Frequently Asked Questions About Federal Taxes and Marijuana Businesses
This past Friday marked the opening of Maine’s recreational marijuana market, which allows licensed retailers in the state to legally sell cannabis and cannabis products. While marijuana businesses in Maine may be in compliance with state laws, the federal government...
Consider WARN Act Legalities If You Need to Lay Off Employees
As COVID cases spike to record-setting levels here in Maine and across the country, mass immunization likely months away and talks of financial relief still a work-in-progress at the federal level, many businesses in the state may be facing challenging times and...
Indiana and South Carolina Courts Issue Key Discount Rulings
The Indiana Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court recently issued noteworthy rulings on the appropriateness of discounts in valuing minority interests. The contexts in which the issue arose were different, but, in both cases, there was a compelled sale...
Calculations of Value Are Admissible in Divorce, Alabama Appeals Court Confirms
Horne-Ballard v. Ballard About two years ago, in Rohling v. Rohling, an Alabama appeals court upheld a trial court’s decision to admit into evidence a qualified expert’s estimate about the value of the owner spouse’s business based on a calculation engagement....
‘Particular Facts’ Justify Discounts in Mandatory Buyback of Minority Interest, Says Missouri High Court
Robinson v. Langenbach Context is “crucial,” the Supreme Court of Missouri recently said in upholding the use of discounts in the court-ordered buyout of a minority owner’s shares in a family business. At the same time, the court acknowledged that, “usually,” the...
New DOL Process Agreement Confronts Control Issue in ESOP Valuations
Scalia v. Farmers National Bank of Danville & Weddle Bros. Const. Co. The Department of Labor recently settled ESOP litigation with the trustee Farmers National Bank of Danville (FNB). The settlement incorporates a process agreement that contains noteworthy...
Employee or Independent Contractor? The Rules May Be Getting Simpler.
In this past election, voters in California approved legislation that allowed companies in the so-called “gig economy” to continue classifying their workers as independent contractors, opposed to employees. This issue isn’t exclusive to California, however, as the...
Tax Court Spurns IRS’ Gift Tax Valuation Theory and Methodology
Grieve v. Commissioner In a gift tax dispute, the U.S. Tax Court recently found for the taxpayer when it rejected the unusual reasoning and methodology the Internal Revenue Service’s trial expert proposed to keep low the discounts applicable to the nonvoting...
Five Tax Breaks Expiring This Year
Unless Congress takes action in the next few months, several significant federal tax breaks will expire at the end of this year. In the past, lawmakers have routinely made “extender” provisions to continue expiring tax breaks for another year or two. However, with the...
Does Insurance Cover COVID-Related Business Interruption Losses?
Maine’s relatively low number of COVID-19 cases may have saved some business in Portland and throughout the state. But as cases look to be surging across the country and winter fast approaching, many businesses could be in for a challenging time. Small businesses...