Entries by TAX

Section 1377(a)(2) Elections for S Corporations

By John G. Hodnette Section 1377(a)(1) generally provides each shareholder of an S corporation is allocated income or loss of the corporation by (a) assigning an equal portion of each item of income or loss to each day of the year, and (b) dividing that portion pro rata among the shares outstanding on that day. […]

Qualified Charitable Distributions from IRAs

By John G. Hodnette Section 401(a)(9) requires annual minimum distributions from traditional IRAs beginning in the year the owner of the account attains age 72 or, if later, the year in which the person retires. These minimum distributions trigger income taxes at ordinary income rates where otherwise the recipient may wish not to receive distributions. […]

Federal Income Tax Update

By Keith A. Wood This is the last of three installments of this article. I. Bookkeeper Falls Victim to Section 6672 Trust Fund Recovery Penalty; Kazmi, TC Memo 2022-13. In Kazmi, a bookkeeper was found liable for the Section 6672 trust fund recovery penalty. The facts of this case are particularly sad. The bookkeeper, Mr. […]

New North Carolina PTE Tax Can Reduce Federal Income Taxes

By John G. Hodnette The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 capped the deduction available to individual taxpayers under Section 164 to $10,000 for 2017 through 2025. That deduction includes state income taxes, real property taxes, and personal property taxes. To benefit taxpayers who own partnerships or S corporations, many states have enacted elective […]

Federal Income Tax Update

By Keith A. Wood This is the second of three installments of this article.  I. Contemporaneous Written Acknowledgment Rules for Charitable Contributions of Aircraft and Vehicles; Izen vs. Commissioner (5th Cir. 2022). Mr. Izen donated a 50% interest in an aircraft to a charitable organization. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the earlier decision […]

Federal Income Tax Update

By Keith A. Wood This is the first of three installments of this article.  I. Audit Statistics: What Are Your Chances of Being Audited? The 2021 Internal Revenue Service Data Book contains audit statistics for 2011 through 2019. Below are audit statistics for 2019 returns: A. Audit Rates for Individual Income Tax Returns. During FY […]

Transferee Liability Under Section 6901

By John G. Hodnette In general, operating a business through an entity can provide limited liability in the event the entity is insolvent or goes out of business. Limited liability applies even to business taxes owed by an entity such as a C corporation. Some taxpayers have attempted to take advantage of that by causing […]

Taxation of Noncompete Agreements

By John G. Hodnette Purchasers of a successful business have the reasonable concern that the prior owners will use their expertise to open a new business across the street that immediately competes with the one they just purchased. Noncompete agreements are key to ensuring that does not happen. How is the consideration paid for the […]

You Cannot be Both an Employee and a Partner of a Partnership

By John G. Hodnette A person who is both an employee and a partner in a partnership is not treated as an employee for tax purposes. Rev. Rul. 69-184 states “bona fide members of a partnership are not employees of the partnership [for employment tax purposes because a partner is] a self-employed individual.” An employee […]

Wells Hall Becomes Chair of the ABA Section of Taxation

By Herman Spence III Our colleague Wells Hall is now the chair of the ABA Tax Section. Congratulations Wells! Wells is an attorney with Nelson Mullins and a long-time mainstay of the North Carolina Bar Tax Section. Recently Wells publicly defended appropriate funding of the IRS. We appreciate Wells’ principled position, notwithstanding the temptation to […]