On June 13, 2021, a new version of the New York Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney went into effect. Powers of Attorney signed before this date that complied with the earlier law continue to be valid. However, any Power of Attorney signed after June 13th must comply with the new requirements, as outlined below. Read More »
On March 31, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (the "Act") into law. The law makes New York the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana. The Act itself puts forth a sweeping regulatory scheme and establishes the Office of Cannabis Management ("OCM") to implement and enforce the Act's provisions. The Act Read More »
Recently released IRS Notice 2021-10, provides additional relief for "qualified opportunity funds" ("QOFs"), their investors and "qualified opportunity zone businesses" extending many of the previously extended deadlines due to the Coronavirus. Previously, the IRS extended the 180-day deadline for taxpayers to invest eligible capital gains into a QOF to July 15, 2020 ( https://bhlawpllc.com/publication/irs-extends-deadline-to-invest-in-a-qualified-opportunity-fund/ ) and also extended Read More »
At the start of the new year, the National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA") was enacted into law and included the Corporate Transparency Act ("CTA"). The CTA subjects individuals who own, or apply to form, businesses organized as corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships or similar entities to heightened reporting to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") Read More »
On December 15, 2020, Governor Cuomo signed into law amendments to the New York State Finance Law and the New York State General Municipal Law relating to payment of retainage to contractors of public works projects. The amendments are widely supported by New York State's construction industry. The amendments clarify the definitions of substantial completion Read More »
On January 8, 2021, USCIS published a final rule (the “Rule“) creating a wage-based selection process for new cap-subject H-1B petitions titled Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions which is scheduled to take effect on March 9, 2021, before this year’s H-1B lottery. The Rule gives priority to the petitions offering Read More »
The U.S. District Court in California has set aside the DOL interim final rule, Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States, significantly increasing the prevailing wages to be paid to certain temporary and permanent foreign workers (“DOL Rule”) and the DHS interim final rule, Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Read More »
On October 8, 2020, the Department of Labor ("DOL") and Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") published new rules that will have a considerable impact on the H-1B visa program. The DOL rule substantially modifies and increases prevailing wages payable to foreign workers and limits the H-1B program to the most highly paid professionals, regardless of Read More »
Following New York's enactment of temporary COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave benefits in March, New York enacted permanent paid sick leave legislation on April 3, 2020. Governor Cuomo signed the State Budget (Senate Bill S7506B) into law, which includes a provision that amends the New York Labor Law to require employers to provide paid sick Read More »
On August 4, 2020, the Small Business Administration (SBA) released responses to Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQs") regarding the application for forgiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") Loan. The FAQs are available here. The questions and responses range from questions regarding the type of forgiveness application used by sole proprietors who have no employees (Answer - Read More »