Tax Law Changes: The New Frontier

Features

Taxation

Qualified Tuition Programs Under the TCJA

Lane L. Marmon

This article reviews the mechanics of 529 plans and explains how the new tax law expands the definition of qualified education expenses to include elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school education. There are limits, however, and what is tax-free at the federal level may not be so at the state level.

Taxation

The 2017 TCJA: What You Need to Know About Itemized Deduction Changes

Michelle F. Gallagher & Joy M. Feinberg

Practically everything you thought you knew about itemized deductions has changed. Check out mortgage interest, state and local income taxes, real estate taxes, medical expenses, charitable contributions, tax prep fees, employee business expenses, moving and job expenses, parking and transit reimbursement, entertainment expenses, business meals . . . .

Taxation

Alimony After the TCJA: Dystopian Nightmare or Necessary Change? Either Way, It’s Here to Stay

Bernadette A. Barbee

From time immemorial (i.e., since 1943), alimony has been deductible by the payor and included in the payee’s gross income. Not any longer. The alimony provisions, unlike others, aren’t even set to expire in 2026. The author offers some create solutions but warns that property division may become a more contentious battlefield.

Taxation

Lions, Tigers, and Pass-Through Deductions, Oh My!

Donna M. Pironti

The impact of the new tax law is not limited to the 1040 personal tax return. There are also major shifts for large and small business and professional practices. This article takes readers through the TCJA’s “totally new and not easily understandable” qualified business income (QBI) deduction for passthroughs.

Taxation

New Tax Law Basics for Businesses and Families

James M. Godbout & Catherine M. Kane

The TCJA impacts individuals, C corporations, and pass-through entities in ways relevant to lawyers who need to value assets in family law proceedings. Relevant provisions include, among others, those affecting carried interest, meals and entertainment, certain fringe benefits, and excess employee compensation.

Taxation

Business Expenses, Meals, and Entertainment Under the TCJA

Christine Gonzalez

In our practices and, for many of us, in our personal lives, deductions for mileage, phone, Internet, offices expenses, and the like are significant. The landscape of unreimbursed business expense deductions has changed, however, and this article will help you navigate it.

Taxation

The Impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Business Valuation

Marissa Pepe Turrell & Mark Harrison

The authors examine reasons why a particular business’s value may rise or fall in the wake of the new tax law, valuation fundamentals, capital expenditure and depreciation changes, pass-through entities under the new law, interest deduction limitations, and net operating loss changes.

Columns

Family

How a Passion for Helping Modern Families Advanced the 2019 Model ART Act

Melissa J. Avery

It’s amazing what a little passion can help you accomplish. I recently had the privilege of witnessing the result of countless hours of impassioned work by the ART Committee to secure the passage of ABA Resolution 111, which signaled the adoption of the 2019 Model ART Act.

Taxation

From the Editor in Chief

Kathleen A. Hogan

Family law practitioners seldom cite a fascination with tax law as one of their reasons for selecting this practice area. Nevertheless, competent practitioners must be familiar with tax nuances. Given the new tax law, all of us are now going to have to abandon old assumptions and rules of thumb and learn some new tricks.

Taxation

ARTful Deductions: On Allowing Intended Parents and the Socially Infertile to Deduct Medical Expenses

Bill Singer & John T. Passante

ART medical expenses are monumental. A distinction between medical and social infertility has determined deductibility of those expenses. The authors propose that the distinction fails to recognize that social infertility results from sexual orientation or gender identity—immutable characteristics, rather than choices.

Family

FLS Nominating Committee Posts Slate

Cindy Swan

Section members will elect Officers and Council Members for the 2019–2020 bar year at the 2019 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Meet the candidates.

Renew Your ABA Membership

Tax Law Changes: The New Frontier

The New Tax Law: Changes to Brackets, Rates, Deductions, Credits, and Other Basics

Features

Qualified Tuition Programs Under the TCJA

The 2017 TCJA: What You Need to Know About Itemized Deduction Changes

Alimony After the TCJA: Dystopian Nightmare or Necessary Change? Either Way, It’s Here to Stay

Lions, Tigers, and Pass-Through Deductions, Oh My!

New Tax Law Basics for Businesses and Families

Business Expenses, Meals, and Entertainment Under the TCJA

The Impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Business Valuation

Columns

How a Passion for Helping Modern Families Advanced the 2019 Model ART Act

From the Editor in Chief

ARTful Deductions: On Allowing Intended Parents and the Socially Infertile to Deduct Medical Expenses

FLS Nominating Committee Posts Slate

Issue Editors

Livia DeFilippis Barndollar

Joy M. Feinberg

Editorial Board

Kathleen A. Hogan

Livia DeFilippis Barndollar

Joy M. Feinberg

Ann M. Haralambie

Gregg M. Herman

Debra H. Lehrmann

Michelle Piscopo

Gerald L. Shoemaker Jr.

Gene Brentley Tanner

Timothy B. Walker

Steven K. Yoda

ABA Resources

The ABA

Connect

Renew Your ABA Membership

American Bar Association TM American Bar Association

Tax Law Changes: The New Frontier

The New Tax Law: Changes to Brackets, Rates, Deductions, Credits, and Other Basics

Features

Qualified Tuition Programs Under the TCJA

The 2017 TCJA: What You Need to Know About Itemized Deduction Changes

Alimony After the TCJA: Dystopian Nightmare or Necessary Change? Either Way, It’s Here to Stay

Lions, Tigers, and Pass-Through Deductions, Oh My!

New Tax Law Basics for Businesses and Families

Business Expenses, Meals, and Entertainment Under the TCJA

The Impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Business Valuation

Columns

How a Passion for Helping Modern Families Advanced the 2019 Model ART Act

From the Editor in Chief

ARTful Deductions: On Allowing Intended Parents and the Socially Infertile to Deduct Medical Expenses

FLS Nominating Committee Posts Slate

NEW! Family Law Quarterly is now all-electronic!

Issue Editors

Livia DeFilippis Barndollar

Joy M. Feinberg

Editorial Board

Kathleen A. Hogan

Livia DeFilippis Barndollar

Joy M. Feinberg

Ann M. Haralambie

Gregg M. Herman

Debra H. Lehrmann

Michelle Piscopo

Gerald L. Shoemaker Jr.

Gene Brentley Tanner

Timothy B. Walker

Steven K. Yoda

ABA Resources

The ABA

Connect