FBAR: Challenges for Clients and Firms Alike
The FBAR is not filed with the tax return, discloses no information about the income derived in a foreign account, and is not used for calculating any tax obligations. Yet the IRS has converted the FBAR from a minor information report to a primary tool for pursuing hidden bank accounts.
OPEB, COLI and Post-Retiree Needs
The recently passed COLI Best Practices ' 101(j), Deferred Compensation ' 409A and the Medicare Act of 2003 require advisers to review all qualified and nonqualified benefit programs. These legislative changes and the courts' review of COLI provide attorneys with a different approach to help solve their benefits planning problems. While pensions have been codified, limited, and scrutinized since 1974 with ERISA, non-pension post-retiree benefits (OPEB-GASB 45, FAS 106, and IAS 19) have been less regulated ' until now. Judicial action, legislation, and administrative agency action have caused a paradigm shift in benefits planning.
Secured Lenders' Right to Full Payment
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held on May 5, 2009, that two secured lenders were fully secured, "entitled to a full recovery" from the debtor despite the bankruptcy court's improper valuation of the collateral (improved airport terminal space) securing the lenders' underlying $60 million loan. <i>In re United Air Lines, Inc.</i>
Re-engineering Underused Partners
In the current recession, partners whose practices depend on transactional areas of the law have experienced a significant decline in business. Some firms may have the resources and client work to carry them. Others may not. "Re-engineering" underutilized partners, although not the easiest solution, could be the least objectionable.
