Business, Tax & Estates

As you know, Congress has been considering tax reform over the last several months. Until recently, it was unclear whether any of the wide-ranging proposals would gain enough traction to become law. Last week, however, the House Ways and Means Committee released a much-publicized tax bill (the "Bill") that, if enacted, would drastically alter current Federal estate and gift tax laws and eliminate the use of certain common estate planning strategies. Background. While the Bill is just a propos ...
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Tales from the Pandemic: Some Estate Planning Challenges and Opportunities Highlighted by This Crazy Year (PDF)

2020 Federal Income Tax Update (PDF)

In the past, the amount that a person could transfer exempt from the estate tax at his or her death was fairly steady for many years. Starting around 2002, the exemption started increasing at a faster rate, going to $5 million in 2011 and then doubling in 2018. The exemption amount currently sits at $11.58 million per person and is slated to go to $11.7 million in 2021. The exemption has never been reduced in the history of the tax, although we came close a couple of times (remember the “fi ...
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Please see our previous client alerts regarding PPP loans here and here. There have been a number of recent updates regarding the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”).  On June 5, President Trump signed into law the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (“PPPFA”), which enacted important changes to the program designed to make the Act more accommodating for borrowers.  In addition, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) has also released the forgiveness applicati ...
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The Small Business Administration (SBA) has just released new guidance on how it will review the good faith certification that all Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers must make when they submit their applications for PPP loans.  Under the PPP, all borrowers must certify in good faith that “[c]urrent economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.”  The SBA previously threatened audits and potential civil and criminal penalt ...
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Annual reports (and the associated fees) for most North Carolina business entities, including corporations and LLCs, must be filed with the North Carolina Secretary of State no later than April 15 of each year. On April 7, 2020, the office of the Secretary of State made an announcement stating that although the office lacked the statutory authority to extend the filing date for annual reports and associated fees, it would not consider reports and fees to be delinquent if they are received by ...
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