Alerts & Updates
CONNELLY v. UNITED STATES: Supreme Court Weighed In on the Valuation of Closely-Held Companies for Estate Tax Purposes
June 27, 2024Succession planning for many closely-held and family businesses will be impacted by the Supreme Court’s June 6, 2024 ruling in Connelly v. United States. In the case, the Court unanimously upheld the IRS’s position that life insurance proceeds payable to a company to fund its obligation to redeem shares from a deceased shareholder are an asset that increases the company’s fair market value.
Connecticut Passes Decanting Statute to Provide Greater Flexibility to Modify Old Trusts
June 10, 2024On June 5, 2024, Connecticut followed a number of other states by passing a “decanting” statute which specifically authorizes decanting of irrevocable trusts in Connecticut. Decanting is the act of a Trustee distributing the assets from a trust (“Old Trust”) into a new trust (“New Trust”) which has different terms that are more suited to the current circumstances.
IRS Concludes Trust Distribution Prior to Sale Does Not Violate Like-Kind Exchange “Held For” Requirement
May 30, 2024Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 allows taxpayers to defer federal income tax on the sale of real estate (relinquished property) if the sales proceeds are reinvested in business or investment real estate (replacement property) (a “like-kind exchange”).
Connecticut Plans to Fight Back Against New York's Remote Work Tax (Sort Of)
March 6, 2024In most cases, an employee who lives in one state (State A) but works for an employer in another state (State B) is taxed by State B only on wages earned during days he is physically working in State B.
2023 Cummings & Lockwood Firmwide Annual Update
January 30, 2024We are pleased to bring you Cummings & Lockwood’s 2023 Firmwide Annual
Update. It includes our Chairman’s letter, as well as highlights some of the significant
legal work we have performed for clients in each of our four practice areas, the
philanthropic organizations we have supported, and the professional recognitions we
have received based on the quality of our legal counsel and representation.
Tax Court Decision Exposes Limited Partners To Self-Employment Tax
January 3, 2024Under U.S. federal income tax law, self-employment tax is imposed at a rate of 15.3%, with 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare.
2023 Private Clients Group Annual Update
December 14, 2023It is hard to believe another year has passed and, as is customary, we are writing our annual letter to provide you with an update on various tax and estate planning issues and to highlight some items which may be of interest.
Massachusetts Provides Clarity Regarding Millionaires Tax
December 13, 2023Starting with the 2023 tax year, certain Massachusetts taxpayers are required to pay a 4% surtax on taxable income in excess of $1 million. This so-called “Millionaires Tax” is imposed on top of the state’s current 5% flat income tax.
IRS Delivers Early Christmas Gift by Delaying Form 1099-K $600 Reporting Threshold
November 29, 2023IRS Form 1099-K (Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions) is used to report payments and transactions from e-commerce payment platforms, apps and payment card processors such as Venmo, Paypal, Cash App, Etsy and Ticketmaster.
IRS Announces Estate, Gift and Generation-Skipping Transfer (GST) Tax Inflation Increases for 2024
November 14, 2023On November 9, 2023, the IRS officially announced the inflation adjustments for 2024 for the gift and estate tax exemptions. The federal estate, gift and generation-skipping tax exemption will increase to $13,610,000 for 2024 from $12,920,000 in 2023. This is an increase of $690,000.
Cummings & Lockwood Analyzes Massachusetts’ Recent $1 Billion Tax Relief Package
October 11, 2023On October 4, 2023, the Governor of Massachusetts signed into law the first tax cuts in Massachusetts in more than 20 years. The tax relief package is designed to deliver more than $561 million in tax relief to individuals and companies during the 2023-2024 fiscal year and top $1 billion in tax relief by the 2027 fiscal year when the package is fully phased in.
IRS and U.S. Treasury Release Guidance on Cryptocurrency Reporting
September 7, 2023Crypto staking rewards are a kind of digital “dividend” or “interest” paid to cryptocurrency owners who help regulate and validate cryptocurrency transactions in the underlying blockchain network.