Tax Monitor

U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses Case Relating to In-House Counsel Attorney-Client Privilege for Dual-Purpose Communications

February 3, 2023

Key Take-Away: What is the difference between “a” and “the”? Quite a lot if you are in-house counsel for a company that wants to assert attorney-client privilege for dual-purpose communications made by you as in-house counsel. The Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) granted cert in In re Grand Jury and recently heard oral arguments regarding dual-purpose communications, giving hope that…

Inflation Reduction Act Expected to Cost Coal

August 12, 2022

The U.S. House of Representatives will soon take up the Inflation Reduction Act (“Act”), passed by the Senate earlier this week after a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Harris. The Act seeks to tackle various environmental and health care issues, allocating significant funds toward the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and placing a cap on out-of-pocket prescription costs for individuals…

Estate Planning in the Current Environment

July 18, 2022

Since the changes to the estate, gift, and generation skipping taxes went into effect in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“Tax Act”), advisers and clients have been working to take maximum advantage of the benefits, many of which will sunset at the end of 2025 without further legislative action.

The Tax Act doubled the estate, gift, and generation skipping tax exemptions.  In 2022, the estate tax…

The Superfund Excise Tax Is Returning Soon for the Chemical Industry.

May 16, 2022

Chemical companies need to prepare for the return of an excise tax on chemicals produced or imported that hasn’t been in effect for nearly 30 years.  In January 2022, the IRS published Notice 2021-66, related to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”), which revives the excise taxes imposed on certain chemicals—previously known as the Superfund Chemicals taxes.  See https://www.irs.gov/p…

8 Things to Keep in Mind for 2021 Tax Filing

March 8, 2022

Things to Keep in Mind for 2021 Tax Filing

While filing season is well under way for tax year 2021, it is important to keep in mind some of the issues specific to the 2021 tax year and some items that have been carried over from relief packages passed for tax year 2020.  A few key issues are discussed below. 

Return Processing.  As the IRS continues to struggle with staffing and processing issues,…

Fiduciary Obligations of 401k Trustees

February 3, 2022

The Supreme Court of the United States addressed 401k trustee fiduciary obligations in Hughes v. Northwestern University. For 401k fiduciaries, both employers and investment advisors, the case reaffirms earlier requirements that fiduciaries must monitor each and every investment offering in the plan for performance, fees, and expenses, and they have an obligation to remove imprudent investments,…

Save the Date! 2021 West Virginia Tax Institute - October 18th & 19th

September 28, 2021

The Seventy-Second Annual West Virginia Tax Institute Meeting will be live streamed on Monday and Tuesday morning, October 18 & 19, 2021 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm each day. 

We are still busy finalizing the schedule and speakers for this year’s program. We anticipate that the Program will qualify for approximately 6 hours of CLE/CPE credit, 1.5 of which is in Ethics.   

The full Program details and…

Some Interesting Tax Provision of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021

December 29, 2020

There were some long awaited tax changes contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the “CAA”), but there were also some interesting additions.

For example, the CAA clarified that taxpayers can deduct expenses paid with PPP Loan proceeds overturning the IRS guidance on this issue. This benefit is substantial for taxpayers and effectively increases the PPP Loan proceeds by the amount…

IRS Release -- Expenses Covered By PPP Loan Are Not Deductible in 2020 Regardless of the Timing of Forgiveness

November 19, 2020

The IRS has released guidance on the tax issues related to forgiveness of a PPP loan.  In general, under the CARES Act, forgiveness of a PPP Loan is excluded from gross income for federal income tax purposes.  The IRS has clarified that expenses covered by PPP Loan proceeds, namely payroll, are not deductible if the PPP Loan is forgiven.  IRS Notice 2020-32.
 
Recent IRS guidance takes…

NEW IRS GUIDANCE REGARDING § 163(j) LIMITATION OF BUSINESS INTEREST EXPENSE DEDUCTION

September 3, 2020

Business Interest Expense Deduction

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act revised § 163(j) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) to limit the deduction available for business interest expenses in a taxable year to an amount no greater than the sum of:

1. The taxpayer’s business interest income;
2. Thirty percent (30%) of the taxpayer’s adjusted taxable income (“ATI”); and 
3. The taxpayer’s floor plan financing…

Proposed Regulations Provide Guidance on Entities That Can Use Small Business Accounting

August 31, 2020

Recent IRS proposed regulations outline new accounting method procedures for businesses who want to use the cash method for accounting and how they can qualify to do so under expanded statutory requirements.

The IRS recently issued proposed regulations to implement changes made to the permissible accounting method used by small businesses under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“TCJA”). While…

Involuntary Rollovers – Reg BI - What You Need To Know When Participants Have Balances Of $5,000 Or Less And Don't Take Out Their Monies From Retirement Plans

May 18, 2020

In June 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted Regulation Best Interest. Regulation BI (as it is known) imposes a new standard of conduct for broker-dealers when making recommendations of any securities transaction or investment strategy (including account recommendations) to a retail customer. Regulation BI also applies to associated persons of broker-dealers that are natural…