The Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) was established to protect military personnel from being sued while in the service of the United States and for up to one year following active duty. 

A CLAT / Grantor Trust provides the best of both worlds; an immediately income tax deductible charitable donation and tax-free income for children and a legacy for grandchildren.

Recently, many tax return preparers have learned that a number of their clients failed to report their interest in a foreign bank account, corporation or trust to the IRS.  Because the Foreign Asset Tax Compliance Act requires foreign financial institutions to report their U.S. depositors to the IRS, the IRS is more likely to discover non-reporting taxpayers.  Furthermore, in light of more stringent reporting requirements, recent publicity and IRS enforcement action focused on non-reporters of foreign assets, all tax preparers should ask their clients whether they have failed to report foreign assets to the IRS.  When a practitioner learns of a client’s unreported foreign assets, what should he or she do?  

Generally, a partnership seeking to adjust the basis of partnership property upon the transfer of an interest under Section 743(b), or following a distribution under Section 734(b), must have a valid Section 754 election in place. Although a seemingly simple election, it is not uncommon that a partnership intending to make a valid Section 754 election inadvertently fails to satisfy all of the regulatory requirements. Under those circumstances, however, there may be limited recourse available to the partnership to pursue corrective action.

As it relates to household employment, state, local and federal tax laws as well as relevant state and local labor laws are often overlooked or misunderstood. To avoid making a costly error, it is important to understand current tax and labor law and to follow it appropriately. 

For the overwhelming majority of US taxpayers, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 ("ATRA") eliminated the need for federal estate tax planning. It did so by making the $5 million applicable exemption amount (indexed for inflation) permanent. Additionally, in April 2014, the New York State estate tax exemption increased, so fewer New York taxpayers would need state estate tax planning.