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TO REDUCE TAX?
New tax reduction strategies carefully explained and exhaustively researched every two weeks. Receive breaking news updates on tax law changes. Members only monthly AMA with TOTTB.tax.
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FEATURED CONTENT
Don’t Let Estate Taxes Force Your Family Business into Liquidation
My mom knew she was going to die. And she knew it would be sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, it was much sooner than she expected. She had time to put her personal affairs in order but ran out of time for figuring out succession planning for her business. Transitioning her sole-shareholder S-corporation shares over to me upon her death should have been straightforward. It wasn’t. But that’s a subject for another article. Transitioning a family business upon the death of an owner or a significant stakeholder (partner or shareholder) is never easy. Having to grapple with how to pay estate taxes on a closely held business can add complexity and stress to an already fraught process. With proper planning, however, family and other closely held businesses can avoid having to liquidate assets or sell shares or partnership interests to pay estate taxes. Insurance arrangements, operating agreements that include buy-sell provisions, and gifting strategies can all help to ensure a family business remains in the family and can pay any associated estate taxes. But what happens in the absence of proper planning? What happens when beneficiaries inherit a business they would like to keep family owned or closely held, but which is not liquid enough to pay the associated estate taxes within the required nine months? IRC Section 6166 can come to the rescue. Continue reading to learn more.
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CURRENT EDITION
Kovel: Attorney-Client Privilege for Tax Professionals
Twice in my four-decade career, two special agents from IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) entered my office armed with a search warrant, firearms at their side. In both cases, it started the same way.
Gone Phishing: Don’t Get Scammers Catch You!
Today’s criminals are using more than hooks and lines (more like huge trawling nets), and they are looking for small as well as really big fish. If you think your tax practice is too small to be a target, you’re wrong. And you probably know that. You are probably well aware of the phishing and smishing (using SMS/text messaging) attempts that try to gain access to your firm’s computers and/or computer network.
Data Security: Understanding Your Responsibilities
Are you aware of your responsibilities when it comes to securing data? Do you know what your software vendor is doing with your data—and, more importantly, your client’s data? Signing up for a new service or software is often done without any thought of the consequences to the data that you are legally required to protect. The average tax professional uses many different types of software and services when working with a client. Many tax pros are unaware that this often requires consent to be obtained prior to using their client’s information and that failure to do so can result in significant fines and even criminal penalties.
SIMPLIFIED TAX STRATEGIES &
PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION
Think Outside the Tax Box provides tax reduction strategies along with practical
implementation advice in order to reduce your clients’ federal tax bill with ease.
