A Grain of SALT: March State Focus – New York
On January 19, a New York qui tam complaint was unsealed. This was unremarkable in and of itself, as there are many qui tam complaints progressing through the courts. However, what was remarkable was the nature of the suit. The suit, State of New York ex. rel. Doreen Light v. Myron Melamed, et al., involves a relator alleging that a decedent and his family structured the decedent's estate to avoid New York personal income and estate taxes. This is apparently the first estate tax qui tam suit that has been unsealed. The attorney general declined to intervene in the case. As per usual, the attorney general declined to comment as to why it did not intervene.
Although an unsealed case where the attorney general declined to intervene is not otherwise remarkable, the case is notable. It shows that potential relators and their attorneys are looking to expand the tax provisions of the False Claims Act as much as they can. Even though this case will likely not have an impact on corporate taxpayers, those taxpayers should know that relator's attorneys are actively looking for cases to bring, and are being creative. There are no signs, either in the governor's current proposed budget or otherwise, that the delegation of tax enforcement authority to private citizens is being reconsidered or even restrained. Taxpayers should be wary.
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Looking Forward to March
March 6, 2018: Diann Smith will facilitate the "Retail and Hospitality Industry Session" at the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization Annual Conference in Tampa, FL.
March 7, 2018: Diann Smith will present, and Steve Kranz will serve as the judge, at the interactive and entertaining "Mock Trial", which will provide a deeper look at an audit that resulted in litigation, at the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization Annual Conference in Tampa, FL.
March 9, 2018: Alysse McLoughlin will present "State Impacts of Federal Tax Reform" at the Federal Bar Association's 2018 Tax Law Conference in Washington DC.
March 13, 2018: Alysse McLoughlin and Peter Faber will present "Sales Tax and Miscellaneous Taxes" at Practising Law Institute's Nuts and Bolts of State and Local Tax 2018 in New York, NY.
March 13, 2018: Peter Faber will presenting "State and Local Taxation of International Business and Mergers & Acquisitions" at Practising Law Institute's Advanced State and Local Tax 2018 in New York, NY.
March 15, 2018: Catherine Battin, Mary Kay Martire, Alysse McLoughlin and Diann Smith will present a special CLE/CPE on the State and Local Implications of Tax Reform at Tax in the City® in McDermott's Chicago office.
March 20, 2018: Alysse McLoughlin is presenting "The Kitchen Sink: Unconventional Arguments in Defense of Assertions of Income Tax" at the ABA/IPT Advanced Tax Seminars in New Orleans, LA.
March 23-24, 2018: Stephen Kranz is presenting "State Implications of Federal Tax Reform" at the National Conference of State Legislatures SALT Task Force meeting in Washington DC. Congress may have finished its tax overhaul last year, but for state governments, the scramble has just begun.
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