Corporate & Securities Blog

Hedge funds and private equity groups have long used the “limited partner exception” to minimize self-employment taxes, but on March 13, 2018, the IRS announced that it was going to increase its scrutiny on taxpayers utilizing that exception.[1] As part of that campaign, a number of cases are currently being litigated regarding the limited partner exception.[2] On November 28, 2023, the Tax Court issued its first ruling on one of the cases dealing with this exception, Soroban Capital Partners LP et al. v. Commissioner; 161 T.C. No. 12 (2023).

On December 20th, Congress passed a spending bill, signed by President Trump on December 27th, that includes further coronavirus-related fiscal relief (the “Bill”). There are a number of provisions within the Bill that impact both businesses and individuals. This post focuses on changes made to the loan forgiveness aspects of the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”).

On October 9, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service released the first new specific tax guidance regarding virtual currency since 2014 as part of its wider effort to educate taxpayers and enforce the tax laws in this rapidly changing area.  The new guidance, in the form of Revenue Ruling 2019-24 and a set of Frequently Asked Questions posted to its website, reiterates the Service’s position that virtual currency, including cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, is property for federal income tax purposes.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued additional guidance regarding the qualified business income deduction under Code Section 199A in the form of a notice.  Notice 2019-07 contains a proposed revenue procedure that provides for a safe harbor, solely for purposes of Code Section 199A, under which certain rental real estate enterprises will be treated as a trade or business. For more information on this and other U.S. federal income tax issues, please contact Drew Griesser at 513-639-3909, Margaret Kubicki at 513-579-6913 or Mark Sims at 513-579-6966.

The IRS recently proposed new Regulations that, if finalized as written, will eliminate or severely affect, the ability to utilize valuation discounts on the transfer of an interest in a family-controlled entity, regardless of whether such entity operates an active or passive business.