Tax Law

After more than three years of failing to file required IRS forms, two Camden charter schools have lost their tax-exempt status, a requirement to be granted a New Jersey charter. LEAP Academy University Charter School and Camden Pride Elementary Charter School were listed Wednesday by the IRS as having their 501(c)(3) status revoked. The IRS automatically revokes an organization's tax-exempt status if it fails to file Form 990 for three consecutive years. Both schools officially lost their status in 2010.

The first installment of a Bell of Pennsylvania rate reduction will appear on many customers' bills next month as a one-time credit of about $1.40, the company said today. Starting next year, the reduction would amount to $68 million a year. Next month's credit totals $15 million in reduced rates. The reductions are prompted by tax savings resulting from the new federal tax law. The credit would appear next month if the state Public Utility Commission approves, Bell said.

Bell of Pennsylvania's proposed rate reduction, announced yesterday, is too small, the state consumer advocate said. Many customers would get a one-time credit of about $1.40 on bills to be mailed out next month, the company said, for a total of about $15 million. Starting next year, the reduction would amount to $68 million a year. The reductions are prompted by tax savings resulting from the new federal tax law. Next month's credit, if approved by the state Public Utility Commission, will be 11.3 percent of a customer's bill.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) has asked the IRS to investigate whether the $8.71 million paid last year to William Marino, chief executive officer of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state's largest health insurer, qualifies as "reasonable" under the tax law regarding nonprofits. Marino's salary jumped 59 percent, though the insurer has said that was because a change in law prompted him to collect money that would have been paid in later years. In a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, Lautenberg called the pay "exorbitant" and said he was "particularly troubled" that the company had been boosting executives' pay while raising premiums.

Whether you rent or buy, the cost of housing is going up because of the new tax law, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said yesterday. The economist, Theodore Crone, said that last year's overhaul of the tax law would result in big changes for renters and homeowners. Some of his conclusions: Over the next four to seven years, rents will go up 16 percent over what they would have been without the tax revisions. The rise will be above any inflationary increases.

The new federal income tax law will hurt poor children on full scholarships at boarding schools by requiring their parents to pay taxes on the rooms in which they sleep and the meals they eat, says the spokesman for 900 of the nation's private preparatory schools. John Esty, president of the National Association of Independent Schools, said he was concerned that poor parents would not be able to afford the new taxes, making it more difficult for their children to attend such schools.

Real estate salespeople are enjoying a windfall this winter, thanks to changes in the tax law that make it advantageous for investors both to buy and sell properties before the new year. On the sell side, some investors with rental property or land that has appreciated handsomely in recent years are taking their profits now, in order to benefit from lower taxes on capital gains. Next year, the maximum tax on capital gains will rise to 28 percent, up from the current maximum of 20 percent on long-term capital gains.

Michael F. Beausang Jr., 75, of Devon, who practiced law in King of Prussia for 40 years, died Monday, June 20, of complications of a ruptured appendix at the nursing center at Dunwoody in Newtown Square. Since 1971, Mr. Beausang had a been a member of the law firm of Butera, Beausang, Cohen & Brennan. He specialized in corporate, insurance, banking, and tax law, and served on the boards of several insurance companies and banks. He published numerous articles in professional publications including Tax Management Portfolios and for the Bureau of National Affairs, a publisher of news on law and other subjects.

A proposed change in the federal tax law could save millions of dollars in the cost of a new arena for the 76ers and Flyers - on either side of the Delaware River. The Senate is considering restoring the tax-exempt status of bonds sold by state or local governments to build sports facilities that they would own. The measure is tucked into the Senate Finance Committee's budget reconciliation package, which is to be debated on Capitol Hill today. That loophole in the tax law was closed in 1986 when Congress adopted a sweeping tax reform act. Philadelphia's basketball and hockey teams are being wooed by New Jersey, which is trying to lure the teams to a new arena on the Camden waterfront.

SALMON FISHING in Mongolia? Why not? If the fish were biting, David V. Randall was happy no matter where he was. "It took three planes and a helicopter to get there," said his son, David E. Randall, a frequent fishing companion. There were also fishing jaunts to Labrador, to Mexico, to Montana - wherever there was a swift river and hungry fish. A favorite spot was the Miramichi River, in New Brunswick, where he went at least once a year for salmon. David Randall, a Philadelphia lawyer specializing in tax law, a onetime executive secretary to Gov. George Leader and an author of books ranging from mystery novels to a history of the National Football League, died Saturday after a long illness.