Category: Business Owners

Business Owners

Avoiding IRS Challenges with Business Owner Compensation by Richard E. Cabrera, JD, LLM, CPA


Posted on May 16, 2023 by Richard Cabrera

Operating a family-owned or closely held business requires owners to make business decisions with significant tax consequences. One example involves the compensation business owners pay themselves and whether those amounts are reasonable and whether the payments are deductible as “ordinary and necessary” business expenses. The answer can depend, in large part, on how the business […]

Trends in International Tax Reporting, Failure to File Penalties by Joel G. Young, JD, LLM


Posted on May 02, 2023 by Joel Young

U.S. tax law requires taxpayers to annually report many of their cross-border activities, including the existence of foreign bank accounts, interests in foreign companies and large gifts from foreign persons. While most of these reports are merely informational and have no bearing on taxpayers’ actual U.S. tax liabilities, failing to file the appropriate forms or […]

Current Guidelines for Retaining Tax Documents by Adam Cohen, CPA


Posted on April 24, 2023 by Adam Cohen

After filing your federal income tax return, you will likely be left with a significant stack of legal and financial documents. Don’t throw them away. You will need them in the event your return becomes the subject of an IRS audit. Here’s everything you need to know about document retention and how to protect yourself […]

Now is the Time to Put your Swap Powers to Use by Jeffrey M. Mutnik, CPA/PFS


Posted on April 12, 2023

A key element of estate planning involves the creation of trusts to protect assets from creditors and provide financial security for beneficiaries. Over time, and especially as tax laws change, individuals must reassess existing plans and consider making changes or taking other actions to improve tax efficiency and wealth preservation for themselves and future generations. […]

Businesses with R&D Expenditures Must Prepare for the Risk of Higher Taxes by Karen A. Lake, CPA


Posted on March 27, 2023 by Karen Lake

Congress closed out another year without restoring taxpayers’ ability to fully deduct research and development (R&D) expenditures in the year incurred, a taxpayer-friendly provision of the Internal Revenue Code that had been in place for nearly 70 years before 2022. This change has had significant implications for many businesses that were again surprised to find […]

R&D Tax Credits Can be a Boon to Real Estate Businesses by Karen A. Lake, CPA


Posted on February 21, 2023 by Karen Lake

Mentioning the federal research and development (R&D) tax credit often conjures up images of scientists in white coats conducting lab experiments. Truth be told, the credit, which can reduce taxpayers’ federal tax liabilities, applies to a wide variety of activities conducted by companies outside of labs in an even broader range of industries, including construction […]