The Charitable IRA Rollover is Now Permanent!
Under the normal rules, an IRA distribution is included in the gross income of a donor, who then may claim a charitable income tax deduction if she contributes that money to charity. There has been a special rule for qualified charitable distributions, which has been extended on a temporary basis every two years, with the last such extension expiring at the end of 2014. This special rule, which has proven to be very important for charitable gift planning, has finally been made permanent by the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, signed by President Obama on December 18, 2015, effective for distributions made in 2015. Continue reading “The Charitable IRA Rollover is Now Permanent!”
California Clarifies Investment Standards for Public Benefit and Religious Corporations
Without a lot of fanfare, the California State Legislature recently passed a bill that seeks to provide some clarity for charities as to how they are supposed to invest their assets.
Assembly Bill 792 (“AB 792”) was passed by the California State Legislature in June, 2015, signed by Governor Brown in July, 2015, and will become effective on January 1st of next year. According to its author, it will assist California nonprofit public benefit and California religious corporations in making better investment decisions by clarifying California law regarding the investment of their assets. The hope is that this, in turn, will provide these entities with improved investment returns. Continue reading “California Clarifies Investment Standards for Public Benefit and Religious Corporations”
Tips re Cybersecurity
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer recently provided tips to aid individuals to protect themselves from identity theft:
- Shred all documents containing personal, financial or medical information before you throw them out.
- Be cautious using debit cards. Don’t use at gas pumps or for shopping online.
- Don’t respond to e-mails, calls or texts seeking sensitive information. Legitimate companies don’t seek customers’ information this way.
- Create strong passwords that mix letters, numbers and special characters, and use different passwords for different accounts.
- Lock your mailbox. Stolen mail is a leading cause of identity theft.
- Don’t keep your license, title and registration in your glove compartment.
It’s Just a Simple Will
Often times, people believe their wills (or other estate planning documents) are really simple and straight forward. In fact, this assumption is probably the primary reason that some websites generate significant business selling legal documents prepared by non-lawyers. Such websites seek to create simple documents and offer to purportedly save consumers lots of money. Continue reading “It’s Just a Simple Will”
Regulations Modify Basis Rules for Term Interests in CRTs
The Treasury recently issued final regulations that modify the rules for determining the basis of an income interest in a charitable remainder trust in order to curtail a perceived abuse of the general rules. To understand the perceived abuse, and the mechanics of these regulations, it is helpful to understand the context in which the issue arises. Continue reading “Regulations Modify Basis Rules for Term Interests in CRTs”
New Due Dates for Certain Entity Federal Income Tax Returns
The Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (the “Act”) was signed into law by President Obama on July 31, 2015. Under the Act, the due dates for certain federal income tax returns were changed.
For tax years beginning after December 31, 2015, the due date for federal income tax returns for Subchapter S corporations and partnerships (including limited liability companies treated as partnerships for income tax purposes) with calendar year ends will be March 15th following the close of the calendar year, and the 15th day of the third month following the close of the fiscal year, for fiscal year partnerships and S corporations. Continue reading “New Due Dates for Certain Entity Federal Income Tax Returns”
Deflategate and International Business?
Be Careful What You Wish For!
Originally published by the Journal of Commerce in June 2015
This oft-stated warning is certainly true for those who engage in international trade. For many years, industry has complained to government about different agencies wanting different information at different times in the release process; some would take the data electronically, while others insisted on hard copies; the data elements were not identical; and, if filers have to input the data more than once, the likelihood of clerical errors rises. Well, all that comes to an end on November 1, 2015 when use of ACE becomes mandatory for all cargo release and entry summary filing. October 1, 2016 is the date by which use of ACE becomes mandatory for all remaining electronic portions of the CBP cargo process. What does this mean for importers and exporters? Continue reading “Be Careful What You Wish For!”
Trade Preference Programs Get New Life
Originally published by the Journal of Commerce in July 2015.
In the last few months, there has been extensive press coverage about the President’s trade agenda and the ultimate Congressional grant of Trade Promotion Authority. As noted in that coverage, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) (the Trans-Pacific trade deal being negotiated with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) (the equally important trade deal proposed with the EU countries – Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece (yes – still, at least as of date of initial publication), Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuanian, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom), are now likely realities, but not in the next few months. Continue reading “Trade Preference Programs Get New Life”
The Times Are Changing, But Very Slowly
First, we learned relations with Cuba were thawing, and now – on July 14th – there is the nuclear deal with Iran. Many American companies are clambering to make commercial deals with businesses in both countries – but not so fast! In fact, little has changed in terms of U.S. relations with either country, at least at the business level, although significant changes are likely in the future. With Cuba and Iran both, there are laws on the books that Congress will first have to change and only then, will the commercial relationship be regularized. Continue reading “The Times Are Changing, But Very Slowly”
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