Maximize Your Donation’s Impact: Proper Planning Can Minimize Your Exposure to Income and Estate Taxes
The primary purpose of a charitable gift is to assist a charitableorganization in carrying out its mission and reaching its goals.There can be great satisfaction in making such a gift, and mostcharities will graciously accept even the most modest donations.The purpose of this article is to alert you to some of the issues toconsider when…
Employment Based Pathways to Permanent Residence
R140,000 Green Cards are available annually for skilled andunskilled workers seeking to obtain permanent residence. Theseare distributed through an employment-based preference systemwhich is divided into five categories.The first preference (or EB-1) category is reserved for Multinational Managers and Executives, Employees of “ExtraordinaryAbility” and “Outstanding” Researchers or Professors. The secondpreference (EB-2) category covers those positions which…
Are You Covered? Automobile Underinsurance
Though the evidence is anecdotal, experience suggests thattoo many of our personal injury clients are injured as theresult of auto accidents caused by drivers who bought theminimum level of auto insurance ($20,000) or, even worse,failed to maintain any auto insurance at all. Too often, clientswho carry $1,000,000 of liability insurance on their ownvehicles to protect…
Alden’s Indispensable Trust As I See It
Mr. Alden was a WPI professor, an accomplished inventor(although perhaps not a marketing guru given that one of hisinventions, eventually sold to the Otis Elevator Company, wasincorporated under the moniker “Plunger Elevator Company”not an obvious name to effectively foster confidence in sucha revolutionary product), a prominent industrialist, a broadlyinvolved and committed Worcester community leader, and,ultimately,…
Tips for I-9 Completion and E-Verify
When hiring new workers, most employers are aware of the needto complete Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Whatmany employers may not be aware of is that a seemingly harmlesserror may result in a civil, or worse, a criminal penalty for theemployer. The government’s enforcement of immigration lawswith regards to businesses has increased in light of…
The Danger of “Browse Wrap” Agreements in the Commonwealth
In today’s economy more and more goods and services are soldthrough the Internet. Your business may increasingly rely one-commerce rather than face-to-face transactions. Having alow-cost method to resolve disputes with these remote, facelesscustomers is a business necessity. How do you make sure theother party agrees to your warranties, disclaimers and evendispute resolution procedures? One popular…
Rules of Taxpayer Representation – Part 2
PART I I – APPEALSThis article is the second in a three-part series dealing with“Rules” of taxpayer representation. Part I focused on the Audit,Part II focuses on Appeals. Taxpayers have certain appeal rightsafter an audit and during the collections process. Appeals duringthe collections process will be discussed in Part III. At theconclusion of the audit,…
Are Beneficial Interests in Irrevocable, Spendthrift Trusts a Divisible Asset in Divorce?
The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently determined that anirrevocable spendthrift trust, created by the husband’s fatherin 2004 and funded from his family’s operation of variouscorporations for the benefit of the husband and his siblings, wasproperly included in the marital estate and subject to division inthe husband’s divorce. BACKGROUND The parties were married in 2000 and lived…
Special Needs Trusts for Disabled Children of Military Retirees
If you are a military retiree and a parent of a special needschild, a bill in Congress will make it easier for you to providefor your special needs child after you die. The military allowsretirees with special needs children to participate in theSurvivor Benefit Plan, which permits monthly benefit stipendsup to 55% of the military…