Category Archives: PLI Press

New Title! Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana

PLI recently published a new title, Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana.

This title is a new and unique resource for lawyers who represent clients in what has been called the fastest growing industry in the United States. The majority of states have enacted laws legalizing medical marijuana — with nine states to date allowing for recreational use — but marijuana remains illegal under the Federal Controlled Substances Act, giving rise to constitutional challenges to these state laws under the doctrine of preemption. As a result, marijuana enterprises must operate in a legal and regulatory environment of uncertainty, and lawyers representing these enterprises must tread carefully when advising clients.

Written by James T. O’Reilly, a lawyer and public health specialist, Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana offers critical guidance to help lawyers effectively represent their clients while steering clear of seen and as yet unseen perils implicit in the continued federal-state conflict. The guide provides discussion and analysis of:

• the complex and varying state regulation of medical and non-medical marijuana, including a survey of state cannabis laws, with summaries and citations

• federal law, enforcement, and preemption

• the various aspects of establishing and managing a marijuana enterprise, including the growing, licensing, labeling, transporting, and distribution of marijuana and related products

• the implications of preemption on employment, taxes, and banking

For lawyers new to representing marijuana clients, the author provides an understanding of the definitions of marijuana and other cannabis products, as well as a review of the policy and political issues that have led to the controversy and uncertainty of the current environment.

This essential new title is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

New Edition! Transfer Pricing Answer Book (2018 Edition)

PLI recently published the 2018 edition of Transfer Pricing Answer Book.

The phenomena of increasingly global business enterprises with valuable intangible property expose companies to transfer pricing enforcement by different countries around the world. Many of these countries are increasingly aggressive in enforcing their local transfer pricing rules, as they attempt to protect their tax revenue base. To avoid double taxation of the same income in this environment, companies often are required to deal with the highly specialized, bilateral treaty-based competent authority process developed to prevent double taxation at a time when trade mainly involved only two established countries. Even more challenging today, companies and tax authorities increasingly are faced with the potential for multiple taxation of the same income, as supply chains cross many borders and as the tax authorities of emerging countries become players in the global taxation process, and the resulting stresses, strains, and limitations of the bilateral treaty-based competent authority process have become more apparent.

In light of the high-dollar risks presented by the increased enforcement efforts of tax authorities worldwide, the complexity of the ever-changing, inherently uncertain transfer pricing standards, and the continually evolving business models of businesses adapting to the constantly changing global economy, companies need practical guidance to permit them to develop and defend their transfer pricing strategies.

Transfer Pricing Answer Book gives companies such guidance by discussing all aspects of transfer pricing, from initially planning a transfer pricing strategy, to alternative ways to defend the strategy from attack by two or more tax authorities, to resolving a case before competent authorities, to bringing a transfer pricing case to court. It also provides an overview of the IRS’s approach to transfer pricing enforcement. The book’s non-technical discussion is presented in a question-and-answer format that will appeal to readers regardless of their prior level of experience or familiarity with taxes in general and transfer pricing in particular.

Transfer Pricing Answer Book is an invaluable resource for company executives and their advisors who are seeking to better understand this important area of tax law–one that has become  an important economic facet of so many businesses.

The new edition is available on PLI PLUS, our research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

Treatise Update! Public Company Deskbook

PLI recently updated Public Company Deskbook: Complying with Federal Governance & Disclosure Requirements, which provides expert counsel on how to deal effectively with the overlapping legislative, regulatory and private initiatives to reform public company governance and disclosure practices over the past decade.

Highlights of Release #7 include:
• New Chapter 5G1 addressing the latest SEC guidance on
cybersecurity disclosure and related issues, including in respect of
disclosure controls and procedures and insider trading risks.
• Updates to Chapter 2K to reflect the proposed Nasdaq rule change
relating to shareholder approval of issuances over 20%.
• Updates to Chapter 3A to reflect adoption of the new audit standard
requiring discussion of “critical audit matters” in the auditor’s
report.
• Updates to Chapter 4B to reflect the 2017 tax reform legislation
amendments to section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code.
• Updates to Chapter 4F to address the latest SEC guidance on pay
ratio calculation and disclosure.
• Updates to Chapter 5F to reflect the revised NYSE requirements
relating to timely disclosure at the end of the trading day.
• Updates to Chapter 6B to reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent
decision limiting Dodd-Frank Act whistleblower protections to
persons who actually communicated their tips to the SEC.

The updated treatise is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

Tax Series Special Update! Tax Practice After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Following the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we felt it was important to provide you with a resource analyzing some of the domestic and international implications of the tax reform package. The result is the Tax Series Special Update, which contains new, original articles covering topics including:

• The impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on choice of entity
• Observations on M&A consequences
• Structuring and negotiating cross-border acquisitions
• Section 965 transition and repatriation tax on foreign based earnings
• New Section 245A DRD for foreign-source portion of dividends from specified foreign corporations
• Global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”)
• Foreign derived intangible income (”FDII”)
• Base erosion and anti-abuse tax (“BEAT”)

The Tax Series Special Update is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

Trial Handbook (Spring 2018) Now Available!

Trial Handbook is the one-stop resource you can trust for the planning, trial, and post-trial stages of litigation. Designed for quick reference in the courtroom, Trial Handbook is keyed to the Federal Rules of Evidence and focuses on the presentation of proof and the evidentiary problems faced by counsel.

Packed with practical checklists, charts, outlines, and sample jury selection questions, Trial Handbook gives you the knowledge and tools to:

New to the Spring 2018 Edition are a discussion of the amendment limiting the “ancient documents” exception to the hearsay rule and a discussion of the amendments to Rule 902 that allow certain electronic evidence to be authenticated by a written pre-trial certification of a qualified person.

At the heart of Trial Handbook is its unique Evidence Guide, also included as a laminated fold-out, which clearly explains the meaning, purpose, operation, and history of every rule, including how each rule applies to other cases and how leading cases construe a particular rule.

This essential title is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database. If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

Treatise Update! The Corporate Tax Practice Series

We have recently updated our treatise The Corporate Tax Practice Series.

With contributions from more than 435 of the world’s leading tax practitioners, including former Internal Revenue Service and Department of Treasury officials, this 31-volume set is the definitive resource on corporate tax.

The 2017 edition of The Corporate Tax Practice Series contains 100 articles that have been updated to reflect the latest developments in topics ranging from LLC incentive compensation to modifying debt and its consequences. We’ve also added 31 new articles that have not
previously appeared in the series that tackle issues including:

• A financial and income tax analysis of earnouts
• S corporation acquisition techniques
• Misclassification of employees and Section 530 relief
• Significant modification of debt instruments

The updated treatise is available on PLI PLUS, our research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

PLI Current: The Journal of PLI Press

We are pleased to announce that the Spring 2018 issue of PLI Current: The Journal of PLI PLUS  is available on PLI PLUS! Each issue of PLI Current features original articles that cover new and emerging developments impacting the law and the legal profession. In every issue you’ll find expert insights, commentary, and analysis from leading practitioners, including PLI authors and faculty members.

Articles in this Spring 2018 issue include:

PLI Current  is available through your PLI PLUS subscription.

Not a PLI PLUS subscriber? Click here to sign up for a FREE digital version of PLI Current. The journal is also available here for purchase in print.

Treatise Update! Social Media and the Law

We have recently updated our treatise Social Media and the Law, which helps you understand the legal environment and mitigate the risks of using social media platforms.

Social Media and the Law provides broad coverage of social media in a variety of legal contexts, including privacy, civil litigation, employment, criminal activity and prosecution, intellectual property, brand protection, defamation, advertising, and regulated industries. This release highlights recent new legislation, cases, and usage trends, as well as industry responses, by companies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google, to abuses of their services.

Several new sections have been added in this release, enhancing the comprehensiveness of the book:
Section 8:5, Consumer Review Fairness Act: This Act prohibits
non-disparagement clauses in consumer transactions, which some
companies had included to obligate customers to refrain from posting
negative reviews of the company, and to give the company the right to
impose a financial penalty for any violation of the clause.
Section 9:2.8, Revenge Porn: Thirty-eight states and the District of
Columbia have criminalized the practice of posting online revealing or
sexually explicit images or videos of a person, typically by a former
sexual partner, without the consent of the subject and in order to cause
the person distress or embarrassment.
Section 9:2.9, Performance Crimes: The posting of videos and live
streaming of criminal activities has escalated recently and become the
focus of great concern. The manner in which social media platforms
address such activities will be closely watched.
Section 9:2.10, Sex Trafficking: Human trafficking is prohibited
by both federal and state laws. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee
has also recently approved a bill entitled Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers
Act of 2017 which would allow criminal and civil actions against websites
for “knowingly assisting, supporting or facilitating” sex trafficking
through the site.

In addition, throughout the book are updates on the many developments in this field that occurred in the last year or so, such as:
• Activity by the FTC against social media influencers for failing
to properly disclose associations with companies whose products
or services they endorse.
• FINRA’s new guidance on social networking websites and business
communications of regulated industries, allowing firms to
engage in native advertising that complies with FINRA Rule
2210, provided that unsolicited third-party comments posted on
a social network are not regarded by FINRA as communications
of the broker-dealer.
• Placement of social media advertisements by Russian-linked
firms with the aim to influence the 2016 presidential election,
and Facebook’s new approach to combat the effects of fake news.
• Recent class action employment lawsuits alleging violation of
Illinois’s biometric privacy law, largely based on the use of fingerprint-operated
time clocks.
• The FTC’s actions against TaxSlayer and Uber for security
breaches and inadequate customer privacy measures.
• Approval by the Uniform Law Commission of a model uniform
employee password protection statute, Employee and Student
Online Privacy Protection Act (ESOPPA), which has already
been introduced in three states.
• Recent amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 902 that provide
additional guidance for parties seeking to authenticate social media
evidence.
• Impact of President Trump’s “tweetstorms”

The updated treatise is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

New Publication! Business-Related Provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

PLI has recently made available a new publication, Business-Related Provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

This Special Alert discusses the impact of many of the complex provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCAJA”) on domestic and international business operations of C corporations, S corporations, and partnerships. It is organized in ten sections and covers:

  1. Introduction
  2. The individual “Rate Structure Changes” for both ordinary income and capital gains
  3. The corporate rate structure changes, including the individual tax on dividends and the dividends received deduction
  4. New Section 199A, which provides for a deduction for certain flow-through business income of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S corporations
  5. A “First Take” on the impact of the TCAJA on the choice of form decision for domestic operations: C corporation, or flow-through entity
  6. The new limitation on the deduction for business interest
  7. The treatment under the TCAJA of carried interest, that is, profits interest earned by certain hedge fund and private equity managers
  8. Several significant changes impacting both individuals and corporations: (1) the depreciation rules, (2) the Section 179 deduction, (3) changes to the net operating loss deduction, (4) the limitation on excess business losses of an individual, and (5) changes to the like kind exchange provision, Section 1031
  9. Several changes in the international tax arena, including (1) the adoption of a territorial system, (2) the tax on the elimination of the deferral benefit, (3) the taxation of foreign high return amounts, (4) the anti-base erosion rules, and (5) restrictions on income shifting through transfers of intangibles
  10. A “First Take” on the TCAJA’s impact on the domestic M&A, that is, (1) taxable asset acquisitions, (2) taxable stock acquisitions, and (3) acquisitive reorganizations.

Business-Related Provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.