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Federal tax reform has potentially and perhaps unexpectedly increased the tax liability for families by destroying the deduction for investment expenses. However, the recent United States Tax Court decision on the Lender Management case may provide an opportunity for family offices to maintain deductibility for legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) 162 instead of Section 122. Therefore, family offices desiring to deduct expenses may want their facts to closely mirror those of Lender Management, LLC and to consider restructuring.

As part of federal tax reform, Congress created a new “Qualified Opportunity Zone” program to encourage investment in businesses that are located in low-income communities.

The purpose of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program is to attract private investment to communities lacking adequate access to capital and experiencing vacant commercial properties, outdated manufacturing facilities and/or inadequate access to education, health care, healthy food and other basic social services. Different Community Development Entities will focus on different types of investments and geographic areas.

Life is more complicated for families who have a loved one with a disability. The process of developing an estate plan requires the ability to navigate the confusing and often counter-intuitive rules of government benefit eligibility, and being intimately familiar with the circle of doctors, diagnoses, therapies, and services that will be available to provide special needs support over the course of a lifetime. If your family includes a person with special needs, there are 10 tips to get you started on the right track to developing an estate plan that works for your family.

Section 1061 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act imposes a new three-year holding period for gains derived by a partnership that are passed through to the holder of a carried interest to qualify as long-term gains. This change is effective for any allocations of income or sales of carried interests on or after January 1, 2018, and it applies to newly-granted carried interests and existing carried interests alike.

Every year during tax season the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) releases the “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams. With the increased number of data breaches, it is important to remain vigilant when sharing your personal data and responding to demands for tax payments. Here are some tips to help you avoid tax scams and identity theft.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law in December and made sweeping changes to many laws affecting tax-exempt organizations. Several changes combined to eliminate the tax incentive for many taxpayers to make charitable contributions. With anticipated declines in contributions, charities may be looking for more creative sources of fundraising to sustain their operations, such as advertising online and in publications, promoting or hosting events with for-profit companies, selling products, engaging in restaurant nights, or providing consulting or other services.

It is not uncommon for a related or “friendly” party to desire to make a loan at a lower interest rate than what is available in an arms-length transaction on the open market. This is often the case when loans are made between relatives, business owners and their businesses, and employers and their employees. However, if the lender does not charge enough interest, the transaction may give rise to unforeseen and unintended tax liabilities.

Family office investment vehicles often are organized as limited partnerships or LLCs treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes. Typically, the manager of such a partnership receives an interest in the partnership’s profits (a carried interest) in connection with the management services, in addition to management fees paid by the partnership. With the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the tax treatment of such carried interests and management fees have changed.

There has been a lot of speculation and confusion about the impacts of the most recent tax reform, with many asking if they have to pay more taxes. Unfortunately, the answer is, “it depends.” With this in mind, the tax impact is demonstrated by looking at potentially real scenarios for five different types of taxpayers: trust beneficiaries, unretired company executive, company shareholder, family business owner, and family business employees.