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Real Estate

FIRPTA: What Foreign Investors of US Real Estate Need to Know

FIRPTA requires the buyer to withhold tax from a foreign seller's proceeds when U.S. real property changes hands, currently 15 percent of the sales price. Plan for it before the property is listed.

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Business

McConville v. SEC: Widening the Net through Falsities and Scienter

The appellate court upheld the SEC's findings that a company's former CFO made false statements with scienter. The case shows that poor recordkeeping, not just deliberate deception, can draw SEC scrutiny.

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Business

OCIE Risk Alert Cautions Registered Funds to Address Deficiencies

An SEC risk alert sets out the problems examiners find most often in registered funds: gaps in compliance programs, misleading investor disclosures, weak advisory contract review, and code of ethics failures.

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Civil Litigation

Can a Business Sue for a Bad Review?

A business can sue a reviewer for defamation, but opinion and truth are strong defenses, anti-SLAPP statutes and the Consumer Review Fairness Act protect reviewers, and Section 230 shields the platforms themselves.

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Real Estate

Four Tax Considerations for Real Estate Investment Purchases

Pass-through versus double taxation, depreciation, 1031 exchanges and retirement accounts all shape what an investment property actually returns. Four tax questions to work through before you buy.

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Real Estate

Housing Cooperatives: What UHF v. Forman Means for Real Estate Investors

In United Housing Foundation v. Forman, the Supreme Court held that shares bought only to occupy a nonprofit co-op apartment are not securities. Investors buying into a co-op for profit should look closer.

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Business

Lessons on Security Disclosure: Hutchinson v. Deutsche Bank

In Hutchinson v. Deutsche Bank, the Second Circuit held that an issuer's silence about two troubled loans was not material because they were collateralized and a small share of its portfolio. Disclose cautiously anyway.

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Real Estate

Prewitt & Warrick: Narrowing Homestead Exemption Field

Prewitt held that Florida's homestead exemption statutes name the entities that qualify, and an S corporation is not among them. The later Warrick decision narrowed that reading for long-term residential lessees.

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Business

The Dangers of Unintentionally Submitting to Foreign Jurisdiction

Employees who regularly do business abroad can create a permanent establishment for their employer and trigger local tax liability. Companies with a global footprint should review what their foreign agents actually do.

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Business

Whistleblowers vs. Somers Case: Silenced or Premature Reporting?

In Digital Realty v. Somers, the Supreme Court held that the Dodd-Frank Act protects an employee from retaliation only if the securities violation was reported to the SEC. Internal reports alone do not qualify.

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