Business

The Calm Before?

I’m confused.[i] For better or worse, I’m pretty sure that I am not alone.

Last week, in a letter addressed to the American people, forty-six of the fifty Republicans in the U.S. Senate indicated they would not vote in favor of increasing the federal debt ceiling to accommodate the additional spending that is called for under the $3.5 trillion Budget Resolution recently passed by Senate Democrats.[ii] If the Democrats require such an increase in the deficit to fund their programs – as described in the Administration’s American Jobs and American Families Plans[iii] – the letter explained, they will have to do so without Republican support, using the reconciliation process, in much the same way the Democrats will be increasing taxes[iv] to help cover the cost of those programs.Continue Reading Tax Distributions as Fraudulent Conveyances?

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

8-5-20

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

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

2-5-21

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

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

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?

“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