In the months preceding the general election in 2024, the owners of many closely held businesses who had not yet given much thought to the disposition of their future estates, including their businesses, decided they should...more
8/1/2025
/ Business Succession ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Family Businesses ,
Generation-Skipping Transfer ,
Gift Tax ,
New Legislation ,
One Big Beautiful Bill Act ,
Succession Planning ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Reform ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trusts
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
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
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
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
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
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
Earlier this week the White House released its Fiscal Year 2025 Budget. Of course, the federal government has not yet adopted a budget for the Fiscal Year 2024 even as we approach that year’s halfway mark. But I digress. The...more
3/18/2024
/ Capital Gains ,
Estate Tax ,
Exclusions ,
Fair Market Value ,
Federal Budget ,
Fiscal Year ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) ,
Grantor Trusts ,
Grantors ,
GST ,
IRS ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Revocable Trusts ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Deferral ,
Tax Increases ,
Tax Revenues ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trusts ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Valuation
This is The End-
I have dreaded the year end for as long as I can remember. As a teenager and then as a young adult I associated the final quarter of the year, and especially the period beginning on Thanksgiving and...more
12/20/2023
/ Business Ownership ,
Capital Gains ,
Carried Interest ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Estate Tax ,
Federal Taxes ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) ,
Income Taxes ,
Investors ,
IRS ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Planning ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trusts ,
U.S. House
It’s not enough for the founder of a closely held business to have successfully established the business. The business has to grow, not only to increase profits, but also to make it more competitive and to diversify its...more
11/6/2023
/ Bypass Trusts ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Disclaimers ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Executors ,
Fair Market Value ,
Family Businesses ,
Gift Tax ,
Irrevocable Trusts ,
IRS ,
Marital Trusts ,
Personal Liability ,
QTIP Trusts ,
Surviving Spouse ,
Tax Liability ,
Taxation ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trustees ,
Trusts
Death of a Parent-
In the context of a family-owned business, it is often the case that the matriarch or patriarch of the family is also the chief executive of the business. They may have founded the business, or they may...more
8/11/2023
/ Closely Held Businesses ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Family Businesses ,
Heirs ,
Insolvency ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Spouses ,
Surviving Spouse ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Liens ,
Tax Returns ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trusts
Estate Tax – It’s a Killer-
One of the reasons often given for eliminating the estate tax is the substantial economic burden it places upon the estate of a deceased business owner and upon the business itself. Specifically,...more
6/16/2023
/ Acceleration ,
Adjusted Gross Income ,
Business Assets ,
Business Ownership ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Deceased ,
Decedent Protection ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
Gift Tax ,
Installment Agreements ,
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts ,
IRS ,
Life Insurance ,
Redemption Agreement ,
Stock Ownership ,
Stock Purchase Agreement ,
Tax Liability ,
Testamentary Transfers
On March 20, 2023, Senators Warren, Sanders, Van Hollen, and Whitehouse addressed a letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen in which they urged Yellen “to use [her] existing authority to limit the ultra-wealthy’s abuse of trusts...more
4/11/2023
/ AFR ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Trusts ,
Heirs ,
Irrevocable Trusts ,
IRS ,
Tax Avoidance ,
Tax-Free Transfers ,
Trusts ,
U.S. Treasury
The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 established the requirement that the President submit a budget to Congress for the upcoming fiscal year. Among other things, the proposed federal budget affords the President an...more
3/13/2023
/ C-Corporation ,
Capital Gains ,
Estate Tax ,
Federal Budget ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) ,
Grantor Trusts ,
IRS ,
Joe Biden ,
NIIT ,
S-Corporation ,
Tax Deferral ,
Tax Increases ,
Tax Rates
There have been some interesting developments of late with respect to the ownership of real property in parts of the English-speaking world. For example, Canada has imposed a temporary ban on the purchase of such property by...more
2/22/2023
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Beneficiaries ,
Canada ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Estate Tax ,
Estate-Tax Exemption ,
FinCEN ,
FIRPTA ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Ownership ,
Gift Tax ,
Investment Portfolios ,
IRS ,
Non-Citizens ,
Non-Resident Aliens ,
Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT) ,
Residential Property Owners ,
Title Insurance
Last Thursday, New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera, who represents the 33rd District (basically, the northwestern quadrant of The Bronx), proposed legislation that seeks to collect more taxes from the State’s high-income...more
1/26/2023
/ Capital Gains ,
Estate Tax ,
High Net-Worth ,
Income Taxes ,
Net Investment Income ,
New York ,
Selling a Business ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Increases ,
Tax Rates ,
Taxable Income ,
Trusts ,
Wealth Tax
Some folks eagerly await the release of a new album. Others camp outside of big box retailers to get the jump on holiday gifts. There are those who line up at box offices to purchase tickets for a concert that is months away....more
11/11/2022
/ Estate Tax ,
Federal Budget ,
Financial Adviser ,
Gifts ,
Grantor Trusts ,
Green Book ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Priority Guidance Plan ,
Tax Advice ,
Trusts ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ways and Means Committee
The Key Person-
The closely held corporation is often a fragile creature. Too often, its continued success and well-being are overly dependent upon the continued involvement of one individual – namely, the founder and...more
11/3/2022
/ Closely Held Businesses ,
Estate Tax ,
Grantor Trusts ,
IRS ,
Marital Trusts ,
Revocable Trusts ,
S-Corporation ,
Shareholders ,
Successors ,
Surviving Spouse ,
Testamentary Trust ,
Trusts
Everyone has heard about the affluent, or even not-so-affluent, New Yorkers who have moved to Florida, or to another state, to escape New York’s tax regime, not to mention the cold.
More recently, some of us are...more
8/30/2022
/ Burden of Proof ,
Citizenship ,
Conditional Permanent Residence ,
Domicile ,
Estate Tax ,
Exit Tax ,
Intangible Property ,
Intent ,
New York ,
Non-Residents ,
Primary Residence ,
Relocation ,
State Taxes
It is a fact that the phenomenon of human migration has been a major force in the history of the world.
Indeed, among the themes that have remained constant during my years of practice, there are two that may be...more
8/23/2022
/ Domicile ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Trusts ,
Gift Tax ,
Intangible Property ,
IRS ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Marital Assets ,
Non-Citizens ,
Non-Residents ,
Partnership Interests ,
Residency Status ,
Tangible Property ,
Tax Treaty ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Visas
“Déjà vu All Over Again”-
The White House last week released the President’s Budget for the Fiscal Year 2023. The Budget is ambitious, but its “investments,” we are told, “are more than paid for with tax reforms focused on...more
4/8/2022
/ Capital Gains ,
Capital Gains Tax ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
Family Businesses ,
Federal Budget ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) ,
Grantor Trusts ,
Income Taxes ,
Joe Biden ,
Rule Against Perpetuities ,
Taxable Income ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Trusts ,
Wealth Tax
Counting the Days?-
We are 302 days away from the national mid-term elections, to be held November 8, 2022, yet the first full week of the new year has already highlighted some of the economic issues with which the...more
1/12/2022
/ Appraisal ,
Business Ownership ,
Business Valuations ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
Federal Budget ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) ,
Grantor Trusts ,
Investment Banks ,
IRS ,
Letters of Intent ,
Mark-To-Market ,
Medicare ,
Net Investment Income ,
Qualified Small Business Stock ,
Stocks ,
Surtax ,
Target Company ,
Tax Increases ,
Wealth Tax
Not Selling Your Business This Year?
Beginning shortly before the House Ways and Means Committee released its version of the President’s Build Back Better plan, several posts on this blog have explored the uptick in M&A...more
11/29/2021
/ Arms Length Transactions ,
Business Ownership ,
Buy-Sell Agreements ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Equity ,
Estate Tax ,
Fair Market Value ,
Family Businesses ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Life Insurance ,
Liquidity ,
Mergers ,
Partnerships ,
Shareholders ,
Stock Purchase Agreement ,
Tax Increases ,
Transfer of Assets ,
Ways and Means Committee
Tax the Rich?
The President’s plan for a tax regime that would ensure the rich pay their “fair share” of the cost of implementing his programs has come one step closer to being realized . . . maybe . . . well, sort of ....more
11/23/2021
/ Adjusted Gross Income ,
C-Corporation ,
Capital Gains ,
Capital Gains Tax ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Estate Tax ,
Gift Tax ,
Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) ,
Income Taxes ,
Infrastructure ,
Inter Vivos Gifts ,
IRS ,
Mark-To-Market ,
Net Investment Income ,
Social Security Taxes ,
Tax Code ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Returns ,
Transfer Taxes ,
Valuation ,
Wealth Tax