4 Things Beneficiaries Who Receive IRS Form 8971’s Schedule A Must Know
When someone inherits assets, he or she is supposed to have a tax basis in the inherited asset for income tax purposes equal to the “fair market value” of the inherited asset at the date of death. The IRS is concerned that it is losing billions of dollars due to improper basis reporting for inherited assets: that is, the executor reports the assets on the estate tax return at one value, and then when those same assets are later sold, exchanged, or transferred by the beneficiary, the beneficiary reports the basis at a higher value. To tackle this concern, all estates which file an estate tax return after July 31, 2015, also must now file, within 30 days after filing the estate tax return, new IRS Form 8971, and provide a Schedule A to each beneficiary. A beneficiary’s Schedule A must also be given to the beneficiary within the same time frame. (Note that for all estate tax returns filed between August 1, 2015 and May 31, 2016, the due date of Form 8971 was postponed to June 30, 2016, leading to a flood of recent filings.) Continue reading “4 Things Beneficiaries Who Receive IRS Form 8971’s Schedule A Must Know”
IRS Confirms – No More Phone Calls (At Least Not Initially)
It has been somewhat of an epidemic. Lots of taxpayers have received calls from persons who claim to be from the IRS and who assert that the recipient of the call has an outstanding federal tax liability. The caller then threatens some kind of draconian penalty (e.g., the police will be immediately dispatched to arrest the recipient of the call) unless immediate payment is made by wire transfer, debit card, or some other mechanism whereby the caller can extort some quick money. Continue reading “IRS Confirms – No More Phone Calls (At Least Not Initially)”
Employers Should Take Note of the Department of Labor’s Final “Persuader Rule”
By Steven M. Schneider
June 28, 2016
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued its final rule concerning the controversial “persuader rule” that greatly expands employers’ obligations under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (the “LMRDA”). The persuader rule, scheduled to take effect July 1, 2016, not only impacts employers with union-represented employees, but it also may impact employers who presently do not have union-represented employees or union-organizing activities.
Under the LMRDA, any person who pursuant to any “agreement or arrangement” with an employer undertakes to persuade employees to exercise or not exercise their right to organize and bargain collectively, is obligated to report specific information about such agreement or arrangement to the DOL. Historically, the DOL has treated most legal work to be exempt from these reporting requirements, provided that the attorneys avoided direct communication with their clients’ rank and file employees and the client was free to accept or reject the attorney’s advice. However, the DOL’s revised persuader rule extends the reporting requirements to “indirect persuader activities” engaged in by attorneys. Continue reading “Employers Should Take Note of the Department of Labor’s Final “Persuader Rule””
Valuation Rule for Early Termination of Net-Income Charitable Remainder Unitrusts
Under Internal Revenue Code § 664, a qualified charitable remainder unitrust each year during its term distributes to a non-charitable beneficiary a fixed percentage (5% or greater) of the value of trust assets, determined annually (the unitrust amount). Assets remaining in the CRUT at the end of its term are distributed to charity. Section 664(d) provides that a qualified CRUT may limit distributions to the non-charitable beneficiary to the lesser of the unitrust amount or trust income under fiduciary accounting principles (a net-income CRUT, or NICRUT), and may pay the non-charitable beneficiary any trust income in excess of the unitrust amount to the extent that aggregate distributions in prior years were less than the aggregate unitrust amounts as a result of the net-income limitation (a net-income with make-up CRUT, or NIMCRUT). Continue reading “Valuation Rule for Early Termination of Net-Income Charitable Remainder Unitrusts”
The EEOC Is Keeping Busy: EEOC Issues Additional Guidance About the ADA & Final Rules on Wellness Programs
By Emma Luevano
EEOC Guidance on Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act
Concerned about the number of complaints filed against employers for failing to provide reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) recently issued a reminder to employers about their obligations. While clarifying that the additional guidance does not create any new obligations, the EEOC reminded employers about the following:
* It is not sufficient to grant employees the maximum amount of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and/or state equivalent (such as California’s Family Rights Act (“CFRA”)) to meet obligations under the ADA. Instead, under the ADA, employers must also consider granting additional leave as a form of reasonable accommodation (beyond that required by the FMLA or CFRA), unless doing so will create an undue hardship for the employer. As the EEOC indicated, “the Commission takes the position that compliance with the FMLA does not necessarily meet an employer’s obligation under the ADA, and the fact that any additional leave exceeds what is permitted under the FMLA, by itself, is not sufficient to show an undue hardship.” As you already may know, the “undue hardship” standard is not easy for employers to meet. Continue reading “The EEOC Is Keeping Busy: EEOC Issues Additional Guidance About the ADA & Final Rules on Wellness Programs”
TFTEA – Export Fee Refunds, Show Me The Money?
In an earlier alert, we discussed the various export incentives put into place with the passage of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (“TFTEA”). One long-standing benefit available to exporters is duty drawback, which enhances a company’s ability to compete in the global market. Drawback lowers the cost of U.S. exports by allowing for refunds of duties, taxes and fees paid on imported merchandise which is subsequently exported in its same form, as part of a U.S. manufactured product or similar domestic merchandise which is substituted for the imported merchandise. More details will become evident as the regulations are developed within two (2) years following enactment. Here we discuss the key provisions in the TFTEA which impact drawback. Continue reading “TFTEA – Export Fee Refunds, Show Me The Money?”
Privacy Shield Takes More Hits
Just in the last week, both the European Parliament and the European Data Protection Supervisor (“EDPS”) published findings holding the currently proposed EU-US Privacy Shield to be seriously deficient, and calling for further negotiations to deal with those “holes”.
On May 26, 2016, the European Parliament passed a resolution, see EU Parliament Resolution, basically saying nice try, no cigar! While acknowledging that great strides were made, the Parliament felt that too many gaps remained. Not surprising were the on-going concerns about the broad gathering of private data (i.e., bulk collection) by the U.S. government and what is viewed as the less than clearly defined circumstances in which that data may be used for recognized national security and law enforcement reasons, and what else? Continue reading “Privacy Shield Takes More Hits”
SOLAS: Saves Lives? Causes Ulcers?
On July 1, 2016, the Safety of Life at Sea (“SOLAS”) requirement for shippers to provide steamship lines with the verified gross mass (“VGM”) of each shipment takes effect internationally.
While under development at the International Maritime Organization for years, these requirements caught many in the U.S. by surprise last summer when the deadline was emphasized. Perhaps equally surprising was the response of the U.S. Coast Guard, the agency with enforcement jurisdiction. Coast Guard management has been publicly quoted as saying the SOLAS VGM requirements are not mandatory under U.S. law! Rather, they are simply one business means to achieve compliance. U.S. terminals have been weighing export containers for OSHA compliance reasons for years, but the same is not true in other countries. Continue reading “SOLAS: Saves Lives? Causes Ulcers?”
New Santa Monica Ordinance Provides for Paid Sick Leave and Increased Minimum Wages
Santa Monica will become the first city in Southern California and the fourth in the state to enact a municipal paid sick leave law. The city’s Paid Sick Leave and Minimum Wage ordinance will take effect in two phases. The first phase will commence on January 1, 2017, when most Santa Monica employees will be entitled to accrue and use up to 40 hours of paid sick leave. That amount climbs to 72 hours the following year, which is three times the amount of paid sick leave that an employee must be permitted to use annually under California’s paid sick leave law. The ordinance also provides a schedule of minimum wage rates for private sector and hotel workers from July 1, 2016 through the year 2022 and regulates service charges imposed by Santa Monica businesses.
Everyone Deserves To Have Secrets – Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016
On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) which brought with it a new era of accountability and expediency in protecting employers’ intellectual property. Whether proprietary lines of code in a software program, the secret recipe for fried chicken or highly-valued customer lists, “trade secrets” provide a competitive advantage for businesses. While the DTSA provides new avenues for employers to protect their trade secrets, it also imposes additional burdens, creating new whistleblower protections and imposing new notice requirements. Continue reading “Everyone Deserves To Have Secrets – Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016”
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