Most Recent Posts
HEROES And CARES – A Tale Of Two Tax Provisions
The Joint Committee ultimately scored that at $135 billion. The thing is hardly anybody understood Code Section 461(l) and the bill was voted on before it was scored, so that was something of a stealth move.
Tax Attorneys Fight Covid-19 Stay-Home Order In Idaho
Mac styled himself the “Courtroom Commando”. I generally disapprove of tax professionals using military metaphors but Mac is West Point Class of 1967 and a Vietnam combat veteran, so he is entitled. When I interviewed him about being sanctioned for raising an argument deemed frivolous by the Tax Court, he remarked that sometimes when you walk point, you get shot in the knee.
Accountants Scrap With Banks For Billions In Paycheck Protection Fees
I understand how accountants are. For the most part they are incredibly loyal to their clients often to a ridiculous extent. There are people who make a living explaining to accountants how to make more money. One of the really good tips is to stop working for people who don’t pay you. If somebody has not paid you in a couple of years, they are not actually a client.
So the banks could be confident that people would have the help they needed to get the applications done whether they could afford it or not. And that seems to be how it went.
Syndicated Conservation Easements- An Industry Based On Nonsense
Conservation-easement cases might have been more reasonably resolved case-by-case in contests of valuation. The syndicated conservation-easement deals with wildly inflated deductions on land bought at much lower prices would seem perfectly fine fodder for feeding into a valuation grinder. Valuation law is reasonably well known, and valuation cases are exceptionally capable of settlement.
Paycheck Protection Certification – No Harm No Foul
Basically nobody who had an actual business and did not blatantly lie on the application will have cause to regret having chased PPP money. Given the speed which the program was thrown together and the vagueness of the certification, this is clearly the right answer.
If there was an attempt to penalize companies because they were being piggy in applying, litigation would have dragged on for years. I might have found it entertaining, but no good would have come of it.
Trump Abandons Dock Dispute But State Income Tax Exposure Remains
But the matters uncovered in the dock dispute, raise a big red flag on the effectiveness of President Trump’s switch. There was a contract uncovered that indicated that he could not use Mar-a-Lago as a residence-that he could not stay there more than three non-consecutive seven day periods just like any other member of the club.
And that brings us to the question of domicile. It is possible that more than one state can tax you as a resident based on how much time you spend there and some other factors (It’s called the New York rule), but you will almost inevitably be taxed as a resident in your state of domicile even in years when you spend no time at all there.
Could Donald Trump’s Dock Battle With Mar-A-Lago Neighbors Cost Him Millions In New York Taxes?
Why the concern about states taxing capital gains? Other than the general Republican belief that tax cuts are a kind of universal solution to every problem. Is the President thinking about making his severance with New York complete by selling his iconic properties and resenting the whopping tax bill on the gains regardless of his domicile status?
Paycheck Protection Deductions: If No Help From Congress Should You Help Yourself?
I’m going to stick my neck out and predict that quite a few taxpayers will take the deduction, many of whom will be blissfully unaware of the notice. If the IRS decides to pay attention to the matter, somebody will litigate it and I really think it could go either way.
Expenses Paid with a Forgiven PPP Loan are Deductible, IRS is Wrong
No court has ever ruled, nor would it ever rule, that cancellation of debt that is claimed to be non-taxable pursuant to existing exclusions, whether that be due to insolvency or bankruptcy under Section 108 or pursuant to Section 1106 of the CARES Act, somehow requires a taxpayer to amend prior-year returns to remove deductions attributable to the non-taxable cancellation of debt.
A Defense Of The Break Republicans Snuck Into The CARES Act
The coverage on this move, which apparently was a fast one in that the voting came before the scoring, has been negative. There is a lonely voice out there crying that rather than fooling with the effective date, 461(l) should have been retroactively repealed as it is poor tax policy and unfair.