No one likes to think about death, especially of a loved one, but the failure to prepare for it can be self-defeating. Preparation creates emotional…
Census data shows that approximately 12% of all couples living together are unmarried, up from barely 1% 50 years ago. Unmarried couples can be of…
New York State's recent corporate tax reform resulted in many changes to its statutes and regulations, including some significant changes to the investment capital and…
TPP | Civil Penalties for Willful Violations of FBAR Requirements
Will the Fifth Circuit Clarify the IRS’s Burden of Proof?
District courts and other authorities disagree on whether the IRS must prove willfulness by a preponderance of the evidence or by clear and convincing evidence…
Participant-directed 401(k) plan investment has expanded from an investment menu to include a self-directed brokerage account option. Service providers market these accounts to provide participants…
Many CPAs perform financial planning services, as do numerous other types of professionals. This article provides an overview of different kinds of financial advisors and…
Filing a claim for refund of overpaid tax involves much more than just submitting an amended return to the IRS with an explanatory statement that…
Claims alleging breaches of fiduciary duties have historically targeted large 401(k) plans with significant levels of assets. Recently, however, a claim was filed against a…
Transactions in which an older person advances money to a trust to pay premiums for a life insurance policy on a child or children using…
As many CPAs may be aware, the state of Nevada has historically never imposed an entity-level corporation income tax on companies doing business within its…
Increasingly, U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents are cutting their ties with the United States. This process, called expatriating, includes renouncing U.S. citizenship and terminating…
Fair Value Accounting and Reliability
The Problem with Level 3 Estimates
FASB's efforts to expand the use of fair value accounting have rekindled the debate on the costs and benefits of the approach. Proponents argue that…
Plan sponsors and investment committees must understand the way in which 401(k) plan assets are used to pay plan service providers and investment advisors in…
Often, some of the most valuable estate planning results are achieved not by using the big-picture items like bypass trusts, discounts, or note sales, but…
For most students, the price of higher education is steep and getting steeper. Annual increases in the cost of higher education have consistently outpaced the…
California Multitiered Partnerships
An Overview of a Complex Area
New York CPAs often have to address issues regarding California multitiered partnerships on behalf of their clients. This complex area of tax law has been…
It is not often in life that one is able to hit pause, rewind, and redo something that has already happened. To many taxpayers' surprise,…
The PCAOB’s Proposed New Auditor’s Report
A Sneak Peek at What Lies Ahead
In May, the PCAOB issued a proposed standard, “The Auditor's Report on an Audit of Financial Statements When the Auditor Expresses an Unqualified Opinion,” which,…
Despite medical marijuana legalization prevailing in nearly one-half of the 50 states, the U.S. Congress and the federal court system have not embraced this nascent…
Excessive fee litigation and class action settlements increased significantly in 2014 and 2015. These decisions and negotiations will encourage more claims against retirement plan committees…
SLT | New York’s Enhanced Collection Procedures for Delinquent Taxpayers
Driver’s License Suspension Program
New York State tax law now provides the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF) with a new enforcement tool to assist in…
TPP | Filing Amended and Current Returns in Cases of Past Noncompliance
How Not to Make Matters Worse
When a CPA discovers a taxpayer's past noncompliance, there are both ethical and practical questions to answer. The last thing a CPA should want to…
In mid-2013, the SEC established the Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force, which in part was formed to spearhead the Division of Enforcement's efforts to…
TPP | Filing Amended and Current Returns in Cases of Past Noncompliance: How Not to Make Matters Worse
2016 Max Block Award Honorable Mention in the Area of Departments/Columns
When a CPA discovers a taxpayer's past noncompliance, there are both ethical and practical questions to answer. The last thing a CPA should want to…
Estate planning continues to evolve in ways that enhance the importance of the CPA's role relative to other advisors and to what it has been…
Many individuals desire to make charitable bequests but are not certain how to do so or how they work. This is an area where a…
Despite the best of intentions when couples say, “I do,” more than a few will find themselves eventually saying, “I don't.” Aside from the emotional…
The “trust fund recovery penalty” can impose sizeable liabilities on officers and other employees of financially struggling or failed companies that fail to pay withholding…
In August 2015, the SEC, by the narrowest of margins (3 votes for, 2 against), adopted the long-awaited and politically charged rule requiring large U.S.…
The conveyance of real property or an interest therein, whether commercial or residential, is subject to the New York State and City real estate transfer…