On December 16, 2021, the United States Tax Court issued a memorandum opinion in the case of Skolnick v. Commissioner (see Docket Nos. 24649-16, 24650-16, 24980-16), which was related to the deduction of business expenses for an animal breeding operation. This opinion was the second of two recently issued on the matter. You can find [...]
The following tale is the first in a two part series relating to a couple of recent decisions from the United States Tax Court. Both decisions center around the often-litigated topic of a taxpayer’s profit-motive and whether those taxpayers should have been the allowed the losses stemming from their breeding businesses. On December 21, 2021, [...]
The proper classification of workers is a decision that is critical to the success or failure of many small businesses. This is especially true in light of the on-going public health crisis, where margins have been squeezed to their absolute limits. For more information relating to the classification of workers, please see these previous blog [...]
People often joke that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Well, it turns out that, when it comes to the report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account (FBAR) penalties, death may have finally met its match. The Southern District of Florida issued a decision in United States v. Green, 2020 BL 165965 [...]
The recently imposed social distancing measures that are critical and essential to our nation’s battle with the coronavirus have had a dramatic impact on everyone’s everyday life. No one is exempt or excused from that impact. This includes our nation’s taxing authorities. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has created and is updating a website to [...]
For many taxpayers with multiple active business interests, the material participation test can be a significant tax trap. If the elements of that test are not met, the impact could be that the taxpayer is limited in how the income/loss from that business is recognized on their personal tax return. A recent decision in the [...]
For many business taxpayers who have Small Business Administration (SBA) financing that ultimately goes into default, it can be difficult to work with an SBA receiver and operate a business. While understanding that relationship requires an expertise that is outside the scope of this article, a recent Eleventh Circuit Court case confirmed that employment taxes [...]