The Tax Adviser

The kiddie tax and unearned income from scholarships

Every fall, students all over the country set off to attend various colleges and universities. With the rising cost of higher education, many of these students are looking forward to receiving some ...
The Tax Adviser

Foreign financial asset filing requirements: Coming into compliance

On occasion, taxpayers holding investments in foreign financial assets or with foreign financial institutions may find themselves in the uncomfortable position of realizing that they have failed to ...
The Tax Adviser

Private equity and F reorganizations involving S corporations

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the merger-and-acquisition (M&A) market had a string of years of strong activity. Seemingly overnight, COVID-19 changed the M&A landscape, as many transactions were put ...
The Tax Adviser

A walk through the step-transaction doctrine

The IRS may apply the step-transaction doctrine, a rule of substance over form, in a variety of taxpayer circumstances to deny tax benefits derived from a series of transactions that should more ...
The Tax Adviser

Sorting the tax consequences of settlements and judgments

During the normal course of business, a taxpayer may find itself the recipient or payer of a settlement or judgment as a result of litigation or arbitration. The federal tax implications of a ...
The Tax Adviser

Conversion of a C corporation to an LLC

Only infrequently will it be beneficial for a C corporation to convert into a limited liability company (LLC). Although a conversion allows the C corporation shareholders to continue to have limited ...
The Tax Adviser

Guide to expensing HVAC costs

Each year, tax professionals who deal with real estate must evaluate the most recent building expenditures and determine which items should be deducted as a repair expense or capitalized. Of all the ...
The Tax Adviser

Tax Treatment When Employees Surrender Paid Time Off to Benefit Others

Hurricane Sandy had a devastating effect on many employees throughout the Northeast, causing them to miss work for a prolonged period. The days needed by some of these employees to focus on their ...
The Tax Adviser

Elective capitalization as a TCJA planning tool

Editor: Mary Van Leuven, J.D., LL.M. One of the Internal Revenue Code’s oldest provisions may prove useful in managing a taxpayer’s position under some of its newest provisions. In considering how ...
The Tax Adviser

Business meal deductions after the TCJA

The legislation known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), P.L. 115-97, eliminated the general deduction of business entertainment expenses under Sec. 274(a). The TCJA mostly left intact, however, the ...
The Tax Adviser

Beware the personal holding company tax

Editor: Valrie Chambers, CPA, Ph.D. Congress reduced the highest rate of income tax on corporations from 35% to 21% in the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, P.L. 115-97. At the same time, the ...
The Tax Adviser

Avoiding an accuracy-related penalty through the reasonable-cause exception

Whether a taxpayer is subject to an accuracy-related penalty due to an understatement of tax is the most-litigated tax issue in recent years. Although the IRS wins a large majority of cases on this ...