Now more than ever, it is essential to mix the best of what is new with the best of what is old.
Restructuring, mergers and acquisitions: Even if you aren’t the target of acquisition, or not thinking of acquiring any entities, Tax Reform upended the traditional calculus of thinking about C-Corp and S-Corps, so you might not currently have the optimal structure, especially considering the new Qualified Business Income deduction for pass-throughs, and the flat 21% corporate tax rate for C-corps. The optimal structure for you is so heavily dependent on facts and circumstances. We can design and implement the best strategies for you.
Business relocations: Many of our clients seek our help to move part or all of their business operations from high tax states to a low tax state like Florida, Texas or Wyoming for automatic savings, without triggering a taxable event.
Asset protection: For most of our clients their businesses are where the majority of their assets reside. We work to make sure your current or prospective asset protection plan is sound and will not cause unexpected tax headaches.
International business: Tax reform created a hybrid Territorial Tax jurisdiction for corporations. In order to elect this, typically a tax on deferred earnings may need to be paid. Deciding whether or not to opt-out of the US tax system is not an easy answer.
Tax reform also retains Subpart F for businesses and individuals. And it has been modified even more to discourage US tax Base Erosion and Profits Shifting (anti-BEPS). While the law has changed, the compliance work is still robust and the consequences of error can be debilitating. We help our clients eliminate these risks.
Foreign Investment into the US: The 21% C-corp tax rate and lackluster growth abroad has created huge incentives for foreign investment into the US from Europe and Asia. However, US tax compliance is especially tricky for non-US persons and business. We can eliminate the risk by creating a compliance plan for foreign investors in the US market and making sure it is corrclty followed.
Captive Insurance: Captive Insurance offers fantastic asset protection, arguably the best, and also tremendous tax savings which can dovetail nicely into some of the provisions of tax reform.
Distressed Economic Zone Investments: Tax reform created a vastly new section which allows you to completely defer tax on certain gains when you reinvest in a distressed economic zone.
Private Placement Life Insurance: PPLI can be the best tax and estate planning device for individuals. But there are also times when it optimal for a business to own a policy.
Cost Segregation: Cost Segregation has been around since the 1980s, yet is still not as known as it should be. It helps accelerate depreciation on real estate so that there is more money in your pocket today. More money for current projects can mean a lot more money in the future.
Research & Development Credits: Too many business owners overlook R&D credits because they are too busy conducting research and development! Also many have been steered clear of claiming R&D credits because of audit red flags. That’s not our style. Our style is to claim every cent you are legally entitled to and support our position thoroughly so that in the event of audit, there is really just one likely outcome.
1031 Exchanges: Tax reform took away some 1031 like kind transactions. The good news is the law on real property exchanges remains unchanged and taxes on gains can be deferred indefinitely.
Review and amendment of previous returns. Many times our new clients come to us because they outgrew the abilities of their tax professional or CPA that they started out with. And sometimes prior tax professionals acted a bit too conservative — not taking legitimate business deductions and credits because a fear of an IRS audit. Again, that’s not our style. While we won’t take unnecessary risks, we often review, suggest and implement changes to a clients’ past years returns to claim refunds they are legally entitled too. And that puts more money in their pockets for projects today.
Fixing past mistakes. Our firm started out by fixing the mistakes of others. We have found out a surprising truth: An incredibly successful entrepreneur or business may very well have a C-level or worse tax compliance. We understand how it happens. And we know how to fix the past problems, and limit the risk of more happening in the future.
At Parent & Parent LLP we are a tax law firm that handles tax disputes, planning, tax returns, local and state issues as well for our clients around the world. We can be your total tax team or we can add firepower to your existing team. The attorney-client privilege applies to your communications to us. Contact us to schedule a time to talk about the issues and challenges you are facing today.
