We are pleased to announce that on Friday, November 20, 2015, Shannon B. O’Neill was sworn in as an attorney licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Shannon is a member of the firm’s Business & Tax and Agricultural Services Practice Groups with admission pending in the State of New York.

 

 

Last month, I discussed the mediation process which, if utilized properly, can serve as a valuable method to resolve disputes. There are, however, situations where mediation is not productive.  In such cases, parties to a dispute can decide whether to proceed with resolving their issues through the court system or through the arbitration process. Like mediation, arbitration can serve as a very useful form of alternative dispute resolution. [Read More] 

 

In July the President signed into law H.R. 3236, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (the "Act"). This law created Section 6035 of the Internal Revenue Code, which directs an executor of an estate which is required to file an estate tax return to provide notices to beneficiaries receiving inherited property. The purpose of the notice to the beneficiaries is to ensure consistent basis reporting between an estate and the beneficiary receiving property. [Read More]

In the December 2015 Edition of Top Producer magazine, Sara Schafer's article entitled "Reward and Retain" shares thoughts on how farming operations can utilize long-term compensation and benefit plans as incentives to retain key employees while allowing them to work toward their own and the operation's future growth. [Read More]

As difficult as it is to believe, we are coming up on another year end. Now is the time when we start thinking about taxes and wonder if there is anything that should be done before the end of the year to save on our tax bill. In most cases, we think about those things, but may end up doing nothing because it may be too late to get it done; it takes too much time, too much paperwork, etc. Well, there are a few year-end items that don’t take a lot of time and can be easily accomplished. [Read More]

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