Capital Loss
If the amount realized by a taxpayer upon the sale of a partnership interest to a third party is insufficient to restore to the taxpayer their adjusted basis for the interest – i.e., their unrecovered investment in the partnership – a loss is sustained equal to the difference between such adjusted basis and the amount realized. In general, this loss will be treated as a capital loss.[i]Continue Reading Capital vs Ordinary Loss When An Investment Goes South
Movement Toward Tax Increases
You may have read last week that Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee announced they had reached a deal on a budget resolution that will enable them to bypass Senate Republicans on the way to enacting most of the “social infrastructure” programs called for under the President’s American Families Plan.[i] Significantly, after the announcement, Senator Manchin, who is not a member of the Committee, indicated he would not stand in the way of the budget resolution, thereby practically assuring its passage and the start of the reconciliation budget process.Continue Reading Employee-Shareholders, Reasonable Compensation And Employment Taxes
Head-Scratchers
The Code is chock-full of provisions that will challenge the intellectual capacity, not to mention the patience, of most tax professionals. The complexity of these rules does not arise out of some sadistic intent on the part of Congress, the Treasury, or the IRS to torment taxpayers and their advisers;[i] rather, it is often a reaction to, and a direct function of, the complicated, multifaceted schemes that many of those very same taxpayers and advisers devise with the intent of reducing the taxpayer’s income tax liability.Continue Reading Bona Fide Intercompany Loan – Are you Sure?
NH vs MA
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied New Hampshire’s request that the Court exercise its original jurisdiction under the Constitution[i] to hear and resolve a conflict involving the taxation by Massachusetts of income earned by certain residents of the Granite State.[ii]Continue Reading Like a Good Neighbor, New York is Still Free to Tax You – Sorry for the Inconvenience
Not Good
As Mr. Biden settled into the White House, and as the Democrats began planning how to best utilize their slim Congressional majority to enact and pay for their sweeping legislative agenda, the principal concern among most owners of successful closely held businesses was Mr. Biden’s proposal to almost double the federal income tax rate applicable to the long-term capital gains recognized by an individual taxpayer.[i]Continue Reading Tax Increases in Sight? Time to Sell the Business? Focus on Economics
I Read the News Today
Much of today’s news is dominated by the future of the Administration’s broadly defined infrastructure plan. Discussions among “those in the know” inevitably turn into debates over the wisdom of pursuing the bipartisan legislative approach favored by centrists from both sides of the political divide as contrasted with the “go-it-alone through reconciliation” budget process being pushed by the more progressive wing of the President’s party.Continue Reading Tax Changes in the Offing? “Close Scrutiny” of Business Owners’ Economic Benefits Remains a Constant
What A Ride
No one anticipated that the Administration’s proposed tax increases would fly through Congress easily – at least no one residing in a state in which the recreational use of marijuana has not been legalized. Query, however, whether anyone foresaw the rollercoaster-like developments of the last several days.Continue Reading Partners, S Corp. Shareholders and Biden’s 2022 Revenue Proposal: No More Business as Usual
Recap
Last week, we considered several of the revenue proposals included in the Biden Administration’s 2022 Budget that are probably of interest – or should we say, “of concern”? – to the owners of closely held businesses.[i]Continue Reading Biden’s 2022 Revenue Proposal, Profits Interests, and The Alchemy of Compensation
Extra, Extra![i]
Last Friday afternoon, as millions of unsuspecting Americans prepared for the long Memorial Day weekend[ii] – for many, perhaps, their first mask-less holiday celebration in almost 15 months – the Biden Administration released its 114-page “Green Book” for the federal government’s 2022 fiscal year.[iii]Continue Reading The Biden Administration’s Revenue Proposals for Fiscal Year 2022: Tax Increases and Forced Recognition of Capital Gains
Tax Gap
In a report released last week, the U.S. Treasury Department explained that the so-called “tax gap” – i.e., the difference between the amount of federal income taxes owed by taxpayers for a taxable year and the amount actually paid for such year – “disproportionately benefits high earners who accrue more of their income from non-labor sources where misrepresenting is common.”[i]
According to the report, the largest contributors to this shortfall are the underreporting of income and the overclaiming of deductions on tax returns. These practices, the report continues, are prevalent among higher-income taxpayers with “opaque income sources,” among which the report includes sole proprietorships, partnerships and S corporations, rental real estate, and small C corporations;[ii] in other words, the owners of closely held businesses.
The President is relying upon the data in the Treasury’s report to pressure Congress into closing the tax gap, in part, by increasing the IRS’s enforcement capabilities, requiring more information reporting with respect to “opaque income streams,” and regulating tax return preparers.[iii]Continue Reading “Opaque Income Sources” + “Tax Gap” = More Enforcement + Tax Hikes = Anyone’s Guess