Articles

Didn’t File Tax Returns? The IRS Offers Solutions for Nonfilers

Whether on purpose or by mistake, taxpayers sometimes find themselves years behind on filing their tax returns.  Sometimes people are lucky and decide on their own to file past due tax returns and move on with their life.  Others have the decision made for them when an IRS agent knocks on their door.  Regardless, when you are significantly behind on your tax return filings, you should seek professional help to ensure you can minimize penalties and, hopefully, reduce the taxes you need to pay. Continue reading “Didn’t File Tax Returns? The IRS Offers Solutions for Nonfilers”

Family Business Succession Planning

Small businesses comprise a significant portion of our economy. Unfortunately, most small businesses do not survive into the next generation of owners. The hard work and legacy of the current and prior generations can be wasted without proper planning.

Small business owners often feel they have sufficient time to begin making the transition and will delay the necessary steps until some fateful event forces them into acting. This leaves little or no time to prepare the business and the family for the burdens, both financial and managerial, that can be caused by a sudden and unplanned transfer. Continue reading “Family Business Succession Planning”

Business Contract Drafting and Review

Having your contracts being prepared by an attorney gives you the assurance it not only can be enforced in court but can also help you avoid court altogether.   Properly prepared contracts also can improve the professional appearance of your business.  For different reasons, people often attempt to create their own contracts or recycle agreements they find in the Internet.  Companies that prepare their own documents without an attorney to at minimum review them roll the dice both on their contracts’ appropriateness and enforceability.   Continue reading “Business Contract Drafting and Review”

Taxes and Bankruptcy in Maryland

Despite common belief, taxes can be discharged sometimes through either a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  In fact, bankruptcy is often the best option for many with tax debts.  A tax attorney will typically be familiar with both the tax law and non-tax law options available to you and should be able to point you toward the best solution. Continue reading “Taxes and Bankruptcy in Maryland”

Streamline Your Company’s Legal Structure for Savings

In our modern economy, companies should attempt to cut costs wherever possible.  But at some point companies hit a wall where additional cost reductions do not seem possible.  Often, these cost walls develop because of overly complex corporate structures.  Entities that were formerly useful can become burdens when their purpose disappears.  Sometimes these entities remain from a merger or acquisition or may have been formed to facilitate a now defunct tax strategy or to hold a formerly important line of business.  To get to the next level of cost savings, it is often necessary to look at the company’s legal structure, the company’s backbone. Continue reading “Streamline Your Company’s Legal Structure for Savings”

Buy-Sell Agreements

Persons holding equity interests in a business can use a buy-sell agreement to ensure the continuity of the business and to solidify their expectations regarding the taxes, rights, and obligations of each party.  The buy-sell agreement can dictate the method by which a person’s equity interest will be purchased.  Buy-sell agreements can be used by nearly any type of entity, regardless of whether the entity is a corporation, LLC, or partnership.

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Maryland’s County Registers of Wills – Phone Numbers and Addresses for Probate

Last Updated 4/9/19
For your convenience please find below the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the Register of Wills for each county in Maryland as of this date.  If you are opening a new probate estate or would like the assistance of an attorney, please feel free to contact me.

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Maryland Divorce & Tax Issues

A divorce comes with many difficult challenges, but those involved also need to consider the tax consequences of the divorce.  Tax issues can result from a number of areas.  Of course, the parties will no longer be able to use their married status for their tax returns, but the divorce property settlement itself can cause problems if the tax consequences of the settlement are ignored. Continue reading “Maryland Divorce & Tax Issues”

Maryland Special Needs Trusts

Giving gifts and bequests to friends or relatives with special needs requires that you take into consideration whether it will affect the person’s government benefits. But do not worry, there are many ways of providing assistance to disabled persons, many of whom are very needy of your assistance because of their unfortunate circumstances. Forming a special needs trust is one way of assisting the person.

Ensuring the beneficiary will continue to receive their government benefits, such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), may require you to give the gift or bequest through a special needs trust, also known as a supplemental needs trust.

When providing such a gift or bequest you intend to improve the comfort of the person with special needs, not relieve the government of its burden. However, certain government benefit programs require the person be financially needy. If the person with special needs has assets in excess of $2,000, then the beneficiary will not qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). So, if you gave your child with autism $50,000, then their SSI, Medicaid, and other government benefits could stop and they would need to live on your $50,000 gift until their assets are back to being under $2,000. At the end of the day, the only one benefiting from such a gift would be the government. Because of this and similar issues, attorneys developed planning techniques by which the person with disabilities will receive the benefit of your contribution without losing their medical and other benefits.

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Personal Liability for Maryland Business Taxes

Unlike most business debts, employees and owners of a Maryland business can have personal liability for the company’s tax debts. Similar to how the IRS pursues responsible persons and owners for payroll taxes, states, including Maryland, also pursue responsible persons and owners for certain state taxes. A person that normally would be protected from business liabilities by a personal liability shield, such as the corporate or LLC entity, will not be able to similarly avoid these tax liabilities.

The state of Maryland will pursue employees, managers, officers, and owners for unpaid taxes. The person does not need to Continue reading “Personal Liability for Maryland Business Taxes”