Many of us may already be aware that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has significantly cut corporate tax rates, slightly cut individual tax rates, provided a jump in the standard deduction and implemented a host of other tax law changes for both individuals and businesses. However, there has been little attention given to Read more >
Overview On June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court decided South Dakota v. Wayfair. This pivotal sales tax case allows states to impose sales tax obligations on out-of-state businesses that have no physical presence in the state. Previously, a business had to have some sort of physical presence in the state, such as an employee working Read more >
Current IRS rules that provide tax breaks on gains of sales of qualified small business stock (QSBS) have been made permanent. More specifically, a taxpayer may be able to exclude from personal income tax up to 100% of any gain realized on the sale or exchange of QSBS held for more than five years (subject Read more >
Several recently released cases from the Washington Department of Revenue Administrative Review and Hearings Division provide a good reminder about the reach of the department to collect real estate excise tax (REET) on the transfer of real property. In the first case (Det. No. 16-0350), the petitioner limited liability company transferred a controlling interest in Read more >
A Special Notice, dated May 24, 2017, from the Washington State Department of Revenue has provided further clarification regarding Business & Occupation (“B&O”) tax and corporate director fees earned within and without the state of Washington. The Notice makes it clear that all compensation received for services rendered as a corporate director may be subject to Washington Read more >
The Huffington Post recently ran the headline “Why We’re All Becoming Independent Contractors.”{http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/why-were-all-becoming-independent-contractors_b_6731760.html}. The article recounts that GM and Uber are valued at $60 billion and $40 billion respectively, but that GM has over 200,000 employees while Uber has a paltry 850 employees. Uber has a simple, but concerning, explanation for this discrepancy – Uber’s Read more >
In mid-December 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department issued final regulations affecting all foreign-owned single-member limited liability companies. While these regulations have the potential to increase transparency with respect to the movement of foreign funds, they impose new burdens on the foreign owners of U.S. LLCs. Prior to these final regulations going into effect, the ownership Read more >
If you’re an officer or director of a Washington business, you need to be aware of specific liability dangers that could create personal liability for you and place your personal assets at risk. As a general rule, a corporation’s officers and directors are not responsible for corporate obligations. But there are specific liability dangers that Read more >
At the beginning of this year, Washington State took steps to streamline and standardize a variety of administrative requirements amongst all limited liability entities created under Washington law. Effective January 1, 2016, Washington adopted the “HUB” provisions of the Uniform Business Organizations Code (“UBOC”), national guidelines that change—sometimes significantly—a variety of administrative requirements related to Read more >
In May 2016, the Obama Administration, by way of the Departments of Education and Justice, provided schools nationwide with guidelines regarding bathroom use by transgender students. These guidelines are a piece of a larger legal dialogue regarding the rights of transgender individuals in the United States. We recently blogged about Washington State laws which protect Read more >