Nichole M. Baer

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Mark your calendars for the Lancaster County Extraordinary Give, occurring this week on Friday, November 18th.  Russell, Krafft & Gruber is thrilled to participate in the #Extragive as a Commonwealth Court Sponsor of the Lancaster Law Foundation, one of the numerous nonprofits fundraising during the event.

The Lancaster Law Foundation (formerly known as the Lancaster Bar Association Foundation) is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of Lancaster County residents by promoting equal access to justice through philanthropy, education, and service.  The Foundation funds public interest law projects, coordinates with local attorneys in delivering pro bono service, and educates the public on civic and legal issues.

In 2022 the Foundation, as part of the Community Grants Program, granted $84,000 to local nonprofits making a difference in our community.  The Foundation also spent about $4,000 to create two new comfort rooms at the Lancaster County Courthouse.  These rooms are intended to ease anxiety for children who must testify in court in custody and protection from abuse hearings.  We at Russell, Krafft & Gruber are proud to have two attorneys serve on the Lancaster Law Foundation board, Julia G. Vanasse, Esq. and Nichole M. Baer, Esq. …
Continue Reading #ExtraGive and Russell, Krafft & Gruber, LLP

Pennsylvania businesses and taxpayers, beware. There is a new scam around.  On July 14, 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued a press release warning business owners that fraudulent letters are being delivered by U.S. Mail.

These letters impersonating the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue demand that the taxpayers turn over their tax and accounting records. They allege that there is a tax investigation of your entity by the “State Revenue and Cash Disbursements Unit,” who will be imposing penalties if you do not comply “immediately.”
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Continue Reading Pennsylvania Businesses: Beware Fraudulent Government Notices

For many years, Pennsylvania has been one of the few states that did not recognize like-kind exchanges (also known as 1031 exchanges or land swaps).  Now, with the passing of Act 53 of 2022 by Governor Wolf, Pennsylvania finally has adopted 1031 exchanges. This change may lower your tax burden on real estate transactions and even encourage more investment in the state.

What is a Like-Kind Exchange?

A like-kind exchange is a strategy under the Internal Revenue Code to exchange property of the “same nature, character, or class” without paying federal income tax. The type of property usually doesn’t matter as all real estate is considered like-kind to each other so long as it’s located in the United States of America. For example, an investor may want to sell her residential rental to purchase an apartment building or an office building.
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Continue Reading Like-Kind Exchanges Better in Pennsylvania

Background

On January 1, 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (the “Defense Bill”) was enacted into law. This Defense Bill contained the Corporate Transparency Act (the “Act”).  The Act is designed to collect beneficial ownership information for Reporting Companies for several specific reasons including, but not limited to:

  • Protecting the United States’ national security interest
  • Protecting interstate and foreign commerce
  • Assisting critical national security, intelligence, and law enforcement efforts to counter money laundering, financing of terrorism, and other illegal activities.

What is a Reporting Company?

Generally, an entity is considered a Reporting Company if it is:
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Continue Reading The Corporate Transparency Act: What Does it Mean for Your Small Business

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus act into law known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “Act”). While it would be impossible to do a deep dive into this massive stimulus package, here are some quick takeaways for individuals.

Stimulus Checks

The Act will provide payments to approximately 159 million American households that will start to go out on March 13, 2021.  The maximum amount per person is $1,400, including dependents.

The amount distributed will, again, be based on adjusted gross income and will have a phase-out period. Here’s who will receive the full amount:

  • individuals who earn up to $75,000
  • head of household filers with income of up to $112,500 and
  • married couples filing jointly with incomes up to $150,000

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Continue Reading American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – What Does It Mean For You?

This summer, the IRS issued interim regulations clarifying that excess deductions from a Trust or an Estate can pass out to beneficiaries.  In the early fall, the IRS issued final regulations to the same effect.  What does this mean for you?

History of Excess Deductions

The Trump administration passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts (the “TCJA”) at the end of 2017.  The TCJA prohibited individuals, estates, and non-grantor trusts from claiming miscellaneous deductions for any years beginning after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2026.

Before the passage of TCJA, Trusts and Estates could pass out excess deductions to their beneficiaries in the year the estate or trust terminated.  The beneficiaries could then take such deductions on their personal tax returns as miscellaneous itemized deductions.  After the passage of TCJA, it appeared that the new IRS section 67(g) prohibited such excess deductions as TCJA specifically disallowed 2 % miscellaneous itemized deductions incurred in tax years 2018-2025.
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Continue Reading Excess Deductions Are Back!

The previous post on the third round of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program covered the big stuff – the necessity test, qualifications for taking out a second loan, and the latest attempt at simplified forgiveness. Here in Part 2, I’ll be going over the finer details, including EIDL advances, expense deductions, the ERTC, and other notes and restrictions.

Covered Period

The Act will permit you to select your covered period (i.e., the period in which you must spend the PPP loan funds).  The covered period must be greater than eight weeks and not more than twenty-four weeks beginning from the date of disbursement.
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Continue Reading Paycheck Protection Program Take Three? – Part 2

2020 has certainly been an interesting year.  Thankfully, it is ending with a new federal act aimed at relieving businesses, industries, and individuals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  It is known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.

This Act consists of more than just a stimulus package. It also contains funding for the government through most of 2021.  My previous post, Finally, More Money! – The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, covered a broad overview of the stimulus package.  This post will discuss the third round of the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

While this is the third round of funding for the PPP, it is only the second time a single business may apply for that funding. The second round of PPP funding went to qualifying businesses that missed out on money the first time.
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Continue Reading Paycheck Protection Program Take Three? – Part 1

It must be a Christmas miracle.  After deadlocking this summer and delaying over the weekend, the United States Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to additional aid to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The President has also signed this new bill, known as the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021” (the “Act”).

The Act is approximately 5,000 pages long, so a detailed analysis will take some time.  Therefore, this post is not intended to be comprehensive, and many items are still being hammered out. Here’s what we know so far:

The Bare Bones

The Act consists of $900 billion in aid and was a compromise between the two parties.  As such, it is not perfect. There are some aspects of the Act that both sides of the aisle are criticizing.
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Continue Reading Finally, More Money! – The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021