Author: Richard Colombik, JD, CPA

Richard M. Colombik, JD, CPA, is an honors graduate attorney and licensed Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Colombik is also a member of the National Liaison Committee to the Internal Revenue Service for the American Association of Attorney CPAs, Inc. and is a noted author, lecturer, and former Chairman of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Federal Tax Committee, as well as a member of the American Bar Association’s Asset Protection Committee. The creator of the Tax Law Solutions strategies, Mr. Colombik, a Managing Partner, brings a diverse taxation and Managing Business Partner background to Tax Law Solutions and its clientele.

Will the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Affect Small Captive Insurance Companies?

By Jeremy Colombik, CPA
President, Management Services International
and Richard M. Colombik, JD, CPA, Tax Law Solutions

The end of 2017 delivered uncertain tidings concerning what effect the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the most significant US tax reform in more than 30 years, would have on the captive insurance industry. While the law affects larger captive insurers, or 831(a)s, changes are less significant for smaller captive insurance companies, or 831(b)s. Continue reading “Will the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Affect Small Captive Insurance Companies?”

THE PUERTO RICAN MIRACLE: PAY ALMOST NO BUSINESS OR PERSONAL INCOME TAX LEGALLY!

“Of course, it must be too good to be true!” “My accountant said it is illegal and will increase my audit risk and I may go to jail!” “If it existed everyone would know about it!” I have heard every variation of reasons not to fully realize the benefits available in the Internal Revenue Code. However, my 37 years of taxation experience allows me to understand that no one, not myself, not your CPA, and not even your tax attorney knows everything.

Continue reading “THE PUERTO RICAN MIRACLE: PAY ALMOST NO BUSINESS OR PERSONAL INCOME TAX LEGALLY!”

Substance over Form? Or just good tax planning? Captives are looking good!

In Summa Holdings, Inc. v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo 2015-119, the 6th Circuit Appellate court has partially put a leash on the IRS Commissioner to argue that a transaction, if done solely for income tax purposes may be set aside, on substance-over-form arguments, if the transaction clearly follows the Tax Code! It does not sweep away this overly broad tool of the IRS to claim that a transaction should be recharacterized because a business chose the lowest tax method to structure the transaction, but allows such structure, if it is a path that Congress intended.

Continue reading “Substance over Form? Or just good tax planning? Captives are looking good!”

C-Corp

WHAT BUSINESS ENTITY MAKES SENSE FOR YOUR FIRM? – PART 2

Use of a Single-Member LLC

A single-member LLC’s provides considerable flexibility for its owner. Individuals forming a new business may choose to forego the liability of operating the business as a sole proprietorship, or the forming a corporation to own the business, by creating a single-member LLC which would own and operate the business and assets. The single-member LLC provides advantages over partnerships with a single equity source because a single-member LLC eliminates the need to have two or more owners and this may result in fewer costs by avoiding the need for creation of more than one legal entity to act as “partners.” Additionally, single-member LLC’s may be used to own multiple divisions of a business or multiple real properties with ownership is vested in a single-entity.

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Business Entity

WHAT BUSINESS ENTITY MAKES SENSE FOR YOUR FIRM? – PART 1

Illinois Limited Liability Companies (“LLC”) are governed by 805 ILCS 180/1-1. The Limited Liability Company Act (“LLCA”).

An LLC is a separate legal entity and requires certain procedural steps be followed. First, the LLC organizer(s) must file articles of organization (the LLC counterpart to a corporation’s Articles of Incorporation) with the appropriate state agency (generally, the Secretary of State). The articles of organization must contain: the name and address of the principal place of business of the LLC; its period of duration; the business purpose (ordinarily, language to the effect of for the transaction of any or all lawful business for which limited liability companies may be organized under the Limited Liability Company Act); the registered agent’s name, the registered agent’s address; the name(s) and address(es) of the initial LLC’s manager(s) or members; and a statement indicating that the LLC is managed by managers; the names and addresses of each organizer; and any other provision the members/managers elect to include.

Continue reading “WHAT BUSINESS ENTITY MAKES SENSE FOR YOUR FIRM? – PART 1”

Income Tax

INCOME TAX UPDATES

IRS NOT ALWAYS CORRECT

In Center vs. Commissioner, 1995 TCM 311, the Tax Court ruled that an IRS Notice of Deficiency is not entitled to a presumption of correctness, if the IRS does not produce any evidence in support of its determination. In Center, the taxpayer did not provide any proof of his income during the year at issue. He had not filed a tax return. The IRS took the earnings from a prior year and used the consumer price index to compute the alleged income for a subsequent year. The taxpayer denied he had made that much money. The taxpayer petitioned the Tax Court saying that the amount of income was wrong.

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ASSET PROTECTION SOUGHT BY BIG SIX ACCOUNTING FIRMS

Offshore Asset Protection Trusts are becoming the rage of the nineties. The setting up of an Asset Protection Trusts involves the initial structure of a trust in an offshore jurisdiction. Properly drafted this gives one protection against creditors and eliminates the creditors abilities to attach assets.

For those of you who are a bit skeptical on the usage of offshore trusts and entities, please be aware that recently reported in the Business & Economics Section of the European, a European-based weekly newspaper, that London-based, Price Waterhouse and Ernst & Young have been consulting with the Island of Jersey to promote new laws allowing limited liability partnerships to become part of the Jersey legal systems. This would limit the partners from those UK firms that have set up limited partnerships on the Island of Jersey to only be liable for the amount of their interest in the firm. Current United Kingdom law indicates partners that they are personally liable for any claims against the partnership.

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PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS GET TAX BREAK

In James F. Boccardo vs. Commissioner, 56 F.3d 1016 (9th. Cir. 1995) the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals modified well established case law and benefited personal injury lawyers. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that all preparation and trial costs paid by the Boccardo personal injury firm, were deductible in the year paid, even through the cases might be settled years down the road. It might not seem like a big change for the public, but there are many ramifications for allowing the deductibility of expenses that might later be repaid. This article will analyze the Boccardo case and its meaning.

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