Features
Undifferentiated Support Orders: Can They Be Taxable Alimony?
The income tax effect of cash payments made by one spouse in a divorce proceeding to the other is determined under section 71 of the Internal Revenue Code. To be taxable to the recipient of the payments as alimony, and deductible by the payor, the payments must meet the four requirements of section 71(b)(1). Of these requirements, the one that has caused the most difficulty is found in section 71(b)(1)(D): there can be "no liability to make any such payment after the death of the payee spouse ... " nor can there be any liability to make a substitute payment.
Features
Massachusetts and Same-Sex Marriages: An Update
As reported on these pages late last year, on Nov. 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided <i>Goodridge v. Department of Public Health</i>, holding, in a 4-3 decision, that the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts violated the state's constitution.
Features
Sarbanes-Oxley Litigation Trap?
In-house counsel focused on complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act should be wary of falling into a trap that could increase the business risks and liability exposure of their company and its executives.
In the Courts
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Business Crimes Hotline
The latest rulings of interest to your practice.
Features
The Perils of an Ineffective Compliance Program
Are ethics programs no longer optional but mandatory? If the program is not good enough, is that fact itself the basis for liability? A recent civil case filed by the creative health care prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia asserts that a company's "ineffective" compliance program satisfies the scienter requirements of the civil False Claims Act (FCA).
Tax Shelters: Avoidance or Evasion?
Recent hearings of a subcommittee of the Senate Committee Governmental Affairs have again focused a harsh spotlight on the abusive use of tax shelters. As if to stress the point, On Dec. 29, 2003, the Treasury Department proposed changes to Circular 230 that "set high standards for the tax advisors and firms that provide opinions supporting tax-motivated transactions."
Real Property Law
Recent rulings of importance to you and your clients.
Features
Cooperatives & Condominiums
Recent rulings of importance to you and your clients.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance ProgramsThe parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.Read More ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
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- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- Marketing Analytics: More Is Not Always BestIn the past few decades, law firms have made great strides in catching up with the rest of the corporate world and are reaping the benefits of all kinds of marketing. This acceptance by firm management is in great part due to an increased appreciation of analytics, made possible by digital marketing and social media.Read More ›
