Estates, Trusts and Administration
By Todd A. Stewart, Founding Partner On May 20, 2019, I was in a program with author Kevin W. McCarthy where he talked about his book, Chief Leadership Officer: Increasing Wealth So Everyone Profits. Many good takeaways and I particularly like the idea of aligning your three bottom lines: Financial, People and Purpose. If you want more information, the website is: http://chiefleadershipofficer.com/. *Intended as general guidance only and not as legal advice.
Saving self-employment (SE) tax on the business earnings of a partner or sole proprietor can be significant, with rates from 2.9% to 15.3%. Partners in some cases have avoided this SE tax on their distributive share for an interest as a limited partner in a limited partnership (LP). Today, however, LLCs are in much more common use than LPs for business and investment purposes. This makes it unfortunate that it’s still not clear that a passive member of an LLC can avoid the SE tax. Recently though, the Tax Court allowed limited partner treatment to a passive member of an […]
The end of year is a busy time for many reasons. Travel plans, holiday hosting, and family visits tend to keep your calendar packed. But as a small business owner you have additional obligations that need to be addressed. The end of year is a perfect time to assess your current business, make some decisions, and set some overall goals to ensure you start the New Year off right. When 2019 rolls around be sure you took the time to self-assess with this Checklist: ( ) December is not too late to make a number of moves that can lower […]
A Family Limited Partnership (“FLP”) is a structure that is known for two main purposes: asset protection and tax minimization. Its ability to handle both of these important wealth generators puts it in the running as one of estate planning’s most valuable tools, if implemented and maintained properly. Below, you will find some frequently asked questions that we receive from our clients regarding FLPs. (1) What is an FLP? An FLP is a limited partnership in which all the partners are family members or entities created by or owned by family members. A limited partnership is a business entity that […]
In today’s litigious society, we often have clients calling us and asking for advice on how to protect themselves and their assets from creditors and lawsuits. Many worries stem from concerns over rental properties and vacation homes (including toys such as jet skis) owned by our clients. There are several techniques that can help the owner of a vacation home relax whenever he rents out the house to vacationers. Often an important starting point is the use of a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”). Below, we highlight some major aspects. Reduced Liability This is a big one. Imagine someone is staying […]
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”) has dramatically changed the tax landscape this year. Two important changes include the new 20% deduction for pass-through entities, such as S-corporations and partnerships, and the 21% flat tax rate for C-corporations. Where conventional wisdom once dictated that most small business owners elect S-corporation tax status for their companies (a “pass-through” option), these new rules should have owners re-considering whether C-corporation tax status might offer better tax results. In this post, we will compare S-corporation (pass-through taxation) and C-corporation (corporate taxation) tax classifications for business owners at two different income […]