Each year there is a must attend complimentary webinar hosted by Tax Forum educators Chuck Levun, Michael Cohen, and Scott Miller. This is a special presentation for educating attorneys and CPAs on the four biggest and costly business mistakes they make and how to avoid them. Once you attend one of Tax Forums training sessions, you will appreciate why they are the leading trainers in the tax profession on partnership, LLC, and S corporation flow-through programs for tax professionals.
Please read through this special interview, Part 1 with Co-Founder of Tax Forum, Chuck Levun: Part 2 will be another spotlight interview with Michael Cohen. If you desire cutting edge training in partnership, LLC, and S corporation flow-through, you will want to Register For Their Complimentary Webinar. You will appreciate what you will learn spending time with these leading training experts.
Kat Jennings Question:
Please tell me about Tax Forum and its origin.
Chuck Levun Answer:
Back in 1985, I was engaged to be the consultant for the CCH Partnership Tax and Practice Guide. When the project was close to being finalized in the summer of 1987, I asked myself – “How can I help market this product?” I remember pitching the Tax Forum® concept to CCH and meeting with Dick Merrill, CCH’s CEO, who said to the 6 VPs present in the conference room, and I quote, “You guys make this work.”
The Tax Forum started in the fall of 1987 as a 1-1/2 day in-person program presented in four cities. After four years, CCH indicated that they no longer were interested in being in the seminar business (although for many years CCH remained a Tax Forum sponsor), and my partner, Michael Cohen, and I took over the entire concept and grew it to what it is today. At one point, we were presenting in-person in seven cities, as well as presenting private seminars to national CPA firms in another seven or so cities.
Today, the Tax Forum is presented both virtually (which we had been urged to do even before COVID), and in-person, providing up to 20 hours of CPE credit (with CLE credit varying by state). And the national firms to which we presented are now part of a growing “Premier Partner” group with whom we have special pricing arrangements for, in some cases, the hundreds of attendees that they have attending our programs to obtain their flow-through training and knowledge of cutting-edge flow-through taxation principles and techniques.
Currently, we have two comprehensive transactionally presented programs, our advanced program, the Tax Planning Forum, and our program dealing with fundamental flow-through concepts and planning techniques, Fundamentals of Flow-Through® Partnership, LLC and S Corporation Tax Seminar.
Kat Jennings Question:
What do you think separates the Tax Forum programs from the multitudes of other tax training that CPAs and attorneys can find?
Chuck Levun Answer:
Several items. First, our courses don’t “tease.” We start with a client fact pattern that our attendees are likely to encounter. Second, we lay out the planning options and discuss the pros and cons, letting the attendees know what is controversial and what is not. We discuss and illustrate how to apply the relevant concepts.
Our detailed analysis of the transaction and its various components allows the attendee to move forward with the client with an understanding of the concepts to be addressed. Third, we always make ourselves available by phone or email to assist our attendees with any questions that may arise. With this approach, we very commonly hear, “I just set up meetings with three of my clients to discuss exactly what you just covered. My partner told me that would be the case.” We also receive between 10 to 15 calls and emails per week from the attendees to discuss offshoots of the transactions we presented.
Kat Jennings Question:
What is your favorite part of the education series you provide on partnership taxation?
Chuck Levun Answer:
Sometimes it is just catching up with stories about an attendee’s children or grandchildren, and other times it’s assisting the attendee in being a hero to the attendee’s client with knowledge that we have provided.
Kat Jennings Question:
What new workshops or courses are planned?
Chuck Levun Answer:
We offer a complimentary webinar dealing with fundamental flow-through concepts and planning techniques to everyone on Thursday, May 16, 2024 which is available and free to everyone when you register now at this link.
We also have also started offering self-study courses on selected topics. So far, we have two: “The §465 At-Risk Rules: Important Concepts” and “Planning and More Under the S Corporation §1374 Built-In Gain Rules.” It is anticipated that more will be on the way.
Kat Jennings Question:
Tell us about your favorite career accomplishments?
Chuck Levun Answer:
I have had many. However, perhaps my favorite is to have developed the Tax Planning Forum and the Fundamentals of Flow-Through tax programs with my partner, Michael Cohen. We’re in our 38th year of presenting these partnership, LLC and S corporation flow-through programs for tax professionals, and I feel that we have assisted several decades of tax professionals to be better educated and better able to assist their clients in closely held business matters.
Michael and I have also been very fortunate to have served as the Editors-in-Chief of the Journal of Passthrough Entities during its entire 20-year publication, and to have written 400 monthly Partner’s Perspective columns. These vehicles enabled us to learn and assist others to learn at the same time.
But maybe, the most rewarding aspect of all this is the opportunity we have had to not only educate other professionals but also to assist them in growing their practices and retaining clients who need creative business structuring. I also have been involved in mentoring other professionals, both officially and unofficially. More recently, I have been involved with both the Chicago Bar Association and the ABA Tax Section in their mentoring and diversity programs. These mentoring relationships have turned into friendships, and it’s been amazing watching young professionals blossom and grow.
Kat Jennings Question:
What would you advise a less experienced tax professional working in partnerships?
Chuck Levun Answer:
Get involved in the tax sections of bar associations to align yourself with experienced tax professionals. Be a sponge for knowledge, and get involved in projects, such as commenting on Treasury and IRS pronouncements. Getting to know and gaining the respect of other tax professionals is extremely valuable and will be of enormous help in growing one’s knowledge and developing resources when a difficult question arises. Also – read, read, read!
Kat Jennings Question:
What is the biggest mistake you often see partnerships make?
Chuck Levun Answer:
The biggest mistake I see is an LLC making a check-the-box election to be taxed as an S corporation instead of as a partnership so as to minimize payroll taxes, without taking all the S corporation inflexibilities into account. Later in the business life cycle, I often get a call about how to avoid a certain S corporation problem for which there often is not a solution, as it is a taxable event to convert back to partnership format. There are other ways to limit payroll taxes to the “appropriate” amount while continuing in partnership format which we discuss in our Tax Forum courses.
Kat Jennings Question:
What is the best advice you give your flow-through clients today?
Chuck Levun Answer:
Make sure that both your attorney and your CPA are involved in major decisions and that each is made aware of any important business developments. I too often see situations where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. I still remember a CPA recommending that an LLC file a “check-the-box” election to be taxed as an S corporation, which requires a pro rata economic relationship between the shareholders. At the same time, the attorney was assisting the client in raising money for which the infusers were to be provided a preferred return of their investment, which is not permitted for an entity taxed as an S corporation.
Kat Jennings Question:
What is the best way for a person to be successful in flow-through taxation?
Chuck Levun Answer:
While almost anyone who is willing to learn and work hard in the flow-through arena can be successful, I feel that for an attorney who wants to work in this arena, having an undergraduate education in the business arena or even just taking an accounting course provides a leg up. So much of flow-through business structuring is based on a solid foundation of understanding how debits and credits work. And for anyone on either the legal side or the CPA side, I cannot stress enough how important it is to read professional journals and align oneself with a great mentor.
Kat Jennings Question:
Why is education in partnership taxation so important?
Chuck Levun Answer:
This is an easy one. The partnership tax arena is very flexible and allows for all kinds of creative planning, but with flexibility comes complication, and it is only with education and practical experience can a tax professional acquire the necessary competence to assist clients effectively.
Kat Jennings Question:
It is my understanding you and Michael Cohen are presenting a free webinar training in partnerships, pass-throughs, LLCs and S Corporation on Thursday , May 16th 2024. How can someone get access to this free training session?
Chuck Levun Answer:
Anyone can register for their complimentary training session at this link:
https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/4548097/F9558AE5CBCADC03582D8BA3914B695D
