The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act included a provision increasing taxes on tax-exempt organizations. New Internal Revenue Code Section 512(a)(7) required that tax-exempt organizations include in computing unrelated business taxable income any amount incurred by the tax-exempt organization (i) for any qualified transportation fringe benefit for an employee (generally, costs of mass transit passes and parking near the employer place of business), (ii) any parking facility used by employees, or (iii) any on-premises athletic facility…

On Sept. 18, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill No. 5 (AB 5) into law in California. The landmark legislation, which came into effect Jan. 1, 2020, promises to significantly expand the number of workers treated as employees for state tax and labor purposes. Although the legislation was aimed at participants in the “gig economy” (i.e., freelancers) it has much broader application. Early estimates suggest that as many as one million workers in California…

On Dec. 19, the United States Department of the Treasury released final regulations related to investment in Qualified Opportunity Zones and Qualified Opportunity Funds (544 pages). These highly anticipated regulations and related guidance provide critical information to investors, Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs), and project sponsors/operators involved in real estate, venture capital, operating businesses, and project finance in Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs). Many provisions of two rounds of prior proposed regulations were finalized or amended, and…

Welcome to In the Zone: GT Qualified Opportunity Zone News. Our monthly digest of the latest federal and state developments in Qualified Opportunity Zones and Qualified Opportunity Funds and related Greenberg Traurig news and events will keep stakeholders apprised of the most pressing issues in this burgeoning space.…

Many real estate investors hoping for clarity on whether they will be eligible for the tax break for pass-through entities under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will be disappointed that guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will not help much for projects leased on a triple-net basis. Read Marvin A. Kirsner’s article for the Daily Business Review, “Final IRS Guidance for Rental Deduction Still Leaves Triple Net Leases Out in the Cold.” (subscription).…

Law360 recently published an article by Greenberg Traurig’s Barbara T. Kaplan, Michelle Ferreira, and Jennifer Vincent, titled “Prepare For Greater IRS Scrutiny On Conservation Easements.” While the Internal Revenue Service has been focused on syndicated conservation easements for over 10 years, earlier this year IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig announced several campaign issues on which the IRS would heighten its focus. These campaigns included compliance in the areas of cryptocurrency, syndicated conservation easements, captive insurance companies,…

While the IRS has been cracking down on syndicated conservation easements for over ten years, earlier this year Chuck Rettig, the Commissioner of the IRS, announced several campaign areas upon which the IRS would heighten focus in the coming year. Following through on this promise, on Nov. 12, 2019, the IRS announced a significant increase in enforcement actions for syndicated conservation easements in Issue Number IR-2019-182. This GT Alert explains what a syndicated conservation…