Conference Speakers Focus on Hot Issues for Closely Held and Flow-Through Entities

By Wayne Whalen, Marketing Coordinator

FAE’s upcoming Closely Held and Flow-Through Entities Conference on July 28, at the New York Helmsley Hotel, is a chance for attendees to learn more about the latest developments pertaining to closely held business tax matters, S corporations and LLPs.

Randy A. Schwartzman, a tax partner at BDO Seidman, LLP, will conduct a session on bankruptcy tax planning, which will feature a comprehensive overview of the rules relating to cancellation of indebtedness, insolvency and bankruptcy and how these rules affect S corporations, closely held C corporations and partnerships. Some of the topics to be discussed include debtor and creditor issues, attribute reduction, impact of bankruptcy on S status, income tax issues, including the effect of cancellation of indebtedness on income allocations, tax basis and suspended losses for closely held businesses and their owners, NOL retention strategies for closely held C corporations, and a discussion of the criteria necessary to write off investment in a bankrupt or insolvent entity.

Other conference highlights include a focus on unique tax planning considerations for S corporation ESOPs, conducted by Karen S. Bonn, director of ESOP services at BDO Seidman, and Terence L. Griswold, managing director of Empire Valuation Consultants, LLC. ESOP issues such as valuation factors to consider and why they might be useful regardless of the corporate structure will be covered at this session.

Alan T. Frankel, a founding partner of Frankel Loughran Starr & Vallone LLP, will provide a comprehensive review of the S corporation basis rules. The presentation will also address certain S corporation stock and debt basis planning techniques.

A qualified retirement plans session will utilize case studies examining different scenarios, focusing on small plan design and maximizing contributions and benefits for principals and key employees, including insurance and investment strategies.

For more information, visit www.nysscpa.org and click on the “Continuing Education” link at the top of the page or call 800-537-3635.