March 20, 2020

Variety Is the Spice of Life: Alternate Tax Structures for a U.S. Individual Disposing of Foreign Real Property

March 20, 2020/ Ruchelman P.L.L.C.

When U.S. individuals acquire personal use real property or fallow land located abroad, the property often is owned by a corporation. Typically, that decision is driven by local considerations, of one kind or another. However, corporate ownership poses income tax issues in the U.S. at the time the property or the shares are sold. Neha Rastogi, Nina Krauthamer, and Stanley C. Ruchelman explore various ways by which a sale can be effected and the U.S. tax considerations that result. The answers may not be what the client expects to hear, especially if the sale transaction is cast as a sale of real property by a foreign corporation.

June 28, 2019

Qualified Opportunity Zones: Second Set of Proposed Regulations Offers Greater Clarity to Investors

June 28, 2019/ Ruchelman P.L.L.C.

The Opportunity Zone tax benefit, which was crafted as part of the 2017 tax reform, aims to encourage taxpayers to sell appreciated capital properties and rollover the gains into low-income areas in the U.S. One major benefit – reducing recognition of deferred gains by up to 15% – is available only to investments made before the end of 2019, although other benefits will continue to be available to later investments. The clock is ticking on the 15% reduction, and the I.R.S. is accelerating the issuance of guidance. In late April, the I.R.S. released a second set of proposed regulations that address many of the issues that were deferred in the initial set. They also address issues raised by written comments and testimony at the well-attended public hearing in February. In their article, Galia Antebi and Nina Krauthamer lead the reader through the important and the practical parts of the second set of guidance.