Practical perspectives for contemporary legal challenges.
As a trust and estates and tax attorney, I am frequently asked by clients (and colleagues) if there are options to reduce the income tax burden they expect to pay on portfolio income or when they expect to experience a liquidity event in the future. Clients who live in high-tax states (e.g., states with a …
Continue reading “A Smart Way to Plan for High State Income Taxes: The Nevada ING Trust”
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (the “OBBB”), which makes a number of highly beneficial changes to the tax treatment of Qualified Small Business Stock (“QSBS”) acquired by “non-corporate” taxpayers after July 4, 2025. The goal of these changes is to encourage investment in new companies by providing …
The Employee Retention Tax Credit (“ERC”), enacted as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), is a fully refundable tax credit for employers, up to $26,000 per eligible employee. Because of the potentially significant value of the ERC to employers, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has warned of “blatant” …
When dealing with the Internal Revenue Service during the initial stages of a tax case, whether it involves an audit, collection issue, request for penalty relief, or a proposed plan of resolution such as an Offer In Compromise, taxpayers as well as tax professionals often overlook the right to resolution through the use of the …
On June 29, 2021, Bill C-208 was granted Royal Assent and became law in Canada. Bill C-208 amended the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “Act”) to provide tax relief to families wishing to transfer shares of small business corporations, family farms, or fishing corporations to the next generation: their children and grandchildren. Ordinarily, the Act provides that …
Continue reading “Bill C-208: Intergenerational Business Transfers”
Among the many significant changes in the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA), individual taxpayers’ deductions for state and local taxes (SALT deductions) on federal Form 1040 Schedule A were capped at $10,000 ($5,000 for married taxpayers filing separately). The “SALT cap” results in reduced itemized tax deductions for individual taxpayers, particularly impacting homeowners …
Continue reading “The SALT Cap and State Taxation of Pass-Through Entities”
The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service have extended the treatment provided in Notice 2020-46 to leave-based donation programs and cash payments in connection with such programs that are made to section 170(c) organizations after December 31, 2020 and before January 1, 2022. See Notice 2021-42. Under Notice 2020-46, as modified by Notice 2021-42, …
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) allows certain businesses (generally, employers with fewer than 500 employees and non-federal governmental employers) to claim refundable tax credits as a reimbursement for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave from April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021 to their employees due to COVID-19, including …
On April 19, 2021, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, released the first official budget in the past two years, titled, Federal Budget 2021: A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience (the “Budget”). The Budget proposed over $100 billion in spending, and, among the more significant measures, the Budget proposes to extend …
The federal American Rescue Plan Act signed by President Biden in March 2021 provides that up to $10,200 of state unemployment benefits received by individuals during 2020 are excluded from gross income. Taxpayers are eligible for the exclusion only if federal adjusted gross income is less than $150,000. The mid-March legislation created some initial confusion …