Having a successful legal practice has nothing to do with chance. When it comes to running a practice, attorneys often focus too much on working in their business rather than on their business. What do we mean by this? When you’re working in your business, you are focused on clients’ legal matters and wearing your attorney hat. Working on your business, you’re focused on entrepreneurial activities and wearing your business owner hat. Many attorneys struggle with this balancing act. And, when we forget to work on our business, then practice growth can stagnate and client satisfaction can erode.  

To face the mounting challenges of today—like market unpredictability, inefficiency, and competition with other attorneys and non-traditional legal service providers—working on your law firm and how it will address these issues is paramount. While this may seem like a daunting task, the answer might well be a simple one: business diversification. By diversifying your business offerings to include more than one legal service, attorneys can protect their business from an unstable/unpredictable market, add value to their practice, and increase their competitive edge.

In estate planning, tax issues are pervasive, and mitigating their effect on a client’s estate is a major component of an estate planner’s job. In order to effectively spot issues and provide more comprehensive advice, estate planners need at least a basic understanding of tax concepts. Having knowledge of tax issues may be the difference between representing a client entirely “in house” and losing the client altogether by referring them to the tax attorney or CPA down the street.

Let’s begin with three important foundational tax concepts—income tax basis, transfer basis, and stepped-up basis. Understanding these terms is key to determining any income tax consequences on the sale or transfer of the asset.  

When Congress enacted tax reform in 2017, the new tax law permanently lowered the tax rate for corporations from 35% to 21%. To make sure that other business owners weren’t left behind, Congress provided a new deduction—Section 199A—for sole proprietors and owners of pass-through businesses. Section 199A offers eligible business owners a lower effective tax rate  by allowing for a deduction of up to 20% on qualified business income (QBI) for tax years 2018 - 2025. Due to a lack of initial guidance, there has been much difficulty and speculation regarding how this deduction works.