Last week, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 or DTSA into law. This new law provides the owners of trade secrets a private right of action against those individuals or entities who misappropriate trade secrets. This new law for theft of trade secrets must be brought in federal court within three…
Continue reading ›Last week we recognized the passing of Prince and discussed what impact the lack of a business succession plan might have upon his business empire. This week we’ll cover the elements of a business succession plan. First, it’s important to understand what a business succession plan is, and what it’s not. A succession plan is…
Continue reading ›By now, it is common knowledge that we have lost Prince, one of the greatest artists of our time. Though he is gone, his legacy will live on in his music, movies, and various other distributions of his image and art. Unfortunately, Prince had no will. According to various estimates, Prince’s net worth at the…
Continue reading ›For the viewers, reality television offers an escape and a harmless entertaining view of what a new house, fashion choice, or social situation might be like. For participants however, the experience can be anything but harmless. On the HGTV show “Love It or List It”, homeowners turned to the show producer Big Coat TV and…
Continue reading ›Last week on March 30, 2016 the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision that significantly helps white collar defendants defend themselves against the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Internal Revenue Service or whatever agency might be prosecuting them. The Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires…
Continue reading ›As shocking as it may be, in this day and age there are still many hospitals and medical-related businesses that have not made sufficient risk assessments relating to patients’ protected health information (“PHI”) and their third party vendors that have access to this information. This is pertinent to large organizations such as hospitals, smaller organizations…
Continue reading ›Elimination of Capital Stock Tax and Foreign Franchise Tax On January 4, 2016, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf eliminated the Capital Stock Tax and Foreign Franchise Tax for all taxpayers effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2016. Previously, the Capital Stock and the Foreign Franchise were imposed on all limited liability companies…
Continue reading ›President Obama signed into law last year the Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015 and it changed, among other things, the manner in which the IRS will audit partnerships. This change will also apply to Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) that elected to be treated as partnerships for tax purposes. While this new law goes into effect…
Continue reading ›President Obama recently signed into law The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act also known as the “FAST Act”. What people may be surprised to learn is that this new law also adds Section 7345 to the Internal Revenue Code which provides in part as follows: “(a) In general.—If the Secretary (of State) receives certification by…
Continue reading ›Over the past few weeks several landlord clients called and asked the same question, “My tenant bolted and left some of his junk behind. Can I throw it out?” The answer to each landlord was slightly different but came from the same source – 68 P.S. § 250.505a – better known as Pennsylvania’s “Disposition of…
Continue reading ›
