The Threat of Higher Taxes, & The Sirens’ Song of Tax-Saving Schemes
What a Mess A “perfect storm” may be defined as a critical state of affairs arising from the convergence of a number of negative factors, often after the unexpected introduction of some catalytic...
View ArticleContinuing Economic Distress: Withholding Taxes and the Risk of “Self-Help”
Stimulus Legislation Limbo In has been 192 days since the President declared a national emergency concerning the COVID-19 outbreak.[i] Across the country, businesses and communities were immediately...
View ArticleIntra-Family Loan: A Gift Alternative In Turbulent Times?
Woe to Us? We live in strange times. The coronavirus pandemic hit the United States hard, the scientific community fears a second round later this year, and there have been wildly differing estimates...
View ArticleThe Election, the Democrats’ Tax Proposals, and Year-End Tax Planning: Caught...
What a Week There is no denying that last week’s political events were historic; one can only hope they were aberrational. The week began with the Sunday New York Times publishing a story in which it...
View ArticleForget Congress: The IRS Needs to Reverse Course On The Deduction of Business...
Round Two “Painful social lockdowns in Europe and some American states helped blunt the coronavirus. Now, amid a fitful reopening, the pandemic is once again surging.” So begins an article on the front...
View ArticleThe “Art” of Operating Foundations: A Public-Private Venture
In the Beginning From the dawn of recorded history, those who have the means have purchased or otherwise financed the work of those whom we call artists – talented individuals capable of producing what...
View ArticleNew York Business, Nonresident Telecommuters and the Taxation of Wages Earned...
Drums. Do you hear them? Along the western shore of the Hudson River.[i] It seems that the unrest which began in New England earlier this year is spreading into the Mid-Atlantic States.[ii] The owner...
View ArticleThe Loss of the Favorable Capital Gain Rate, The Exclusion of Gain under...
If the Democrats Win Science has not established – at least to my knowledge – any correlation between the pre-election year-end activities of individual business owners, on the one hand, and election...
View ArticleThe 2020 Elections Are Almost Over – What Now?
Wither The Senate? I was reviewing a reorganization plan Saturday morning – coffee and chocolate chip cookies within easy reach[i] – when an email crossed my screen with the subject line that each of...
View ArticleNew York’s Post-Election Tax Environment for Business Owners
Something Is Rotten There’s a gray pall hanging over New York that has clouded the judgement of many politicians, and has left many of its residents feeling anxious and off-balance. No, it’s not the...
View ArticleTaxing Cannabis During the Pandemic
How Are You Doing? How are you coping with social distancing? Are you working remotely? If so, has it been as “seamless” as you would have others believe? Have you snuck out to visit family or close...
View ArticleThe IRS, Forgiven PPP Loans, and Business Deductions: Once Was a Mistake,...
It has been more than eight months since the enactment of the CARES Act,[i] yet here we are, with the end of 2020 in sight, and we are still debating whether taxpayers should be allowed to claim a...
View ArticleYear-End Gifting of Equity in a Business — With an Outstanding PPP Loan?
“Annus Horribilis” Just over three weeks to go, then 2020 will be behind you. But don’t drop your guard just yet. Three weeks is a long time – plenty of time, in fact, for one more punch to the gut,...
View ArticleNew York’s Proposed “Billionaires’ Tax” – Bad Idea
Will They Leave? Over the years, the Democrats in Albany have regularly made noise about increasing the rates at which New York State taxes the income of its wealthier residents. With the election of...
View ArticleThe Year-End: A Time for Ignoring the Holidays And Disclaiming Gifts (for Tax...
Happy Holidays? Bah Humbug! The “holiday season” is once again upon us. A time to spend with family and friends, a time for gift-giving (and re-gifting), for songs and for story-telling, and a time for...
View ArticleState Taxation of Telecommuting Employees And Their Nonresident Employers
Mending Walls “Good fences make good neighbors,” or so Robert Frost’s neighbor from “beyond the hill” says to him when “on a day” they “meet to walk the line and set the wall between” them “once...
View ArticleThe Federal Estate Tax in 2021: What Might We Expect? What Can We Do?
Happy New Year? Ask anyone outside the United States what comes to mind when they think about an American New Year’s celebration, and the odds are pretty good they will mention the ball drop in New...
View ArticleCan a Partnership’s Payment to a Partner for Services Not Be Treated as Such...
Memory Lane You may recall how clear it became, as the bill that would become the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”)[i] moved through Congress in late 2017, that C corporations were about to realize a...
View ArticleNew York: Deficits, Taxes and 2021
Only 347 Days to Go What a year it has already been, and we are just beginning the third full week of 2021. The Democrats swept Georgia, thereby giving that Party a majority in the U.S. Senate and...
View ArticleTaxes In New York’s FY 2022 Budget
Budget Time in New York Last week, we reviewed some of the tax measures discussed by Governor Cuomo in his report on the State of the State, and how they may affect New York businesses and their...
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