Tax Returns Can Make or Break Your Case
February 01, 2004
The primary purpose of a tax return is for government entities to assess income taxes on the earnings of a business or individual, but in divorce, the role of the tax return is much broader and serves various purposes. Business and personal tax returns should be thoroughly analyzed before marital assets are divided and before income is set for the purpose of determining spousal maintenance and child support. If analyzed properly and creatively, they can help show whether: 1) there was financial irresponsibility; 2) income is much greater than appears on the surface; or 3) assets no longer exist that one spouse assumes still do exist.
Road to Large Law Firm Partnerships Getting Longer
January 01, 2004
The fast track at top law firms is slowing down. Facing increasingly complex matters, an active market for lateral partners and greater pressure to improve profitability, major New York law firms are prolonging the period leading up to partnership. At firms where an associate's first shot at partnership once came 7 years after law school graduation, tracks of 8 years or longer are now far more common.
Treat Your Partners Well
January 01, 2004
Managing an organization composed of successful lawyers is famously difficult. The very traits that make lawyers successful are found in abundance in law firm partners ' a healthy skepticism, a penchant for debate, and a high degree of self-confidence ' coupled with a sense of ownership in the enterprise and a desire to be informed and consulted about decisions large and small. Firm management's job got even harder in April, with a Supreme Court ruling affirming that partners may have equal employment opportunity rights.
Around the Firms
January 01, 2004
Movement among major law firms and corporations.
Are You Filing Sales/Use Tax Returns?
January 01, 2004
There is good news for law firms and providers of legal services. Since they are exempt from sales tax in all states, they are not subject to collecting and remitting sales tax. However, because of the use tax (which is the other component reflected on the tax return), law firms and legal service providers should still file sales tax returns in their resident states. More and more law firms and other exempt service providers are being audited by the states for sales and use tax. These audits are resulting in firms being assessed thousands of dollars in use taxes, interest, and, in some instances, penalties.
Executive Committees' New Role: Focus on Integration
January 01, 2004
Information Resources (formerly called the Library in most firms) and Marketing/Business Development now must form a union to help the firm's senior management with strategic positioning, competitive analysis and revenue generation through firm strategic intelligence. The time for dotting the "I" in Information and crossing the "t" in Marketing has come. It is no longer enough to obtain information about a client.
Optimizing Retirement Plans for Law Firms
January 01, 2004
Part One of this article compared some hybrid retirement plans (combinations of defined contribution and defined benefit plans) that are potentially desirable for law firms. In Part Two, we provide spreadsheet analyses to illustrate the benefits of these plans and to reconcile them with nondiscrimination criteria of the Internal Revenue Code and of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
News Briefs
January 01, 2004
Highlights of the lastest franchising news from around the country.
Tax Shelters: Avoidance or Evasion?
January 01, 2004
Recent hearings of a subcommittee of the Senate Committee Governmental Affairs have again focused a harsh spotlight on the abusive use of tax shelters. As if to stress the point, On Dec. 29, 2003, the Treasury Department proposed changes to Circular 230 that "set high standards for the tax advisors and firms that provide opinions supporting tax-motivated transactions."
