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Tax Days of Our Lives: CPA Firm Contentious Breakup Ends in Tax Court Decision
I am going to nominate the Clark Raymond opinion as the best tax story of the year. At least, it is the best one for CPAs. You have to tease it out of the opinion, but there is a kind of rollicking story of troubled partner relationships. I did 40 years in large local and regional public accounting with a little bit of national icing on the cake and never encountered so much apparent dysfunction. Other commentary on the case has concluded that the lesson is about doing a good job maintaining your capital accounts, but I think the real lessons may be a little different. It is public record, but the guys in the conflict are still practicing so out of professional courtesy I will refer to them as Tom, Dick, and Harry. There is another partner who is part of the story that I will call Jane. Also, for simplicity, I will ignore the fact that they held their partnership interests through single member entities and in Tom’s case in an entity with his wife who did administrative work. And I will refer to the entity involved as “the firm.” The story is every accountant’s nightmare (and would make for a great tax-themed soap opera). Partners disagree. Partners walk out. Clients follow exiting partners to their new business leaving the old partner with debt. Here is the story.
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Lessons Learned from the Tax Court: The Root of the Issue
When is a business really a business? As Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said in 1964, “I know it when I see it.” The US Tax Court, however, maintains a slightly less subjective standard. The Roots were pretty sure they were running a bona fide business; the IRS, however, didn’t share the sentiment. And since we’re reading about them in a segment called “Lessons Learned,” one should assume it did not go the way the Roots would have liked.
The Lessons From The Supreme Court Zuch Opinion
There is a great scene in the movie On The Basis Of Sex. The actors portraying Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her husband, Martin Ginsberg, a very high-level tax attorney, early in their careers are reading in separate rooms. He comes in with something he wants her to read and she snaps that she doesn’t read Tax Court cases. In that moment she showed her future as a Supreme Court Justice. Not many Tax Court cases reach the Supreme Court. So when one does it’s exciting. And, as it happens, Commissioner of Internal Revenue v Zuch contains some practical lessons worth considering.
Fractional Art Investing Is Real — How To Advise Your Clients On The Tax Consequences
In mid-November a portrait of a young Vietnamese woman by the artist Gustav Klimt, which was part of the estate of the late Leonard Lauder (the cosmetics billionaire), was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $236.4 million. It set the record for the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at auction according to Bloomberg. That’s probably out of reach for most of our clients. But what if they could join together to buy an interest in the painting with an entity holding the asset? That’s the idea behind the burgeoning fractional art market. While, in general, the art market has been struggling for a few years, the fractional art market has been expanding. According to the website Digital Original, “Fractional art ownership is no longer a niche concept – it’s a growing investment trend that’s accessible, flexible, and supported by cutting-edge technology.” What, you may be asking, does this have to do with taxes? It may be more than you think for your high-net-worth clients. As a trusted advisor it’s important that you are aware of both the types of investment opportunities your clients may be buying into and the tax consequences.
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