Author Topic: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?  (Read 135653 times)

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #400 on: January 16, 2019, 12:49:03 PM »
Your lawyer should be able to suggest other options to avoid mansion tax. Get a good lawyer next time
His lawyer should not suggest anything of the sort. Thats tax evasion.
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Offline MC

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #401 on: January 16, 2019, 01:17:36 PM »
Not 100% sure if this is a law question, but I'll give it a shot here first.

I have an accepted offer on a house that is over a million. Due to various issues that came up on the inspection, and an overall rethinking of the value of the house to us, I'm likely to be renegotiating - with an eye towards getting under a million to avoid the NYC mansion tax. I don't think I'll necessarily be able to get there directly by just lowering the total offer to $999,999, just based on the gap between that and the accepted offer. My question is whether it's possible to explicitly exclude as many of the things being left in the house that are personal property, and then come to a separate agreement on a purchase price for all those items? And if so, what is the process (if any) for valuing all of those items so that it's both legal, and can still represent a significant enough amount to make a dent from a negotiating standpoint?

People do it. Any sane attorney will want nothing to do with it.

Offline henche

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #402 on: January 16, 2019, 02:36:15 PM »
His lawyer should not suggest anything of the sort.

Is personal property that went with the sale supposed to go into the mansion tax tho? (I'm not an NYS lawyer and this is the first I've even heard of the tax.) 

Offline MC

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #403 on: January 16, 2019, 02:40:09 PM »
Is personal property that went with the sale supposed to go into the mansion tax tho? (I'm not an NYS lawyer and this is the first I've even heard of the tax.)
No.

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #404 on: January 16, 2019, 03:05:40 PM »
Is personal property that went with the sale supposed to go into the mansion tax tho? (I'm not an NYS lawyer and this is the first I've even heard of the tax.)
1% of purchase price of 1-3 family houses over $1MM. $999k used to work when the price was close and then personal property was sold along with it. Except state got smart and audited every one of these transactions and assessed Sales tax on the personal property at ~8.625%  ;D
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Offline henche

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #405 on: January 16, 2019, 03:59:48 PM »
1% of purchase price of 1-3 family houses over $1MM. $999k used to work when the price was close and then personal property was sold along with it. Except state got smart and audited every one of these transactions and assessed Sales tax on the personal property at ~8.625%  ;D

But is there sales tax on a casual sale like that? I'm not aware that  you're supposed to pay sales tax when you sell your used popsicle on craigslist. But have no idea

Offline henche

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Online skyguy918

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #407 on: January 16, 2019, 04:31:58 PM »


1% of purchase price of 1-3 family houses over $1MM. $999k used to work when the price was close and then personal property was sold along with it. Except state got smart and audited every one of these transactions and assessed Sales tax on the personal property at ~8.625%  ;D
That can't be the issue, because then it would still be a profitable strategy until much higher prices. Let's says the price is $1.01m. Sales tax on the $10k is $862.50. Mansion tax on $1.01m is $10,100. The sales tax wouldn't overtake the mansion tax until $130k+ over $1m. I can see a scenario where in an audit they require you to justify the valuation of the personal property, but if that checks out...

I was told via pm that it's considered part of the home sale price and that's why it doesn't work.

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #408 on: January 17, 2019, 10:56:43 AM »
That can't be the issue, because then it would still be a profitable strategy until much higher prices. Let's says the price is $1.01m. Sales tax on the $10k is $862.50. Mansion tax on $1.01m is $10,100. The sales tax wouldn't overtake the mansion tax until $130k+ over $1m. I can see a scenario where in an audit they require you to justify the valuation of the personal property, but if that checks out...

I was told via pm that it's considered part of the home sale price and that's why it doesn't work.
Thats why I said if it was close to the $999k number then they would do it. There were many off the books transactions that occurred where people paid cash for the amount over $999k. Sometimes it works in the Sellers favor to have cash (i.e. off the books capital gains) But those days are all but over. No one wants cash these days.

Once you start getting to $1.3MM it got much harder to do this. So there were separate agreements for the RE and for the contents of the home.

If its in the contract of sale then its part of the sale price.
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Online skyguy918

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #409 on: January 17, 2019, 11:29:05 AM »
Thats why I said if it was close to the $999k number then they would do it. There were many off the books transactions that occurred where people paid cash for the amount over $999k. Sometimes it works in the Sellers favor to have cash (i.e. off the books capital gains) But those days are all but over. No one wants cash these days.

Once you start getting to $1.3MM it got much harder to do this. So there were separate agreements for the RE and for the contents of the home.

If its in the contract of sale then its part of the sale price.
I'm still confused. You said it used to work when the price was close (which I can see now is obviously a relative term), and now it doesn't. I guess I'll rephrase. Is the separation of RE and contents (2 different contracts?) still feasible as a strategy to avoid the mansion tax, and if it is, what are the conditions to make it work?

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #410 on: January 17, 2019, 11:32:58 AM »
I'm still confused. You said it used to work when the price was close (which I can see now is obviously a relative term), and now it doesn't. I guess I'll rephrase. Is the separation of RE and contents (2 different contracts?) still feasible as a strategy to avoid the mansion tax, and if it is, what are the conditions to make it work?
If the value of the property cannot justify a $999k price i.e. the market is much higher, youre just asking for an audit. Which will result in tax, interest and penalties. And I am not advocating doing any of this. I am saying this is how things were done more than 8 years ago when I still had a law license, v'hamavin yovin.
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Online skyguy918

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #411 on: January 17, 2019, 11:48:03 AM »
If the value of the property cannot justify a $999k price i.e. the market is much higher, youre just asking for an audit. Which will result in tax, interest and penalties. And I am not advocating doing any of this. I am saying this is how things were done more than 8 years ago when I still had a law license, v'hamavin yovin.
Our accepted offer (which we're considering renegotiating for other reasons) is at $1.05m, so it would seem odd to say that $1.05m is justifiable, but $999k is not. On the other hand, if it's likely to get audited anyway, it's probably not worth it, even if everything is relatively clean.

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #412 on: January 17, 2019, 11:54:47 AM »
 
Our accepted offer (which we're considering renegotiating for other reasons) is at $1.05m, so it would seem odd to say that $1.05m is justifiable, but $999k is not. On the other hand, if it's likely to get audited anyway, it's probably not worth it, even if everything is relatively clean.
:-X You have a lawyer for a reason. This isnt the forum. And What I said was not legal advice, just my past experiences from a while ago.
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Online skyguy918

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #413 on: January 17, 2019, 12:00:42 PM »
  :-X You have a lawyer for a reason. This isnt the forum. And What I said was not legal advice, just my past experiences from a while ago.
It's a complicated situation for us in that regard, which is why I posted. Your replies are appreciated, disclaimer and all. Thanks.

Offline Eliyohu

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #414 on: January 19, 2019, 06:42:30 PM »
Can anyone help me with access to a law360.com article?
If possible pacer also..
« Last Edit: January 19, 2019, 07:18:53 PM by Eliyohu »

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #415 on: January 19, 2019, 07:25:20 PM »
Can anyone help me with access to a law360.com article?
If possible pacer also..
I believe if you have LinkedIn you can get free access to law 360 and Pacers and easy sign-up nobody's going to give you there login info because it's a pay service you pay for whatever documents you print
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Offline Eliyohu

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #416 on: January 19, 2019, 07:34:00 PM »
I believe if you have LinkedIn you can get free access to law 360 and Pacers and easy sign-up nobody's going to give you there login info because it's a pay service you pay for whatever documents you print
I don't see info about free access for linkden.. was hoping for a extension of some sort to get around the paywall or some screenshots of documents if that's possible..

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #417 on: January 20, 2019, 02:26:44 AM »
I don't see info about free access for linkden.. was hoping for a extension of some sort to get around the paywall or some screenshots of documents if that's possible..
PM what youre looking for.
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Offline Eliyohu

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #418 on: January 20, 2019, 03:07:28 PM »
PM what youre looking for.
Got what I needed, thanks

Law360 needed a "professional" email address i.e. a non @gmail.com etc.. for a free 7 day trial

Pacer - was easy enough to create an account, and as long as I don't need more then $15 worth per quarter the fee is waived

Offline JuryDuty

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Re: Any Lawyers out there of whom I may ask a question?
« Reply #419 on: January 30, 2019, 11:12:13 AM »
3 friends and I got 135 dollar parking tickets in woodmere. If im going to fight my ticket and also want to fight my friends' do I need a power of attorney for them? How do I do that? Is it difficult?
Jury Duty: Nothing to do there but chill and write a TR. Kinda like the beach but missing the view and ocean breeze.