Interview With a ROBS (Rollover Business Start Up) Attorney. You know I love, love, love ROBS. And that it’s a very specialized area in which I do not directly practice. I found Da Guy. He’s an attorney who has represented clients in scores of audits. Because there is no Tax Court case law on ROBS (that is a good thing, we’ll discuss “why”) and little is otherwise written by the IRS on the topic, we must depend on lore & experience. This guy has it, big-time. I interviewed him for a few hours and learned a ton (including confirming what I thought I knew – “whew!”). I mean to either have him in person (if he can make it) or interview him again (and again) and relay the treasure trove of knowledge he possesses. Did I mention I was super-psyched to learn he even existed, much less to actually talk to him?

Losses via Limited Partner Interests in LLC’s: The Gauntlet. Even if you are a “Real Estate Professional”, taking useful losses (e.g., not limited by the passive activity loss rules, etc.) as an LP (or even GP) in an LLC is a complicated & tricky business. We’ll walk through the obstacle course. Applies to RE and non-RE investments via “syndications”, etc.

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI). Essentially Self-Directed Whole Life Insurance (or dare I used the Hated Term – SD Infinite Banking. Lord, I detest that term). I am not terribly well-informed as to this tool. Given some recent new contacts & research materials that’ll change in the next 4 months. It is my #1 research project. Stay tuned.

Micro-Captive Life Insurance. A good friend of mine took the IRS to the Supreme Court on this topic. And won. We’ll cover the basics – and for whom Micro-Captive Insurance makes sense in the present environment.

At Risk Rules (To Take Losses). Part of The Gauntlet, see above. Important with the proliferation of non-recourse debt and Sub2 deals. An important, neglected, and fairly easy-to-cover topic.

Corporate Transparency Act aka “No Privacy For Capitalist Running Dogs Act”. It takes effect in 2024. It is Not Good. You need to know about it. Hint: If Chat GPT were asked to write legislation to counter all the anonymity tricks used by Nevada/Utah Asset Protection Gurus & Trust fans it’d look like what we got.

Cancelation of Debt (“COD”) Income Rules. Relevant in 2009 & later years with short sales, foreclosures, etc. Seems like they might become relevant again, dunno why I get that feeling. Forgiven debt = taxable income. But there are exceptions…that involve all of the glorious complexity & nuance that we have come to expect of our Beloved Internal Revenue Code.

SDIRA/401k/HSA/CESA/ROBS – Open Discussion and Q&A. Questions sent ahead of time are more likely to be addressed. Probably the most effective tax-reduction tools in existence. Let’s discuss at “not $1,000+ per hour”.

Washington Update.  This section should be mercifully short.  The Bastards have been gridlocked – thankfully.

New News.  New cases, rulings, and the like are issued throughout the year.  We’ll review the important ones, look for opportunities, and identify issues and, where possible, solutions.  This description is short, but there shall be a fair amount to cover.

Asset Protection Developments.  There has been a great deal of case law. Certain theories (e.g., civil RICO statutes) continue to evolve. If by “evolve” ones means in the same fashion some virus evolved into Covid-19. OK, some of the cases are “good”, it’s not all “bad”. We’ll cover some of the more important or instructive developments.

Augusta Rule (Renting Home to Your Business Tax Free) Recap. The first Tax Court case on this technique came out. It is predictably not what Tik Tok says. A valuable planning tool, easily covered in the necessary detail. If it’s worth it, Do It and Do It Right. Or decide it’s not Worth It and move along. This discussion should be short & easy.

Writing Off That Rolex (or Armani, or whatever). Tik Tok says (“Like, OMG, Like Lolz, Like and Stuff”) that Influencers can write off the above & more. And a lot of tax advisors (on Tik Tok) are saying the same thing. We’ll discuss with a review of the ample case law written on this topic. This discussion should be fairly brief as it’s not terribly complex.

Massive Networking. ASC attendees network a lot. And most are well worth networking with. Invaluable. Just Saying.