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What does a YES Vote mean for the 2022 Propositions on the California Ballot?
Before the November election, we thought it might be beneficial to give a brief non-partisan rundown on the current propositions for California, particularly after so many Californian’s were blindsided by the loss of the parent-child exemption from property tax reassessment by Proposition 19 two years ago. The information herein was derived from Ballotpedia.org. The Propositions are in numerical order and not in order of deemed importance. However, you vote, we hope this will help you make an informed decision.
How to Incorporate Cryptocurrency in your Estate Plan
If cryptocurrency recovers its recent downturn in the market and continues to grow in popularity as an investment, it has potential to be a widespread estate planning problem. Nobody wants to accumulate an asset that may disappear, often upon death. Even though the crypto landscape is evolving rapidly, having an estate plan is critical to protecting your crypto assets when you die. Your family or fiduciary must know that the cryptocurrency exists, where to find the assets, and what to do with them.
It is impossible to provide a full primer on cryptocurrencies in a blog post, but the outline below can assist you in understanding the importance of making sure that if you own these types of assets, they are covered in your estate plan…
Children: Time for a Family Meeting! (Part 2)
This article is part two of two that discuss the need for children to talk to their parents to discuss their estate planning and end-of-life decisions.
There are a number of documents we suggest that you ask your parents about.
1. Start by asking if they have a power of attorney for finances (also known as a durable power of attorney (“DPA”) or general power of attorney), which names an individual to make money decisions for them when they become…
Children: Time for a Family Meeting! (Part One)
A proverb of anonymous origin observes, “Only three things in life are certain: birth, death, and change.”
If you have lost a loved one, you have experienced the devastating reality that everyone in our life will one day pass away. Often, the children are the ones who have to handle financial responsibilities during the grieving process.
Generally people do not discuss death and finances. Planning in advance for the tasks that will need to be done can make that difficult time a little less stressful.
There are two benefits to having a discussion with your parents…
Mom or Dad are Incapacitated: New Rights of Underlying Beneficiaries in Trusts
Effective January 1, 2022, California has granted underlying beneficiaries more rights if both Trustors are either incapacitated or one is deceased and the other incapacitated. What does this mean?…
Should You Use a Will Downloaded Off the Internet?
Recently there has been a noticeable uptick in people trying to save money with a “DIY” (Do It Yourself) will. By turning to Google to find answers or document templates instead of consulting with a licensed attorney in your community, problems can be created that will not be discovered until after your death, and cost your estate far more time and money in the long run….
In 2017 Congress capped the amount of state and local taxes individuals could deduct at $10,000. In July 2021, California enacted the Small Business Relief Act (“SBRA”), which allows S-Corporations, partnerships, and some LLCs (pass-through entities or” PTEs”) to elect to be taxed at the entity level for state taxes in exchange for a state income tax credit for the owner. The goal is to make the California income tax paid by the PTE a deductible business expense and give the owner an income tax credit reducing the amount of state income tax they pay and report to the federal government….
There is a gift tax on property or cash you give away, but tax code provides a gift tax annual exclusion. This is an amount you can give to anyone, and as many people as you wish, with no tax and no use of your lifetime exemption. The exclusion amount has been $15,000 for several years but is going up to $16,000 January 1, 2022. If you are married, you and your spouse will be able to gift $32,000 per year….
On September 17, 2020, California enacted Assembly Bill 685. The law provides new notice requirements for employers and gives Cal-OSHA the power to impose large fines and temporarily close workplaces that pose an imminent hazard to employees due to COVID-19.….
In July 2020, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors approved $10 million in CARES Act funding for the Stanislaus County Business Grant program. The program will award $10 million in grants to support local businesses, with an emphasis on businesses that have been impacted the most by the coronavirus pandemic and closures mandated by the State of California.
Stanislaus County Business Grants will be awarded to qualified business applicants and the funds shall be used for operational needs such as payroll, lease or mortgage payments, materials, supplies, and services. In order to qualify, businesses must submit all required documentation to Stanislaus County Workforce Development by August 28, 2020 at 5:00 pm. A link to the application page as well as a list of frequently asked questions can be found…
Qualified individuals may withdraw up to $100,000 from some retirement plans without paying early withdrawal fee.
The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA) dropped the percentage that had to be paid to payroll expenses to 60% thus increases funds available for other expenses (rent, mortgages, utilities, interest on loans) from 25% to 40%. The PPFA also extended the time period to use the funds from 8 to 24 weeks. This gives businesses more flexibility to keep the money in reserve until it is needed at such time as their businesses reopen.....
SBA has just announced that any borrower who received a PPP loan of less than $2,000,000 will be deemed to have made the necessity certification in good faith.
As attorneys, we’ll leave it to the physicians and scientists to navigate through the uncertainty of the pandemic. However, Congress has given small and large business owners alike something new to be uncertain about. It’s called the Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) and it is in some ways almost as frightening as the virus that created the need for this legislation.
The problem is the PPP itself is fraught with uncertainty and instead of things getting clearer, they are getting less clear.
If you get anything out of this short blog, please mark your calendar for May 14th.
If you’re waiting on your bank to get its application up and running, you may want to consider completing the SBA PPP LOAN APPLICATION, which you can get on the SBA website even if your bank will be using an online process and application. Going through the application now will force you to gather your records and information to properly answer and calculate the questions on the application. And if you haven’t already, you’ll also want to gather your company’s payroll records, such as your payroll reports and 941 IRS payroll filings.
On March 27, 2020, as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) the largest ever economic stimulus package was signed into law. It provides a massive amount of funding - $2 Trillion – to support the economy. Details about the law and its implementations are sketchy but are becoming clearer by the day. We will update this article with information as it becomes available.
Critically important to many small businesses which have been adversely affected by the coronavirus is the ability to obtain low interest loans.
Many of our small business clients, or families have pending contracts: lease agreements, sales agreements, loan agreements, construction contracts and the like that either they or the other party to the contract are having difficulty performing, and which difficulty is being attributed to the coronavirus....
COVID-19 has immediately affected businesses, forcing many to close and layoff their employees. This catastrophic disruption of commerce has instantaneously resurrected a rarely used provision found deep within the “boilerplate” language of so many agreements – the force majeure clause. Force majeure (pronounced: fors ma-ZHOOR), is equivalent to the common law contract defense of “impossibility”.
On March 18, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that created a federal paid sick leave component for corona virus related needs and expanded the Family and Medical Leave Act to include a paid leave component for employees caring for children whose schools or child care facilities were closed because of the virus outbreak.
Starting a new business is an exciting time. For serial entrepreneurs, starting a new business is often more routine because they have developed a system from their prior ventures. For those who are just diving into entrepreneurship, understanding how to handle the early stages of the business, such as start-up costs, won’t be so routine. If you have a business idea and you’re considering taking the plunge with a start-up, it is essential to have a good business plan which will provide structure for handling the early stages of the company as well as managing start-up costs. The core start-up costs include: