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Jun 2019Avoiding State Income Tax with Discretionary Trusts
Discretionary trusts just received another endorsement. Last Friday The Nine, otherwise known as the United States Supreme Court, gave discretionary trusts a big boost with the Court’s ruling in North Carolina Dept. of Revenue vs. Kimberly Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust (“Kaestner”). In Kaestner, the Court, in a unanimous decision, held a state, in this case, North Carolina, could not tax a trust’s beneficiary on…
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Mar 2019Have You Thought About a Non-Compete Agreement With Yourself?
Yes, you read that right. A non-compete agreement with yourself. It might sound counter intuitive, but in fact, having such an agreement can afford you a significant tax reduction if you own a business taxed as an S corporation and decide to sell it. Here’s how it works: In a typical business sale structured as an asset purchase, which is how the majority of sales…
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Feb 2019Physical Presence No Longer the Key to Taxing by States
Business owners beware – You do not have to be in a state physically to be taxed by that state, so says the United States Supreme Court. Overturning a prior decision that required businesses to have a physical presence in a state before the state could tax that business, in South Dakota v. Wayfair (“Wayfair”) the Court ruled states could tax internet commerce where the…
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Sep 2018The Queen of Soul’s Estate Could Be Royal Mess
In her passing, Aretha Franklin joined a list of notable famous people who died without a will. Other famous members of this select group include Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Sonny Bono, Stieg Larson (author of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Pablo Picasso, DJ AM, Michael Jackson, James Brown, and Thomas Kinkade. In each of these cases the administration of the estate dragged on for…
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Sep 2018Tips for Avoiding Problems When Mailing Tax Documents & Payments
With the extended filing deadlines quickly approaching for those who timely filed requests for extensions (September 17, 2018 for entities and October 15, 2018 for individuals), the North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR) just released Directive TA-18-1 regarding the timely mailing of returns, documents, and payments. Though the directive contains no new information, it serves as an important reminder of the availability as well as…
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Aug 2018Now Is The Time To Reorganize Your Business
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 provides a 20 percent deduction to non-corporate taxpayers of up to 20 percent of the their qualified business income (QBI) from each of the their qualified trades or businesses. Aside from thresholds and phase outs, there are two conditions a taxpayer must meet. First, the taxpayer must be a “non-corporate taxpayer,” which in simple terms means C-corporations…
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Jun 2016Hiring Summer Help Without Getting Burned
Many employers look to youth to fill their employment needs during the summer. It can be a cost savings and provide valuable and much needed help to employers, while providing valuable experience and income for the young employee. However, youth employment can create traps with costly penalties for the unwitting employer. This blog post will, hopefully, help you identify and avoid these traps. 1. Is…
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Jun 2016“Parsons Presumption”
The proper application of the Parsons presumption, which many workers’ compensation practitioners understood afforded injured employees the benefit of a presumption of a causal relationship between the originally accepted injury (or injury previously determined to be compensable) and the need for additional treatment for the accepted/compensable injury, continues to create a good deal of appellate activity. As indicated in my previous blog, the North Carolina…
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Mar 2016Decisions to Watch – North Carolina Court of Appeals Employee Cases
Four recent decisions by the North Carolina Court of Appeals relate to Workers’ Compensation issues and have the potential to impact your business. The following overview highlights these cases. If you have questions about any of these decisions or other Workers’ Compensation matters, please contact Kurt at (336) 232-0655. If you have employees that reside more than 50 miles from their place of employment—BEWARE! In a…
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Feb 2016NLRA (National Labor Relations Act) Watch – Section 7 Issues in the New Year
If your employees are not unionized – and for the vast majority of employers in North Carolina, that is the case – can you discipline them if they stop working? If Joe refuses to work because he doesn’t like his latest work assignment, it might be considered insubordination; but if Joe, Mary and Al have a complaint about working conditions, they don’t have to be…