Practice Area Blogs & Digests

Many business owners, especially owners who are thinking of selling their business, wonder if an ESOP is a good ownership transition option for them. The answer is not always easy to determine but an ESOP is something that should be explored.

Having spent more than a decade working with taxpayers and Department employees on sales and use tax audits and refund requests, I find that responding to documentation requests from the Department can either be an exercise in pragmatism or an exercise in preventing auditors from murdering a taxpayer’s business by a thousand cuts. The reality is that accumulating and providing documentation is easier for some taxpayers than for others. Similarly, the requirements laid out by some states, or by some auditors, are more burdensome than by others.

One of the largest sources of stress for a taxpayer with significant federal tax debts is whether the IRS can take his or her house. For many taxpayers, the family residence is the most important source of their wealth. In addition, it is not just their house, but their home—a source of happiness and joy and family community. The prospect of losing a home therefore not only threatens financial loss, but it is often emotionally taxing as well.

Third-party releases headline news stories about major chapter 11 cases, including Purdue Pharma and the Boy Scouts of America. Will Congress consider a bill that would restrict the use of third-party releases?

When a case is administratively insolvent, can a trustee force estate professionals to disgorge compensation paid pursuant to a court’s order approving such compensation?

A recent court decision, Mendelsohn v. Roslyn, provides important lessons for pleading and proving fraudulent transfer claims.

Many 501(c)(3) organizations receive a property tax statement on a newly acquired property and ask: “As a 501(c)(3) organization, aren’t we exempt from property tax?”

This week, we turn to international transactions that involve licenses or the provision or performance of e-commerce services.

The transfer or use of intangibles generally is a complicated area of taxation, and one that continues to evolve.

As I ask organizations, big and small, what sales and use tax issues cause them the biggest headaches, the answers are overwhelmingly the same – taxability and apportionment of both software and direct mail. I’m going to save direct mail for another day. But for those who are unconcerned about your organization’s treatment of software, I’m here today to read you the riot act.