Joint Extension Payments
It’s not unusual for family businesses or trusts to make estimated tax payments for beneficiaries or family owners. Controllers or trustees charged with that responsibility would be prudent to make those payments as individual, not joint, estimated tax payments. Whoever was making the payments on behalf of Sarah Crane (Angus MacPhail’s ex-spouse) probably wishes they had followed that course.
Short Note on Purging Earnings and Profits
I recently wrote on a strategy for old C corporations with appreciated properties. The idea is to make an S election and wait out the built-in gains period. Among the provisions of the Jobs Act which just passed the House and is now awaiting signature is a shortening of the period to five years. This is a lot less than 10, but it is still greater than 3. So a corporation that cannot rely on having active income will still want to purge its earnings and profits before the favorable rate on dividends goes away. The shortening of the recognition period makes this strategy much more viable.
Follow Me
Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.