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WINTER, 2020 
Westchester Office: 
1133 Westchester Avenue
Suite N208
White Plains, NY 10604
914.948.1556
Long Island Office:
135 Pinelawn Road
Suite 245 South
Melville, NY 11747
631.501.9800
Below is a compilation of the Client Alerts sent by the Firm during this most unusual year. We hope you find them informative. Please contact us if you have any questions.
April, 2020
Estate Planning Techniques During Times of Depressed Markets and the COVID -19 Crisis

We hope that this email finds all of our clients and their advisors healthy and safe. We understand that the current situation in which we live is fraught with complications and concern, but it is also a unique opportunity to effectuate estate planning techniques which can result in significant tax savings for your families.

For better or worse, the (hopefully short-term) depressed value of assets lends itself to be the perfect opportunity to gift assets. Gifts use up some (or all) of your lifetime $11,580,000 federal estate and gift exemptions per spouse. Therefore, if you gift assets which are currently worth 10% - 30% less than they were 4 months ago, not only are you using less of your lifetime exemption, but you are also removing all of the gain you will achieve as the markets rebound. Keep in mind that New York has no gift tax and only gifts made within 3 years of death are brought back into the estate for calculating estate tax. Connecticut is the only state in the country with a gift tax and the exemption in 2020 is $5,100,000. read more
October, 2020
Paycheck Protection Program Borrower Beware: SBA Procedural Notice 5000-20057
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Many small businesses have received forgivable loans from banks and other financial institutions under the popular, if chaotically implemented, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Many of these borrowers are entering the forgiveness phase of their PPP lifecycle. read more
November, 2020
Fair Is Fair: Transitioning the Closely Held Business to the Actively Employed Child
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While most individuals who are interested in designing an estate plan are typically focused on minimizing estate taxes as well as ensuring that assets pass according to their wishes, often with certain controls and stipulations, owners of closely held businesses have their own checklist of additional concerns. These businesses typically comprise a majority of the owner’s taxable estate, which leads to analyses of efficient uses of the gift and estate exemptions and techniques such as GRATs, IDGTs, ESOPs, etc. However, of equal, if not more importance and weight, is a dialogue involving management and control of the business after the death of the parents/owners. read more
December, 2020
CASH BALANCE PLANS: THE SMART WAY TO INCREASE YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE PLAN CONTRIBUTIONS
A “Cash Balance Plan” is an integral component of retirement plan design which allows you to make substantially larger tax-deductible contributions than those permitted under profit-sharing and similar defined contribution plans (DC Plans). Cash Balance Plans use easily understandable individual account balances not available under a traditional defined benefit pension plan. Each plan participant has his or her own account balance that is credited annually with a contribution and a specified rate of return. read more
In Our Firm:
We want to share with you that our firm has recently received the following honors. We thank our clients and colleagues for their continued loyalty and for helping us achieve these honors.

Best Law Firm:
Danziger & Markhoff LLP has been included in the 2021  U.S. News - Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" list for the tenth consecutive year. The firm received a Metropolitan Tier 1 ranking in the area of Trusts & Estates Law. 

The Best Lawyers in America:
Harris Markhoff, Michael Markhoff and Joshua S. Levine have been selected for inclusion in  The Best Lawyers® in America 2021 .  Harris was selected in the areas of Corporate Law and Trusts & Estates, Michael was selected in the area of Trusts & Estates and Josh was selected in the area of Health Care Law.

New York Super Lawyers:
Michael Markhoff and Jay Fenster have been selected for inclusion in 2020 New York Metro  Super Lawyers .   Michael was selected for Estate Planning and Probate and Jay was selected for Employee Benefits. Each year, only 5% of the attorneys practicing in New York received this honor.

Other Firm News:
Please join us in congratulating our colleague Daniel A. DeGeorgia, QKA on his promotion to Director of Pension Administration, Long Island Office. Dan has been part of the Firm's growth and success and we look forward to Dan bringing his passion and dedication to our Long Island office. Dan has worked at the Firm's White Plains office since he joined the firm in 2005.
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