Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are unique employee benefit plans designed to invest primarily in the stock of the sponsoring employer....more
After a rollercoaster of activity related to the federal Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), the US Treasury Department (Treasury) announced on March 2 that it will not enforce any penalties or fines associated with beneficial...more
As promised by the US Department of Treasury in early March, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an interim final rule removing the requirement for US companies, their beneficial owners, and US persons to...more
4/3/2025
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Business Entities ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Final Rules ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Entities ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
U.S. Treasury
Across all industries, family offices and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025. Here are six issues that family offices should...more
3/14/2025
/ Business Succession ,
Buy-Sell Agreements ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Estate Tax ,
Ethics ,
Family Offices ,
FinCEN ,
Generation-Skipping Transfer ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Reform ,
Trusts ,
Valuation
Across all industries, private companies, family offices, and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025. Here are 11 issues that...more
3/10/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Arbitration ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Business Succession ,
Buy-Sell Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Compliance ,
Connelly v United States ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Data Privacy ,
E-Commerce ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate-Tax Exemption ,
Ethics ,
Family Businesses ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinCEN ,
Form I-9 ,
Generation-Skipping Transfer ,
Gift-Tax Exemption ,
Immigration ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
IRS ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Mergers ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Risk Management ,
SCOTUS ,
State Legislatures ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Terms of Use ,
Valuation
As the flurry of Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) developments continues, on March 2, the US Department of the Treasury (Treasury) announced the suspension of CTA enforcement against US citizens and domestic reporting...more
Following a cascade of developments, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is back, but with some potential changes on the horizon. Most reporting companies that have not yet filed all required reports under the CTA should...more
Adding yet another chapter to the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) saga, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on December 26 issued an order vacating its stay of the Texas federal district court’s preliminary...more
On December 23, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stayed the nationwide preliminary injunction barring the US government’s enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its rule requiring the reporting...more
12/27/2024
/ Appeals ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Business Entities ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Filing Requirements ,
FinCEN ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Stays ,
Time Extensions
The term “resident” is defined differently for US federal income tax purposes and US federal estate and gift tax purposes. The mismatch in the US resident status under the two tax regimes often gives rise to problems. Thus,...more
On December 3, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction barring the enforcement by the US government of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)....more
12/5/2024
/ Corporate Transparency Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
First Amendment ,
Fourth Amendment ,
Popular ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Texas ,
Unconstitutional Condition
Through the years, the US Tax Court has provided significant clarification on the gift tax consequences of terminating qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trusts. Two new cases in 2024, Estate of Sally J. Anenberg...more
12/4/2024
/ Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Gift Tax ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
QTIP Trusts ,
Surviving Spouse ,
Tax Court ,
Termination ,
Transfer of Assets ,
Treasury Regulations ,
Trust Distributions ,
Trusts
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made waves across various industries, and wealth management is no exception. AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of data and generate insightful reports has the potential to significantly...more
10/18/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Client Services ,
Ethics ,
Family Offices ,
Fiduciary Liability Insurance ,
Machine Learning ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Social Media ,
Transparency ,
Wealth Management
In the realm of estate planning, many people are familiar with the traditional will as a means of distributing assets after death. However, the inclusion of a revocable trust (also known as a living trust), which offers a...more
The TCJA doubled the lifetime exclusion and GST tax exemption. This exclusion amount, adjusted for inflation, is now $13.61 million and is expected to be approximately $13.99 million in 2025. However, in 2026, the amount will...more
9/18/2024
/ Estate Tax ,
Generation-Skipping Transfer ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) ,
Sunset Provisions ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trusts
In the evolving landscape of family offices, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) presents both opportunities and challenges, particularly in terms of fiduciary responsibility and client services. Family offices,...more
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized various industries, offering efficiency, accuracy, and convenience. In the realm of estate planning and family offices, the integration of AI technologies has...more
6/25/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Confidential Information ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Theft ,
Estate Planning ,
Family Offices ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hackers ,
Privacy Laws ,
Sensitive Business Information ,
Succession Planning ,
Wealth Management
In Connelly v. US, 602 US ___ (6/6/2024), the US Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in favor of the government concerning the estate tax treatment of life insurance proceeds...more
6/18/2024
/ Business Succession ,
Buy-Sell Agreements ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Connelly v United States ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Life Insurance ,
Redemption Agreement ,
SCOTUS ,
Shareholders ,
Small Business ,
Survivorship
A federal court recently ruled that the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is unconstitutional. In a lengthy opinion issued on March 1, the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama explained that the CTA may be a...more
As we highlighted in the Family Office Newsletter’s pages in June, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is slated to go into effect on January 1, 2024. Under the law, many newly formed and existing entities organized under...more
On September 27, 2023, H.R. 5761, the “Opportunity Zones Transparency, Extension and Improvement Act” was introduced as bipartisan legislation in the US House of Representatives.
Among other things, the proposed...more
Family offices routinely create, manage, and invest in multiple entities, including corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships. For entities formed or operating in the United States, there has never been a...more
6/9/2023
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Charitable Trusts ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Family Offices ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Companies ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Partnerships ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Venture Capital
The Internal Revenue Service recently issued Notice 2022-53, which provides much needed transition relief in the form of an IRS waiver of the 50% excise tax that could otherwise be imposed upon certain beneficiaries of...more