The Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine in a 6 to 3 decision, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. That doctrine required the courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of federal law if the statute was...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 amended the law to introduce a new, one-time, mandatory repatriation tax on trillions of dollars of accumulations held abroad by American-controlled foreign entities. The tax is imposed on...more
6/25/2024
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Controlled Foreign Corporations ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Foreign Corporations ,
International Tax Issues ,
Moore v US ,
SCOTUS ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Sixteenth Amendment ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Liability
Connelly v. United States involved determining the fair market value of a closely-held corporation for purposes of estate taxation. A corporation, owned by two brothers, was obligated to buy back the shares of the first to...more
6/18/2024
/ Business Ownership ,
Business Succession ,
Buy-Sell Agreements ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Connelly v United States ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
IRS ,
Life Insurance ,
Redemption Agreement ,
SCOTUS ,
Shareholders ,
Small Business ,
Survivorship
The issue in Connelly v. US is whether, for estate tax purposes, the value of a closely-held corporation using corporate-owned life insurance to redeem the shares of a decedent shareholder increases the value of the company...more
Because of the large number of inappropriate claims for the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), the IRS has stopped receiving applications for those credits beginning on September 14, 2023. The moratorium will continue at...more
Federal legislation relating to the employee retention tax credit (“ERTC”), passed to alleviate the financial burdens of businesses shut down due to governmental orders during COVID, is discussed in a prior Client Advisory....more
Clawback compensation has been a longstanding tool for both public and private companies to recoup excesses paid to employees after the occurrence of certain untoward events. For example, it is not uncommon to find clawback...more
6/28/2023
/ Board of Directors ,
Clawbacks ,
Corporate Officers ,
Directors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders
During the COVID-19 emergency, the federal government offered much-needed liquidity to qualifying businesses and nonprofits through loans and payroll tax credits. Qualified employers have been allowed credits against certain...more
Fiduciaries responsible for the investment of almost $30 trillion in U.S. retirement funds are required by federal law (ERISA) to discharge their duties “solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries” for the...more
In Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, a 6-3 decision issued on February 22, 2023, the United States Supreme Court decided what “salary” means for purposes of applying the regulations exempting highly compensated...more
3/6/2023
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc v Hewitt No 21-984 ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Roe v. Wade that pre-viability abortions were protected under a Constitutional right to privacy emanating from the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Roe...more
8/3/2022
/ Abortion ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Pregnancy ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Roe v Wade
What Was At Stake -
At issue in a recent, significant tax decision of the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) was whether the Massachusetts Commissioner of Revenue could tax an out-of-state shareholder on the gains it derived...more
The U.S. Department of Labor issued Compliance Release No. 2022-01 on March 10, 2022, raising “serious concerns” over the prudence of retirement plan fiduciaries’ investing in cryptocurrencies, and cautioning plan fiduciaries...more
ERISA generally requires retirement plan fiduciaries to invest prudently, diversify assets to minimize the risk of large losses, and act solely in the interest of plan participants. These duties have been interpreted as...more
The U.S. Department of Labor has recently issued a proposal for meeting fiduciary duties when evaluating retirement plan investments having environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors....more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Hughes v. Northwestern University, in which the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals had rejected claims that the fiduciaries of two defined contribution retirement plans at...more
2/17/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Class Action ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Plan Participants ,
Remand ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
SCOTUS
New federal law (Section 9501 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – ARP Act, PL 117-2) provides a temporary, full subsidy of some premiums that individuals would have to pay for COBRA coverage following a reduction in...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed into law on December 27, 2020, and provides various types of financial relief during the pandemic. Below is an outline of financial relief for employees and individuals covered...more
What Does Workers’ Compensation Provide?
Workers’ compensation insurance provides compensation to employees who suffer work-related accidents or illnesses. It also protects employers from lawsuits by employees who were...more
Private Equity Investments in Defined Contribution Plans -
The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently concluded in Information Letter 06-03-2020 that, if properly structured, offering a professionally managed fund with a...more
7/7/2020
/ 401k ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Information Letters ,
Investment ,
Investment Management ,
Private Equity ,
Retirement Plan
As states begin to their introduce plans to reopen their economies, employers are understandably anxious about bringing employees back to the physical workplace. While returning to work will look different for each employer,...more
The goal for those with Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans is to have the amount borrowed forgiven. Borrowers that can turn a PPP loan into a grant can defray lost revenues during the COVID-19 crisis. Meeting the...more
The CARES Act provides two tools for boosting an employer’s cash flow by reducing its employment taxes through a tax credit, and by delaying payment of certain payroll taxes. ...more
Major changes are coming that will affect the income and estate tax planning of retirement savings. These changes, under the bipartisan SECURE Act, will become law once the President signs the Consolidated Appropriations Act...more
12/23/2019
/ 401k ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Distribution Rules ,
Employee Benefits ,
Estate Tax ,
Form 5500 ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Inherited IRA ,
Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) ,
New Legislation ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Planning
Overview of Federal Regulation -
As transactions involving cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, become more prevalent, regulatory oversight has been evolving....more
10/8/2019
/ AML/CFT ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
FinCEN ,
IRS ,
Modified Adjusted Gross Income ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Virtual Currency