A client tells you that many, if not most, of their employees work remotely. How would you interpret that statement? It’s a matter of context, right?
In most cases it suggests that the employer-client has some sort of hybrid arrangement with their employees that requires them to be present at the employer’s place of business two-to-three days a week, and allows them to work from home the remaining days.
Continue Reading When is a Remote Employee Not Remote Enough to Escape New York Tax?C’mon Already
New York has once again missed its April 1 budget deadline, in no small part because the Governor’s party, which controls both the State Senate and Assembly,[i] is once again at odds with the Governor over tax policy.
The Legislature is pushing for tax increases on businesses and on high earners, while the Governor opposes raising the personal income tax but is willing to extend the “temporary” increase in the top tax rate for corporations.[ii]
Continue Reading The “Mandated” New York S Corporation Election – Does Investment Income Include Gain from the Sale of Goodwill?It’s not at all unusual to encounter the owner of a New York business who dreams about leaving the State. The reasons often given for the desired move include, among others, the cost of doing business in New York, the State’s over-regulation of business and, probably most of all, its hostile tax environment.[i]
Lately, however, many more New Yorkers are talking about leaving the State. When you ask them why, they’ll recite a litany of familiar reasons, including those mentioned above. Generally, they seem sincere when they tell you they’re committed to doing whatever it takes to make a new home elsewhere.[ii] That is until you explain that “whatever it takes”[iii] requires (i) a lot of patience which, it turns out, many of these individuals do not have, (ii) a lot of effort, which they are unwilling to invest, and (iii) some sacrifice, which . . . well, forget about that.
A recent decision of New York’s Tax Appeals Tribunal[iv] illustrates one couple’s attempt at leaving the State. The Taxpayers (Husband and Wife) implemented many of the steps that must typically be taken to establish a change of domicile away from New York. Unfortunately for them, they were premature in thinking they had succeeded in doing so. Their missteps may serve as a lesson for others who genuinely aspire to one day describe themselves as “former New Yorkers.”[v]
Continue Reading Escape from New York – It’s Not That EasyHide and Seek
A national study released in 2015 reported that “nearly half the residential purchases of over $5 million were made by shell companies rather than named people.”[ii] Because shell companies could often be formed without disclosing the individuals that ultimately owned or controlled them (i.e., their beneficial owners), and could be used to conduct financial transactions without disclosing their true beneficial owners’ involvement, there was a concern that criminals were using such vehicles to launder money through the purchase of real estate and thereby hide, or at least obscure, the illicit origin of their funds. The report explained that many of these purchases were made in all-cash transactions; thus, no lender was involved and, so, the usual due diligence that accompanies a loan application was avoided.[iii]
Continue Reading NY’s LLC Transparency Act and NYC Real Estate – Albany Wants to Know the Secrets that You Keep[i]NY Needs the Revenue
A couple of weeks ago, the Tax Foundation released its latest “State Business Tax Climate Index,”[i] which assesses a state’s tax system and compares it to that of other states. New York seems to be a perennial among the ten lowest-ranked states, at number 49.[ii]
According to another report recently issued by the Foundation, New York experienced the highest net loss of residents as a result of interstate migration as a share of its population.[iii]
Continue Reading N.Y. Sales Tax – Responsible Person LiabilityA Dirty Business?
The art world is replete with tales of whodunits, forgeries, thefts, money laundering, looting of antiquities, murders, ancient curses, etc. You might say it’s a perfect environment for the more “sophisticated” type of criminal.[i] For the same reasons, it has proven to be a rich source of material for literature and Hollywood – “art” imitating life, as they say.
Continue Reading Sotheby’s N.Y. Sales Tax “Woes” RevisitedLately I’ve been thinking about the many ways by which members of the public transfer funds to government and the many reasons for which such transfers are made. After all, we’re still in the “season of giving.”[i]
Continue Reading New York’s “No-Longer-a-Sin” Taxes – Effective? Progressive? Neither?Denial
It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that, as a species, we humans have a propensity – rooted in our instinctive tendency for self-preservation – toward denying anything we believe may cause us harm. It should come as no surprise that this natural inclination has found expression in the arts. For example, there are certain lyrics and movie scripts that include lines that are memorable only because they recall this defense mechanism called “denial.”
For example, the artist known as Shaggy[i] created a song around two[ii] simple words with which countless children and former children have responded to a variety of accusatory questions: “Wasn’t me.”
Continue Reading Personal Liability for NY Sales Taxes –Sometimes, There’s No Denying It
The Mid-Terms
With 50 seats in the Senate, the Dems still control that Chamber. A win in the Georgia runoff, however, may lessen the burden for Majority Leader Schumer by, perhaps, neutralizing the significance of a certain member of his own party.[i]
Meanwhile, the GOP has claimed “control” of the House by a very thin margin,[ii] but the party’s leadership is already being challenged by its more conservative members.[iii]
On the other side of the aisle, moderate Dems in the House are certainly taking notice of how well the elections went for the “progressive” wing of their party.[iv]
Politics being what it is, would it surprise you if nothing happened in Congress for the next two years? Probably not.
Continue Reading Thinking About Leaving New York? Don’t Forget to Check Your Federal Tax Return
Mid-Terms In Sight
On October 6, 2022, the President announced three changes in the Federal government’s policy toward cannabis:
The announcement came on the heels of increasing pressure from fellow Democrats who ran on a pro-marijuana platform in 2020 and who are facing mid-term elections next month with nothing to show for their efforts:
Continue Reading Cannabis & the Mid-Terms: What Tax Policy?
