Its a New Year and time to file your 2024 Annual Report if you own a Florida LLC (limited liability company), corporation, or partnership. The deadline is May 1, 2024. The state will charge you a $400 late fee if you miss this deadline.
The official Florida web site is www.sunbiz.org. This site has “Consumer Notices” to alert you to bogus web sites that try to scam persons who file these reports.
By Phil Rarick, Esq., and Jacqueline Bowden Gold, Esq., Miami Asset Protection Attorneys
If you have creditor threat, do you know what assets are easily exposed to creditors? Do you know what assets are already protected by Florida law? Take this three minute survey for a quick assessment. Your family will thank you!
1. Is your Florida homestead in your name and spouse as “Tenants By Entireties”?
You will miss this deadline if you do not read carefully – and you may need a magnifying glass to find it. Around the last weeks of August you should have received in the mail a “Notice of Proposed Property Taxes” or “TRIM Notice” from your county property tax appraiser. Buried at the bottom of your Notice in small print is an important deadline for appealing your tax assessment.
Clearly, the county does not want to encourage you to appeal your property taxes or exemptions.
Note these deadlines:
by: Phillip B. Rarick, Esq.
Here is the good news/bad news I received from my bank today regarding my Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Application: The good news: your application has been approved; the bad: the SBA is out of money and you must wait for Congress to refund the program!
Although I have heard of a few small businesses that have received funding I am guessing that most persons reading this letter have encountered similar frustrations. Note: if you have received funding, please so reply.
By Phillip B. Rarick, Esq., Miami Asset Protection Attorney
If you have never checked Florida’s web site for lost accounts and abandoned property you should do so – immediately. You may be pleasantly surprised!
You may think that it is not possible that you have any “unclaimed” property held by the State of Florida – and you could be wrong.
By Phillip B. Rarick, Esq., Miami Probate Attorney
Florida’s 30% elective share law was completely rewritten in 2001 because the old law could be easily circumvented by placing assets in a revocable trust or using non-probate transfers (e.g. life insurance, IRAs etc.) In an effort to curtail such tactics, the legislature overhauled the statute and broadened the share. The result is an expansive elective share that sweeps into the decedent’s “elective estate” many non-probate assets. See F.S. §732.201 —§732.2155.
What Is Included? Florida’s elective share statute retains the 30% share under prior law, but introduces the concept of the “elective estate” (sometimes referred to as “augmented estate”) that consists of the following property interests under F.S. §732.2035:
By Phillip B. Rarick, Miami Lakes and Weston Estate Planning Attorney
Note: This 10 Point Checklist is for those persons who have interests in one or more Florida entities, such as a corporation, limited liability company (LLC), or limited Partnership (LP).
1. Annual Fees. In January the State of Florida will send notices via email reminding you that annual fees for each corporate entity are due no later than May 1. Do not wait to get an email notice from the state, as your fees are due regardless of whether you get a notice. Remember: The deadline to pay these fees is May 1 without penalty.
By Phil Rarick, Miami Trust Attorney
Hard to believe we are in mid-Fall and 2016 is coming to a close. Now may be a good time to sit down with a Miami trust attorney and review your estate plan. One of the biggest problems we see with individual estate plans is failure to keep the plan updated to ensure that it continues to meet the changing needs of your dynamic family. Here is a short checklist:
By Phil Rarick, Weston Estate Planning Attorney
This report is a reminder that the FBAR or Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account is due June 30. The FBAR is required for U.S. persons having a financial interest or signature authority over one or more foreign financial accounts, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, trust, estate, pension, cash value life insurance, or other type of foreign financial account having an aggregate value over $10,000 at any time during 2015.
Note: A U.S. person may have a reporting obligation even though the foreign financial account does not generate any taxable income.
By Phillip B. Rarick, J.D, Miami Probate Attorney
Note: Special thanks to Illinois attorney John E. Fish for the following question, which is one of the most frequent questions we receive.
Executive Summary:
Florida Trust & Probate Attorneys Blog
