Former Hancock lawyers start new firm, Crisafulli Gorman, PC

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FAYETTEVILLE — A new law firm is aiming to tap into the potential of the region’s small, emerging companies. “We really think that this area is headed where they’re headed,” attorney Douglas Gorman says of the region’s startups. “The more we can nurture them and make them our focus the better.” Gorman and his partner, […]

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FAYETTEVILLE — A new law firm is aiming to tap into the potential of the region’s small, emerging companies.

“We really think that this area is headed where they’re headed,” attorney Douglas Gorman says of the region’s startups. “The more we can nurture them and make them our focus the better.”

Gorman and his partner, Timothy Crisafulli, launched their firm, Fayetteville–based Crisafulli Gorman, PC in September. They previously worked together at Syracuse–based Hancock Estabrook, LLP.

And while the partners hope to be seen as friendly to small and emerging companies, they also say their practice will pursue work with larger, established companies, nonprofits, and individuals. The entire market seems poised for growth, Crisafulli says.

“The greater Syracuse region is not at a time of stagnation,” he says. “We realized that this is really a tremendous market to be served. We wanted to position ourselves to be able to serve it well.”

Crisafulli Gorman’s practice areas include trusts, estates, and elder law; tax law; corporate, finance, and commercial law; and business succession and exit planning.

Both partners grew up in Central New York — Gorman in Minoa and Crisafulli in Oswego. They both attended Le Moyne College and ended up teaching for some time before attending law school at Syracuse University, where they met on the first day.

Gorman practiced in Delaware for a while after graduating, but eventually landed at Hancock Estabrook with Crisafulli. They worked there together for five years, often on joint projects involving business succession planning, Crisafulli says.

Gorman brought a concentration in business law to those efforts while Crisafulli brought tax and estate planning and administration knowledge.

The two eventually felt a pull to serve clients on their own terms and using their own model, Gorman says.

That model includes an increasing use of technology to deliver legal services in response to the demands of younger clients, Crisafulli says.

“It seems as if what they are seeking in legal services, as they were raised on technology, may be a little different than what earlier, older consumers of legal services were seeking,” he says. “We’re able to reach them free of geographic constraints.”

As a small, two-man shop, Crisafulli Gorman can focus on providing cost-effective services as well. That will come in handy when working with smaller companies, Gorman notes.

“They’re young, they’re not especially well capitalized,” he says. “They need a cost-effective solution.”

In addition to business succession, the partners also cross practice areas in work with nonprofits. Gorman frequently works with organizations on governance issues while Crisafulli helps them attain and keep tax-exempt status.

The partners also bring joint expertise in estate planning and asset administration, Gorman says. Gorman’s other expertise includes corporate finance, commercial transactions, divestitures, mergers, and acquisitions.

Crisafulli’s additional experience includes asset preservation, trusts and estates, and tax law.

Small Business Health-Care Credit Alert

Business Mentors, Health Care, Small Business, Subscriber Only

Arguably the most sweeping change to U.S. health care since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid is upon us. The combination of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act create myriad changes in health care. Most major provisions will be effective by January 2014, with others being phased

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One of the hottest topics of course is the small business health-care credit. In general terms, for years through 2013, qualifying small-business taxpayers may claim a credit of 35 percent, while small tax-exempt employers are eligible for a 25 percent credit. In 2014, an enhanced version of the credit will be available.

Many small businesses are trying to figure out what this means for them. The first step is to determine if your business is eligible. In order to claim the credit, an affirmative response to each of the following is necessary.

– Do you employ fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees? Note: Multiple part-time employees are added together to determine FTEs.

– Is the average annual wage per FTE less than $50,000? Note: Total wages are divided by total FTE.

– Do you cover at least 50 percent of the cost of single (not family) health-care coverage for each of your employees?

If you were able to answer yes to all of these questions, your business could reap some significant benefit. And because the tax credit works on a sliding scale, businesses supporting more FTEs earning lower average wages will receive a larger benefit.

A quick example shows that a small-business employer eligible for a 15 percent credit who pays for qualifying health-care coverage that costs $75,000 per year will end up with a credit of $11,250.

The credit may be carried back to prior years or forward to future periods. And, in some cases, for tax-exempt organizations, the credit is refundable even if no taxes were paid. Of course, there are any number of limitations and caveats, so gaining a clear understanding is vital.

It is important to note that this is a tax credit. A tax credit differs from a deduction. Why is this important? Good question. Because small businesses may be able to claim both a deduction and a credit. The deduction is based on premiums paid in excess of the credit claimed.

If your head is spinning despite instructions available for Form 8941 and 990-T and information on the IRS website (www.IRS.gov) , you are not alone. Earlier this year, a report by the Government Accountability Office indicated that many small businesses passed on the health-care tax credit in 2010. According to the report, approximately 170,000 small businesses claimed the credit while 1.2 million to 3.8 million did not file for the credit even though they were eligible. If your business is part of the group that passed on the credit, it might make sense to re-visit the issue and consider amending your return.

Of course, there is much more to determining the right course of action than being eligible for a tax credit. Your CPA can help you make sense of the credit and more.

Gail Kinsella is a partner in the accounting firm of Testone, Marshall & Discenza, LLP. Contact Kinsella at gkinsella@tmdcpas.com

Navigating OSHA regulations when using temporary employees

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Insurance & Financial Services, Subscriber Only

Many businesses utilize temporary employees. There are several things to be aware of when you contract through a temporary agency to provide employees. Companies need to be cautious in assuming they are the employer of these workers. While this is the case in many circumstances, such as payroll and taxes, there are several other state

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One issue is who is responsible for compliance with the various OSHA regulations when temporary or leased employees are involved. Through interpretive letters and compliance directives to staff, OSHA asserts that it can be a shared, or “joint employer,” responsibility.

Due to its ongoing relationship with the employee, the temporary-staffing service could likely carry some recordkeeping and training obligations. However, the primary responsibility resides with the client employer, which creates and controls conditions at the workplace. For example, it’s the company that ensures machinery is guarded and necessary personal protective equipment is used. However, the temp agency would maintain all medical monitoring and exposure records created by a client employer on agency employees.

The issue of “client employer” versus “temporary-service agency” responsibility is focused mostly on the area of employee training. There is no waiver of the various training requirements simply because a temporary employee’s assignment is of a short duration. For instance, training or safety instruction must be given to construction employees, even for very short-term jobs. OSHA often finds that permanent employees are properly trained as required by a particular standard but their temporary counterparts aren’t. That results in citations and significant penalties.

The need to define responsibility is frequently raised with the hazard- communication standard and its training requirements. In those cases, the temporary-service agency would be expected to provide some generic training. The client employer would then have to provide the specifics about the hazardous chemicals used at the work site, along with training on the implementation of its hazard-communication program at the site.

Similarly, the blood-borne pathogens standard would require generic training by the leasing agency with site-specific training and implementation by the client employer. Under that standard, the temporary service would also need to ensure that employees receive required vaccinations and follow-up evaluations after exposure incidents.

OSHA points out in interpretive documents that a client employer may wish to specify the qualifications it will require of personnel supplied to it. That could include training on specific chemicals, use of personal protective equipment, and the like. It is also advisable that contracts between the parties clearly define their respective responsibilities so that all OSHA requirements are met.

A recordable injury or illness of a temporary worker should be entered on the client employer’s OSHA 300 log if the company performs day-to-day supervision of the worker. The temporary labor service should not record the case. OSHA regulation 1904.31 suggests that client employers and labor-supply services coordinate their recordkeeping efforts to ensure that a case is recorded only once.

Bill Ranous is the director of human-resources services at the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY). This article is drawn and edited from the July-August issue of Manufacturing Matters, MACNY’s newsletter.

Syracuse law firm involved in Medicaid lawsuit

Health Care, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The state pharmacists society and several individual pharmacies are suing the state’s Medicaid program over rules requiring beneficiaries to use mail-order pharmacies for some prescriptions. Syracuse–based Hiscock & Barclay LLP is representing the plaintiffs, including the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York, a number of named pharmacists, and Medicaid beneficiaries. Requiring

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Syracuse–based Hiscock & Barclay LLP is representing the plaintiffs, including the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York, a number of named pharmacists, and Medicaid beneficiaries. Requiring prescriptions to be filled by mail deprives patients of one-on-one counseling with pharmacists they trust, says Linda Clark, an attorney with Hiscock & Barclay.

“There’s a risk that there will not be adequate coordination in terms of drug interactions and the like,” she says. “There’s really no one there to effectively look at the whole patient profile that a pharmacist would normally look at.”

The issue arose last year when prescription drugs became part of Medicaid Managed Care, in which subsidized health plans reimburse pharmacies for prescriptions as opposed to Medicaid paying directly, Clark says.

When the plans became responsible for drug coverage, the New York Legislature specifically passed laws mandating that patients have the right to choose their pharmacies, as long as that pharmacy meets or beats the mail-order price, Clark explains. The one exception was for drugs that are extremely expensive, exotic, or difficult for a local pharmacy to handle.

The Department of Health began developing a list of those drugs, but it quickly became clear that many routine prescriptions were being added, Clark says.

“The exceptions started to swallow the rule,” she says. “They came up with a list of over 400 routine drugs for all kinds of basic chronic conditions that community pharmacies have been serving forever. It’s pretty clear that was not the intent of the exception. That’s why we ended up in court.”

Mail-order drugs can create serious issues for patients, Clark says. Some people might get some drugs from the mail while others come from the pharmacy. That can create confusion.

And some of the drugs involved are critical and time sensitive, Clark notes. One patient in the case is taking anti-rejection drugs after a liver transplant.

“If you’re not at home at the moment that UPS stops by, you don’t get your drugs,” Clark says.

UPS could just leave the drugs, but that’s not a great option when therapies can cost thousands of dollars per month.

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Albany County, is seeking to stop the list of exceptions from moving forward. Clark notes that pharmacists recognize there are some drugs that legitimately belong on the list.

The mail-order program is temporarily on hold while the suit moves ahead, she adds. No one from the state Health Department could be reached for comment on the matter.

The issues in the suit don’t just relate to patient health, Clark says. There are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.

The mail-order program could send up to $1 billion in taxpayer funds to mail-based pharmacies that are located outside New York state, Clark says.

“Medicaid patients lose choice and access, in-state pharmacies lose prescription volume, and New York state loses the tax revenues it needs,” Craig Burridge, executive director of the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York, said in a news release. “It’s a money-grab by the nation’s largest prescription-benefit managers who are building prescription volume on pharmacies they own and control.”

Hiscock & Barclay has 360 lawyers and support-staff members. The firm has additional offices in Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Boston, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com

Changing Estate-Planning Rules Require Careful Consideration

Business Mentors, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

Is your estate plan current? The federal estate-tax rules drastically changed in 2010, were altered again in 2011, and will change again in 2013. Following is a summary of these laws. I encourage you to review your own estate plan to see how it is affected. Our federal estate-tax exemption, which is the amount you

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Is your estate plan current? The federal estate-tax rules drastically changed in 2010, were altered again in 2011, and will change

again in 2013. Following is a summary of these laws. I encourage you to review your own estate plan to see how it is affected.

Our federal estate-tax exemption, which is the amount you can pass estate-tax-free at your death, was $3.5 million in 2009, and the maximum federal estate-tax rate was 45 percent. In 2010, the estate tax was repealed. For this one year, the step-up in basis rules (which would allow heirs to sell assets they inherit with a cost basis equal to the estate fair-market value) were replaced by carryover basis. These new rules permitted a step-up of $1.3 million plus an additional $3 million for assets passing to a surviving spouse. In lieu of these rules, an election could have been made in 2010 to elect an estate-tax exemption of $5 million and a full step-up in basis.

In 2011, the federal estate tax ex-emption was $5 million with an estate tax rate of 35 percent. For the 2012 tax year, the exemption is $5.12 million. During this entire time, there is an unlimited federal and New York State marital exclusion, and the New York State exemption is $1 million. The 2013 federal exemption is scheduled to decrease to $1 million with an estate-tax rate of 55 percent. With these wild swings in federal estate tax, it’s hard to structure your estate plan wisely. Although everyone’s circumstances are different, here are some general guidelines.

It’s important to list your assets at fair-market value, and include the death benefit of your life insurance that you own in the total. Once the fair market value approaches $1 million, tax planning is imperative.

For married couples, equalizing your estates may result in the lowest estate tax. Putting disclaimer or credit-shelter trusts, which maximize the use of both spouse’s exemptions, in your wills could double the amount passing free of estate tax for a married couple. If you have a formula clause, you should review it. Depending on the estate-tax exemption amount in the year of your death, it could potentially disinherit the spouse if the tax-exempt amount is left to children and the balance to your spouse.

Making gifts of real estate or closely held business interests may be wise, and valuation discounts as well as low interest rates work in your favor. Gifting appreciating assets during your lifetime and placing life insurance into an irrevocable life-insurance trust could leverage your exemption even more. Reviewing beneficiary designations and coordinating them with your overall estate plan is of prime importance, since many people pass more assets by beneficiary than by their wills. Flexibility is key, with the fluctuating exemptions, basis rules, and estate-tax rates.

Durable powers of attorney, health-care proxies, and living wills are lifetime documents that everyone should have in place. A durable power of attorney states who would make your financial decisions, and a health-care proxy designates who would make your medical decisions, if you were unable to do so. HIPAA language should be included in your documents so that the privacy laws allow your agent access to your personal information. A living will states that you do not want to be kept alive by artificial means if you are in an irreversible coma with no chance of recovery, and if that mirrors your wishes, you should sign a living will.

Are you confused yet? Congress may adopt new legislation for 2013. Uncertainty makes it difficult to plan, but waiting to see what happens next may not be the best course of action. The earlier you implement flexible tax and estate planning to respond to these changes the better. This article just scratches the surface. There are many rules not shown here that you would need to consider.

Grace Ghezzi is vice president with Benefit Consulting Group (or BCG), specializing in fee-only financial planning. Contact her at (315) 413-4460 or via email at gghezzi@bcgcny.com

American Society of Women Accountants report offers ideas to boost diversity

Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

The American Society of Women Accountants (ASWA) has issued a new report making several recommendations for how companies can increase hiring of women and minorities in the accounting and finance professions, especially in high-level positions. In the report, entitled “2012 ASWA Special Report on Solutions to Increase Diversity in the Accounting and Finance Fields,” ASWA

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In the report, entitled “2012 ASWA Special Report on Solutions to Increase Diversity in the Accounting and Finance Fields,” ASWA examines what both employers and employees can do in order to increase diversity numbers at all levels of the accounting and finance profession, with a special emphasis on the top rungs of the career ladder.

“ASWA is troubled by the lack of diversity at the top of the profession,” ASWA National President Cheryl Heitz said in a news release. “It is important for any employee to feel valued at their place of work. We see minorities and women drop out of the profession when the organization’s policies and culture conflict with minority and women’s needs and expectations.”

The report explores the importance of introducing minorities and women to the accounting and finance fields at a young age. Then, in order to encourage retention and advancement, organizations need to implement structural mechanisms that foster a welcoming company culture where motivated and skilled minority and women professionals wish to stay, ASWA says.

The organization adds that it is equally important for minority and women employees to focus on personal career advancement. The report cites programs in the accounting and finance fields and highlights successful diversity initiatives in other industries that have made significant strides towards the diversity goals ASWA has set.

Highlights of the 2012 ASWA Special Report on Solutions to Increase Diversity in the Accounting and Finance Fields include:

– Bring exposure to the industry by educating students about accounting and finance

– Businesses can implement structural mechanisms and programs that foster growth opportunities and promotions

– Companies can create an inclusive culture by educating employees about the benefits of retaining a diverse staff and the
unique challenges diverse employees face

– Diverse individuals should take certain steps to focus on personal career advancement

ASWA issued the special report in conjunction with its 2012 ASWA Annual Conference for Accounting and Financial Women — “Connect. Advance. Lead,” held in San Diego, Calif. Oct. 22-24.

The full ASWA special report is available at http://bit.ly/ASWAResearch.

HealtheConnections’ HIE moves past 1 million CNY patient records

Health Care, Small Business, Technology

SYRACUSE — Central New York’s health information exchange (HIE) now covers patient records for more than 1 million people in its 11-county region, its overseeing

OCC adds new partner to higher ed center

Health Care

SYRACUSE — Onondaga Community College (OCC) has added a new school to its list of colleges that offer degree programs on its campus. The Northeastern

New bill would encourage high-tech growth

Health Care, Small Business, Technology

SYRACUSE — New legislation pushed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand aims to encourage the growth of high-tech jobs across the country. Gillibrand announced the America Innovates

ConMed profit, sales rise in Q3

Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News

UTICA — Sales and profit rose in the third quarter at ConMed Corp. (NASDAQ: CNMD), surpassing analysts’ estimates. The Utica–based medical-device manufacturer reported net income

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