Photo of Louis Vlahos

Louis Vlahos

Louis Vlahos practices tax law and has extensive experience in corporate, individual and partnership income taxation, and in estate and gift taxation, including tax planning, ruling requests and tax controversy.

Follow:Read more about Louis VlahosLouis's Linkedin Profile

Do This But Not That

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 including, for example, their gratitude to the communities in which they have thrived, a willingness to share their good fortune for the benefit of others, and – less altruistically – a desire for public recognition[i] and the “incidental” benefits arising therefrom.[ii]Continue Reading Transferring the Family Business To A Private Foundation? Are You Sure About That?

NYC Transfer Tax

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 collected in FY 2025.[i] Impressive figures by most measures, but just a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the City’s total tax revenue for FY 2024 of almost $75 billion,[ii] and of its estimated tax revenue of more than $77 billion for FY 2025.[iii]

Still, the RPTT is no laughing matter when one considers that the tax is imposed at a rate of 2.625% of the purchase price for the “transfer” of commercial “real property,” or of an “economic interest” in such property,[iv] located within the City, where the value of the property is more than $500,000.[v]Continue Reading NYC Transfer Tax, Charities, and Single Purpose LLCs – Are Lenders Beneficiaries?

Tax Receipts

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.[i]

The OSC also projected that collections from sales and use taxes would increase by 3.5 percent for SFY 2025-2026.[ii]

Part of this increase is undoubtedly attributable to the efforts of the Department of Taxation and Finance to identify taxpayers who failed to collect and/or remit the correct amount of sales tax.[iii]Continue Reading New York Sales Tax: When a Responsible Person Acts Irresponsibly

Good Intentions

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 success with the community. For example, the owner or business may contribute funds to a local…

Back to the Office

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 accommodation to employees after the pandemic ended. Indeed, there is now a steadily increasing percentage…

Legitimate Interest

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 precept that the means by which the federal government chooses to perform these functions must not exceed its constitutionally…

Holiday Gatherings

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 some fun games. I hope your NFL team put on a decent show.[i] I hope you had – and will continue to have – many reasons for which to be thankful, that you acknowledged them, and will continue to do so.  

At some point during our family’s celebration of this uniquely American holiday,[ii] I almost always find myself apart from the rest of the group, observing how others are interacting with one another, sometimes recalling how they may have handled certain challenges during the year,[iii] and often wondering what sort of future awaited them.[iv]Continue Reading The Holidays – A Time for Family, Reflection and. . . GST Tax Planning?

Another “Departure”

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 President.

Of course, none of these individuals stated they would be giving up their U.S. citizenship or green card,[i] probably because they were aware that such a move (pun intended) would trigger an onerous exit tax.[ii]Continue Reading Abandoning N.Y. Domicile – Must the Business Owner Abandon Their N.Y. Business?