The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (the “Act”) was signed into law last week, on July 4. As promised by the White House, the Act extends – i.e., purports to make “permanent” – many of the otherwise expiring provisions that were...more
7/14/2025
/ Business Taxes ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Estate Tax ,
Federal Taxes ,
Gift Tax ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
One Big Beautiful Bill Act ,
Partnerships ,
Qualified Small Business Stock ,
Small Business ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Legislation ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Reform ,
Tax Returns
Last week the United States celebrated the 249th anniversary of its declaration of independence from Great Britain. In celebration of the occasion, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Act which, among other...more
7/9/2025
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Imports ,
Income Taxes ,
New Legislation ,
Sixteenth Amendment ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Tariffs ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Policy ,
Tax Reform ,
Taxation ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury
If you’ve been around closely held businesses long enough, you know that a transfer of money between a business and its owner, or between two related businesses, is sometimes characterized by the parties as a loan (“related...more
6/23/2025
/ Appeals ,
Borrowers ,
Cancellation of Debt (COD) ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Creditors ,
Debt Collection ,
Debtors ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Loans ,
Related Parties ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Deductions
An Agency Under Siege -
The mission statement of the IRS reminds taxpayers that it is their responsibility to understand and meet their tax obligations, while it is the role of the IRS to “enforce the [tax] law with...more
6/11/2025
/ Corporate Taxes ,
Estate Tax ,
High Net-Worth ,
Income Taxes ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
IRS ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Partnerships ,
Private Equity ,
Self-Employment Tax ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Liability ,
U.S. Treasury
Every conveyance of property or of an interest in property from one person to another is prompted, or at least influenced, by economic considerations. The parties to the transaction may swap properties, or one party may...more
5/29/2025
/ Estate Tax ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Trusts ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Partnerships ,
Property Tax ,
Property Transaction Taxes ,
S-Corporation ,
Shareholders ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Taxable Income ,
Taxation ,
Termination ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trust Distributions ,
Trusts
Last month, Bloomberg carried an article about a “small but growing trend” of states that are either cutting their individual income taxes or phasing them out entirely.
According to the article, the states adopting these...more
4/29/2025
/ Appeals ,
Business Entities ,
Capital Gains ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Income Taxes ,
Non-Residents ,
S-Corporation ,
Shareholders ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Liability ,
Taxation
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