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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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Dream Until the Dream Come True?[i]

Ask the owner of a closely held business to describe their most recently recurring nightmare and you are likely to get an earful regarding the prospect of an increased federal income tax on their profits, an increased federal tax on the long-term capital gain from the sale of their business, the imposition of a federal mark-to-market tax on the gain accrued in their business at the time of their death, and the imposition of a federal estate tax determined on the basis of a greatly reduced exclusion amount.[ii]

Basically, the worst parts of Mr. Biden’s tax proposals, as set forth in his American Families Plan.[iii]

Ask the same business owner to describe their fondest dream –  no, not that one –  and they may describe a scenario in which they sell their business for cash but, at the same time, are able to defer the recognition of the gain for many years.[iv]

Too Good to be True?
Continue Reading Cash in Hand, Tax Deferral, Monetized Installment Sales: No, You Can’t Have It All

Go After Real Estate?

During the 2020 presidential campaign, there was one segment of the “rich” for which then-candidate Biden seemed to have reserved some of his harshest criticism – wealthy real estate investors. Moreover, the Democratic Party’s platform included several proposed changes to the Code[i] the impact of which would probably be felt most keenly by such investors.[ii]

Query the origin of this posture. Was it grounded – pun intended – in the Party’s association, rightly or wrongly, of the real estate industry with Mr. Trump?[iii] But how can this be reconciled with the sizable contributions made by industry leaders to Mr. Biden’s campaign and to political action committees that supported him?[iv]

Regardless of why candidate Biden identified the federal taxation of real estate as an example of what he described as the Code’s special treatment of the wealthy,[v] President Biden recently proposed that the Code be amended to limit many of the favorable provisions upon which real estate investors have long relied for purposes of evaluating the acquisition, operation, and disposition of investment properties.Continue Reading “Earth to Earth”: Real Estate, Death and Biden’s Tax Proposals

A Night to Remember?

Did you listen to the President’s speech last Wednesday? He addressed a joint session of Congress to pitch the Administration’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan. Due to COVID-related restrictions, there were only about one hundred elected officials present in the House Chamber;[i] other invited guests brought the total in attendance to approximately two hundred.[ii]

The sparsely occupied room was to be contrasted with the targeted audience: the almost 27 million U.S. viewers who tuned into Mr. Biden’s speech, and whom he hoped to enlist in his effort to sway a closely divided Congress.[iii]Continue Reading The President’s Recent Tax Proposals: What Do They Mean for Business Owners?

In advance of the President’s address to Congress this evening, the White House this morning released a summary of Mr. Biden’s proposed changes to the Internal Revenue Code. These changes, together with his previously announced plans to increase the federal corporate income tax, are intended to accomplish three goals: fund the government’s efforts against the pandemic, support new social programs, and enable tax cuts for lower-income families.
Continue Reading Tax Highlights: The American Families Plan

“Yeah, I’m the Tax Man”[i]

Last week, several media outlets reported that Mr. Biden will soon propose that Congress increase the federal income tax rate applicable to long-term capital gains recognized by individual taxpayers.[ii]

The time and place at which this and other changes to the Code are expected to be proposed is this Wednesday, April 28, when the President, at the invitation of House Speaker Pelosi, will appear before a Joint Session of Congress[iii] to advocate for his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan.[iv]

These reports should not have surprised anyone. After all, candidate Biden ran on a platform that called for increases to the individual federal income tax rates applicable to items of both ordinary income and long-term capital gain.[v] As President, Mr. Biden has not wavered from this position.

Let me tell you how it will be
There’s one for you, nineteen for me
‘Cause I’m the taxman
Yeah, I’m the taxmanContinue Reading Biden’s Proposed Income Tax Increases And the Sale of the Baby Boomer Business

Not Just Income Tax

Approximately two weeks ago, Gov. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature agreed upon a budget for the State’s 2021-2022 fiscal year. Although most businesses and their owners have understandably focused their attention on the increased personal and corporate income taxes[i] enacted under the budget legislation, there are several other provisions of which they should not lose sight.[ii]Continue Reading N.Y.’s Real Estate Transfer Tax, the 2022 Budget, and Responsible Person Liability

New York’s Governor Cuomo is having a bad 2021. Some may attribute this to his hubris or to karma; others may point to an emboldened, and now veto-proof,[i] progressive State Legislature; many will claim that Mr. Cuomo is paying the price for being out of touch with the electorate. Whatever the reason, his fall from “political grace” has been precipitous, and it has had immediate[ii] consequences for tax policy in New York, as manifested in the $212 billion budget agreement (the “Bill”) that the Governor announced last week.
Continue Reading New York Is Getting Out of the Zone, the Qualified Opportunity Zone, That Is

The New York state budget deal announced yesterday includes a workaround of the temporary federal limit on state and local tax deductions (the SALT cap). The provision was part of Gov. Cuomo’s initial budget proposal in January, and it comes at a time when many Democrats are calling on Pres. Biden to include the elimination of the SALT cap as part of his recently announced infrastructure proposal.

The SALT cap was added to the Internal Revenue Code as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017. It is scheduled to lapse after 2025. Until then, however, joint filers may not claim more than $10,000 in itemized deductions for state and local tax payments for purposes of determining their federal income tax liability. This can be burdensome for New York residents, especially after the budget’s tax rate increases are enacted.

Last November, the IRS issued guidance in which it described an approved form of workaround based upon an entity-level state tax.

The New York budget provision is modeled on the above-referenced IRS notice, and would allow pass-through businesses to pay taxes at the entity level. The entity-level tax would be offset by a corresponding individual income tax credit.
Continue Reading New York Budget Deal Includes SALT Cap Workaround

According to Justice Learned Hand, “Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes.” Stated differently, taxpayers have the right to pay only the amount of tax legally due.

Having said that, taxpayers have, over the years, demonstrated varying degrees of aversion to their tax obligations – especially in high-tax states like New York. Those New York taxpayers who are willing to “roll the dice” are hopefully aware of the associated audit risk, but many of them may be ignorant of the exposure they face from New York’s False Claims Act.Continue Reading Thinking About ‘Avoiding’ NY Tax Increases? Then Think About the False Claims Act

Are the rich making enough of a contribution to society? Are they bearing their fair share of taxes? Many New York legislators don’t think so.

Following the elections of November 2020, the State’s Democratic party secured a veto-proof supermajority not only in the Assembly, but also in the Senate.[i] This development was significant because, until then, the State’s chief executive, Governor Cuomo – ironically, also a Democrat – had been the major obstacle standing in the way of tax increases on the State’s businesses and on its wealthier residents.Continue Reading New York is Poised for Some Significant Tax Increases