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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.

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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 of employers that are requiring their employees to return to the office or place of business.

Some employers are mandating that employees work in the office full-time.[ii] Many other businesses expect employees to be physically present at least three days per week.[iii] Often, employers are “taking attendance” to ensure compliance with their in-office policies.Continue Reading Employer to Nonresident Employee: “You Cannot Work in New York”; New York to Employee: “We Will Tax You Anyway”

Expiring Provisions

Just a few weeks ago, many individual taxpayers, driven by what they viewed as the relatively imminent expiration of the enhanced federal transfer tax[i] exemptions, sought advice on how to leverage their remaining exemption and thereby optimize the transfer of value to their beneficiaries while limiting the amount of tax incurred.

Even following the results of the November elections, and regardless of the President-Elect’s recent statements about further curbing the federal transfer taxes, many individuals continue to be concerned about the reduction of the “basic exclusion amount”[ii] that is scheduled to occur at the end of this year.[iii]Continue Reading Expiring Federal Transfer Tax Benefits – Nothing is Certain or Lasts Forever

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 enumerated powers.[i] Among Congress’s enumerated powers is the power to “regulate Commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, . . .”[ii]Continue Reading The Status of the Corporate Transparency Act – It’s Not Clear

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?

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 economic (including tax) consequences of which will be felt by the business and its owners for years to come.Continue Reading Choice of Entity for a U.S. Business- Passthrough Status Matters Beyond the U.S. Border

Enforcement

Earlier this year the IRS announced that, as part of its larger compliance efforts begun last fall under the Inflation Reduction Act,[i] the agency’s stepped-up enforcement activity with respect to high wealth, high income individuals had generated more than $1 billion in collections of past-due taxes.

One would be hard-pressed to seriously dispute that every taxpayer must pay the correct amount of income tax; no more, no less. That means a taxpayer has the right to pay only the amount of tax that is legally due and the right to have the IRS apply all tax payments properly.[ii]Continue Reading Challenge to Collection Due Process? Will Supreme Court Affirm IRS’s Offset of Valid Refund With Disputed Tax Liability?

As we will see shortly, it is often “better to give than to receive,”[i] though this statement begs the obvious question[ii] of whether it is better to do so during one’s lifetime or upon one’s death.

Many well-to-do individuals are seriously deliberating this question[iii] as they contemplate the impending federal elections and consider how the outcome of these contests may influence their plans for the disposition of various assets, including the transfer of such assets, or the value they represent, among members of such individuals’ families.Continue Reading Thinking About Making Taxable Gifts Before the 2026 Sunset?

Thus Spoke the Governor

Last Friday, New York’s Governor Hochul[i] delivered the following remarks at the annual meeting of the Business Council of New York State:[ii]

“Someone asked me today, are we going to raise income taxes? I said, ‘I’m not raising income taxes.’ I said I’m not. I stopped a huge income tax increase last year. I don’t think it’s a good strategy for economic development to find more reasons for businesses to leave the State of New York. . . . And maybe they didn’t hear that for a long time with Occupy Wall Street and all this other socialism that was going on, but you need to be reassured that the people who are actually in elected office in the highest positions right here don’t support that.”[iii]Continue Reading New York Tax Continues to Inconvenience Nonresidents Working Remotely

Raking It In

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[i] indicating these individuals had received income in excess of $400,000 but had failed to file a tax return. 

Last week, the IRS announced that during the first six months of this initiative, nearly 21,000 of these taxpayers filed returns and paid approximately $172 million in taxes.Continue Reading Unconstitutionally Excessive FBAR Penalties? It Depends