The Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act Of 2015 The Federal Government loves to tweak the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) to implement its social and economic policies. Often times, the enacted tax laws will be temporary in response to a current economic condition that may exist or as an experiment to see how much GDP...Read More
The IRS Probably Knows (or will soon know) About Your Foreign Bank Account Congress has known for decades that American citizens are hiding money offshore. Congress finally decided to give the IRS some strong enforcement tools and enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) back in 2010 to combat the offshore problems. Under FATCA,...Read More
Pre-Filing Planning For Bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a powerful legal strategy that can allow individuals an opportunity to discharge (or eliminate) all or a significant portion of their debt. However, bankruptcy is not without risk. An improperly planned bankruptcy can result in the loss of assets, conversion of the case to a different chapter, dismissal, or...Read More
PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT NOTICES SENT OUT If you own real property in California, the local county tax collector (ours is Shabbir A. Khan) sent you a property tax assessment notice that states the property’s valuation on which the future tax will be based. Each year this bill seems to increase a little more, but you...Read More
Bankruptcy: An Option for More than You Think Although often times portrayed in a negative light or frowned upon when discussed in social circles, bankruptcy offers those in financial strife an opportunity to rebuild. Further, bankruptcy is not just for low income individuals that found themselves in over their heads. Bankruptcy also offers options for...Read More
Recently, Internal Revenue Service Revenue Officers (i.e., collection representatives) were directed to assess the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 6672 faster and get more aggressive in the collection of those taxes from delinquent taxpayers. Internal Revenue Code Section 7501 requires employers to withhold and pay income and FICA taxes from...Read More
Properly preparing for a Bankruptcy filing can be just as important, if not more important, than the filing itself. After all, once a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy case is filed the Court or Trustee takes a snapshot of your assets and looks at the assets as they are at the time you file...Read More
Clark v. Rameker: Supreme Court Rules An Inherited IRA Is Not Exempt From The Bankruptcy Estate Once again it has been shown that it never pays to ignore a problem. Whether dealing with tax issues, credit card debt or unpaid judgments failing to be proactive can have dire consequences. A June 12, 2014 Supreme Court...Read More
On May 28, 2014, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment to the United States of America holding that an individual who purchased real property in 1987 and sold it in 1999 was not entitled to long term capital gain treatment on a portion of the sale proceeds. ...Read More
Chapter 13 bankruptcy is commonly known as a “re-payment plan” bankruptcy and is only available to individuals with regular income whose secured debts total less than $1,149,525 and whose non-contingent liquidated unsecured debts are less than $383,175. In contrast to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, debtors in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy pay a percentage of their...Read More
The attached articles were written based on the state of the law as of the date written. The authors of the attached articles assumes no responsibility to update the content of the articles as a result of any changes in the law. Anybody reviewing the attached articles should consult with the authors of the articles, or their professional tax or legal advisor to verify the current status of the law as it relates to their own personal transactions.
