food. I hope you participated in some interesting conversations or joined in...more
12/11/2024
/ Beneficiaries ,
Exemptions ,
Generation-Skipping Transfer ,
Gifts ,
Grantors ,
Irrevocable Trusts ,
IRS ,
Modification ,
Private Letter Rulings ,
Probate Courts ,
Taxable Income ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trust Distributions ,
Trusts
During the weeks leading up to the Presidential election, the media carried stories about wealthy supporters from each Party who had announced their intention to leave the country if the other Party’s candidate became...more
11/22/2024
/ Business Ownership ,
Capital Gains ,
Citizenship ,
Domicile ,
Exit Strategies ,
Exit Tax ,
New York ,
Non-Resident Income Taxes ,
Presidential Elections ,
Residency Status ,
Selling a Business ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Appeals ,
Tax Returns
Decisions, Decisions -
The owners of a closely held U.S. business will have to make many difficult decisions during the life of the business. Among the earliest of these is the so-called choice of business entity, the...more
11/13/2024
/ C-Corporation ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Foreign Markets ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Income Taxes ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Parent Corporation ,
S-Corporation ,
Tax Appeals ,
Tax Treaty ,
U.S. Treasury
Earlier this year the IRS announced that, as part of its larger compliance efforts begun last fall under the Inflation Reduction Act, the agency’s stepped-up enforcement activity with respect to high wealth, high income...more
10/31/2024
/ Audits ,
Compliance ,
Debt Collection ,
Deficiency Notices ,
Documentation ,
Due Process ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Overpayment ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Tax Appeals ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Debt ,
Tax Levy ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Returns
As we will see shortly, it is often “better to give than to receive,” though this statement begs the obvious question of whether it is better to do so during one’s lifetime or upon one’s death.
Many well-to-do individuals...more
10/11/2024
/ Clawbacks ,
DSUEA ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Estate-Tax Exemption ,
Exclusions ,
Gift Tax ,
Gift-Tax Exemption ,
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) ,
Grantor Trusts ,
GST ,
Holding Periods ,
IRS ,
Portability ,
Sunset Provisions ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Exemptions
Last Friday, New York’s Governor Hochul delivered the following remarks at the annual meeting of the Business Council of New York State:“Someone asked me today, are we going to raise income taxes? I said, ‘I’m not raising...more
9/26/2024
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Business Taxes ,
Disallowance Defense ,
Income Taxes ,
New York ,
Non-Resident Income Taxes ,
Remote Working ,
State Budgets ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Audits ,
Tax Liability ,
Taxable Income
You may recall that earlier this year the IRS launched an initiative to pursue 125,000 “high-income, high-wealth” taxpayers who have not filed taxes since 2017. These were cases where the IRS received third party information...more
9/18/2024
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Citizenship ,
Civil Forfeiture ,
Excessive Fines Clause ,
Failure-to-File ,
FBAR ,
Foreign Bank Accounts ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Appeals ,
Tax Avoidance ,
Tax Debt ,
Tax Penalties ,
Taxable Income ,
Voluntary Compliance ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Willful Violations
As far back as I can remember, the end of August has always elicited a sense of dread comparable to what many schoolchildren, and a fair number of adults, experience every Sunday afternoon. In retrospect, I cannot say that...more
9/4/2024
/ Adjusted Gross Income ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Bonuses ,
Dividends ,
New York ,
Non-Resident Income Taxes ,
Non-Residents ,
Restricted Stocks ,
State Taxes ,
Stock Appreciation Rights ,
Tax Audits ,
Taxable Income ,
Vesting
If given their druthers, most transactional corporate attorneys would prefer to spend their day practicing “happy law,” by which they typically mean transactions that involve capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, joint...more
8/20/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Corporate Dissolution ,
Deficiency Notices ,
Embezzlement ,
IRS ,
K-1 ,
Misappropriation ,
S-Corporation ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Shareholder Distributions ,
Shareholders ,
State Courts ,
Stock Transfer ,
Tax Returns ,
Taxable Income ,
Whistleblowers
There is no denying that many parts of the Code are complex and, in some cases, too obscure for many “laypersons” to comprehend. Over time, this reality spawned the need for advisers who are both knowledgeable and experienced...more
8/12/2024
/ Business Expenses ,
Capital Gains ,
Fair Market Value ,
Foreign Persons ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Non-Resident Aliens ,
Partnership Interests ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Taxable Income
Over the last couple of years, several of my friends have become citizens of the country from which their parents emigrated to the U.S. Also during that period, some acquaintances took advantage of the so-called “golden...more
7/26/2024
/ Citizenship ,
Exit Tax ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Investment ,
Golden Visa ,
Green Cards ,
Income Taxes ,
Investment Property ,
IRS ,
Like Kind Exchanges ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Replacement Properties ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax-Deferred Exchanges
Having been swept along for nine days “by the force of the hostile winds on the fishy sea,” Odysseus and his crew came to a strange land. After securing their ships, Odysseus sent some of his “companions ahead, telling them...more
7/18/2024
/ Agribusiness ,
C-Corporation ,
Cannabis Products ,
Controlled Substances ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
DEA ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Illegal Activity ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Plant Based Products ,
Recreational Use ,
S-Corporation ,
Schedule I Drugs
In less than four months, the citizens of the United States will be electing their next President to a four-year term. They will also be deciding which of the two major political parties will “control” the Senate, the House,...more
7/11/2024
/ Apportionment ,
C-Corporation ,
Conservatives ,
Controlled Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Corporations ,
IRS ,
Moore v US ,
Partnerships ,
Pass-Through Entities ,
Presidential Elections ,
Repatriation ,
S-Corporation ,
SCOTUS ,
Shareholders ,
Sixteenth Amendment ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deferral ,
Tax Liability ,
Term Limits
You may have heard or even read about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision regarding the date of death value of a deceased shareholder’s shares in a closely held corporation that owned a life insurance policy on the...more
7/1/2024
/ Business Succession ,
Buy-Sell Agreements ,
Buyouts ,
Certiorari ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Connelly v United States ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
IRS ,
Liability ,
Life Insurance ,
Liquidity ,
Redemption Agreement ,
Right of Redemption ,
SCOTUS ,
Shareholders ,
Tax Audits
It is a basic principle of the income tax that the gain or loss realized by a taxpayer from the conversion of property into cash, or from the exchange of property for other property that differs materially in kind from the...more
6/11/2024
/ Beneficiaries ,
Capital Gains ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Equity Investors ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Like Kind Exchanges ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Liquidation ,
Partnerships ,
Property ,
Reorganizations ,
Shareholders ,
Tenancy-in-Common ,
Transfer of Assets ,
Trustees ,
Trusts ,
Wills