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Avoiding simple mistakes with the IC-DISC can mean the difference between maximizing tax benefits and leaving money on the table. In this episode of The IC-DISC Show, I sit down with Brian Schwam, National Managing Director of International Tax Services at WTP Advisors, to talk about the most common IC-DISC misconceptions that trip up practitioners and the underutilized opportunities many businesses are missing. Brian walks through the critical timing rules that confuse even experienced CPAs, including the 60-day and 90-day payment requirements that many practitioners misapply. He explains how the reasonable estimate safe harbor actually works and why paying the minimum amount can accidentally cap your commission at twice that figure. We cover the ordering rules for distributions, the often-misunderstood $10 million threshold, and why the transactional calculation method isn't nearly as impossible as people think. Brian also clarifies that IC-DISC dividends are subject to the net investment income tax, despite what some practitioners might believe. The conversation shifts to creative structures most companies never consider. Brian explains how multiple DISCs can fund executive bonuses at qualified dividend rates instead of ordinary income rates, saving both employment taxes and up to 17% in federal tax for recipients. He describes evergreen dividend resolutions that eliminate the stress of year-end cash movements and shared-DISC structures that make the strategy economical for smaller exporters with under $3 million in sales. These approaches work for both flow-through entities and C corporations looking to avoid double taxation. After more than three decades in international tax, Brian brings clarity to a strategy that looks deceptively simple on paper but contains hidden complexity at every turn. This episode delivers practical guidance you can use immediately, whether you're a practitioner helping clients or a business owner evaluating your own structure.   SHOW HIGHLIGHTS Paying the minimum 50% under the 60-day rule accidentally caps your total IC-DISC commission at twice that amount, limiting flexibility. Companies with export sales over $10 million can still use an IC-DISC—the cap only limits income deferral, not eligibility. Multiple DISCs can fund executive bonuses at qualified dividend rates, saving up to 17% in federal tax versus ordinary income. The transactional calculation method isn't impossible—most companies in 2025 can pull the data needed to maximize their IC-DISC benefit. Evergreen dividend resolutions eliminate 60-day and 90-day payment stress by automatically distributing commission rights on December 31st each year. Shared DISC structures let exporters with under $3 million in sales split compliance costs while each partner keeps their full tax benefit.   Contact Details LinkedIn - Brian Schwam (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-schwam-b6026a3/) LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance Brian SchwamAbout Brian TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dave: Hi Brian Welcome to the podcast. Brian: Hi Dave. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here. Dave: Yeah, my pleasure. So quick intro, Brian is, what's your title with WTP? Brian: National Director of National Managing Director of International Tax Services, which encompasses export incentives as well as more general international tax consulting. Okay, Dave: And that's at WTP advisors? Brian: Correct. Dave: And you and WTP advisors are founding members of the IC-DISC Alliance along with my firm and myself. Brian: That is correct. Dave: And so are you brand new to this international tax business? Did you pick it up last year or something? Brian: That's funny. I don't think I look like I picked it up last year. I've been been full-time international tax since 1992IC, and prior to that I spent a few years as a generalist, which I think makes me a better international tax person, but it's been a few years, been around the block a few times. Dave: Well, I think it makes you better. I always introduce you as the IC-DISC guru. Now that Neil Block has retired, I think you can now take over the mantle of godfather of the IC-DISC, Brian: Right? Or the step godfather. I don't know if anyone can ever replace Neil. He had a lot of knowledge, has a lot of knowledge in this area and a lot of experience, and I'm just kind of flattered to be compared to him. Dave: Well, Neil was, I think my inaugural or second guest, and I think he's only been on the podcast once. So I think you're trumping Neil with this either your second or third visit. Brian: I think it's the third visit. And Neil's retired and joined the Good Life and I'm not, so that's probably why I've beaten them as far as number of appearances. Dave: There you go. Well, today I want to talk about IC-DISC. I want to talk about misconceptions and maybe underutilized opportunities. So the IC-DISC is straightforward as can be cut and dried. Anybody can prepare the return, anybody can do the calculation. Easy peasy. There's nothing to your toe on. Is that accurate? Brian: That's far from accurate. Okay. Strength. Yeah. A lot of practitioners think that is the case, but I've seen more than a handful of IC-DISC returns and IC-DISC calculations done by generalists that definitely have a flare for not knowing what they're doing or not understanding the rules. And for a six page tax return that looks very straightforward. You'd be surprised how many of them are completely incorrect. Dave: Yeah, it's kind of deceiving, right? Because even the instructions for the return are only a handful of pages, right? Like six or eight pages. Brian: And then there's a couple of lists of codes and things that make 'em a little longer. But yeah, there's not much to it. But I mean, initially there are some statutory and regulatory things that have to be done, have to be done the correct way, and the rules are very draconian. If you don't do it the correct way, there's really no way to remedy the fact that you set up, you just deal with the consequences of having a disqualified IC-DISC, which means you've lost your IC-DISC benefits prospectively and you set up a new one or you forego the benefits No in between, really? Dave: Yeah. Brian: So some of these misconceptions that I've run into could lead to a IC-DISC being disqualified. Dave: So what's the first one that comes to mind? Brian: The first one that comes to mind really for me in practice is how does the 60 day rule and the 90 day rule work, this has to do with when do I have to move money to the IC-DISC? And some people don't understand it and they do things that make it not a problem. Other people do things, they don't understand it and it becomes a problem. So the 60 day rule basically says you must fund a reasonable estimate of the IC-DISC commission to the IC-DISC within 60 days after the end of the IC-DISCs year. It sounds very straightforward, but some people ignore that rule and some think they have to pay it all before the end of the year, but they don't have a 60 day window after the end of the year to accrue that IC-DISC commission and pay a portion of it. The other thing I see people do with the 60 day rules, they don't have all the information. They estimate a number. They say, oh, let's say the commission's going to be a thousand dollars and they pay $500 to the IC-DISC by the end of the 60th day. Well, what have they just done? Well, the 60 day rule says, yeah, you have to pay a reasonable estimate in the regulation. There's a safe harbor that says a reasonable estimate is at least 50% of the final IC-DISC commission. So by moving the least amount of money possible, they then limit their potential IC-DISC commission to two times that number. So rather than saying, oh, I think my IC-DISC commission's going to be a thousand and I'll pay 800 so that I have flexibility to go up to 1,600, they pay 500 and it can never be more than a thousand because there's a lot of information that's going to come out after the end of the year that's going to affect taxable income. And they generally don't know those things within the first 60 days after year. Dave: And what about for, I think this is for accrual basis taxpayers or accrual basis related suppliers. What about if it's a cash basis related supplier? Brian: Well, if it's a cash basis related supplier, now we're outside the DIS rules, but we're in the tax accounting. And in order to get a deduction, the payment does need to be made before the end of the year. If the payment is made after the end of the year, within that 60 day window, you've now pushed the deduction to the subsequent year, which really most people wouldn't be happy with. They want the production in the year that the exports arise, not in the subsequent year. So the other rule having to do with the moving of the cash is the 90 day rule, which says that you have to pay the IC-DISC any remaining commission within 90 days after the commission has been finalized. Well, finalized really means when did I file my IC-DISC return? And so it's an original return. It can be filed as late as eight and a half months after the end of the year. So you really have 11 and a half months from the end of the year to pay the remaining amount. So if we assume calendar year, that's a September 15th filing and a December 15th funding deadline for the remaining commission. I see a lot of practitioners out there that think the 90 days ends on the filing of the IC-DISC return, not starts on the filing of the IC-DISC return. So then they rush to pay that money and then they think they have a problem if they haven't paid it by the time they file. So I mean, there's no harm in paying it early, but that's not how the rule works. And then if someone's determining and amending a IC-DISC return and they owe more funds to the IC-DISC, they have 90 days. So when they file that IC-DISC return, amended IC-DISC return to make that extra payment to the, now, the other misconception is, well, what happens if my 60 day payment was greater than the final commission? I overestimated. So then the 90 day rule says if the IC-DISC received too much under the 60 day rule, it has 90 days that same 90 day window to pay back the overage back to the related supporter. So most people don't understand those rules and they do things that either potentially cause a problem or they create a lot of self-induced anxiety. They think they have to do something sooner than they have to do it. Dave: And speaking of the due date, if somebody wants to file their IC-DISC return in September, do they have to file an extension like to do their corporate return by March 15th? Brian: Nope. That is no, eight and a half months is the due date. There's no extension for a IC-DISC return. That is just the due date. Dave: And then what about if somebody wants to electronically file the IC-DISC return? How does that work? It doesn't. Okay. Brian: And why is that? Dave: Can't you electronically file Brian: Everything? Unfortunately not the IC-DISC, the 1120 IC IC-DISC is still a return that requires a paper filing. And sometimes clients don't realize that and they forget to file. And the good news is there's only a hundred dollars penalty for a late filing. But the bad news is if you keep continually don't file the IRS could. They could terminate your IC-DISC election. But yeah, there's no electronic filing. And then there's, there's another form. You also can't electronically file that relates to the IC-DISC, that it's the form 84 0 4, which relates to an interest charge that a taxpayer who owns a IC-DISC may have to pay if income is deferred to the IC-DISC and not distributed out as a qualified dividend to that shareholder. There's a lot of misconception around that form. And the first misconception is sometimes they think the IC-DISC needs to file that form and pay the interest. That is not true. That is not true. And so many times I'm asked to file that and I'm like, I can't file it. I can't prepare it. I don't know the information that goes on. And it's based on the shareholder or the disk. And if the shareholder is S corporation or a partnership, it's not based on that entity, it's based on its shareholders or partners. And there could be multiple 84 oh fours filed. And then oftentimes there's a surprise like, oh, I have to pay interest. I didn't know I had to pay interest. Well, it is called an IC IC-DISC, and the IC stands for interest charge. So that should not come as a surprise, but it often does. Dave: Okay. Wow, Brian: Go ahead. Yeah, so we're still on moving cash around. So there's also timing of when the shareholder of a picks up dividend income. So a lot of people think that if they pay the IC-DISC within that 60 day window after the end of the year and pay the dividend in the same 60 day window, somehow the dividend is recorded as though it happened on December 31st, and there's no deferral of the income in the IC-DISC. That's just flat out wrong. A dividend is taxable when it's declared, and most likely it's not going to be declared as of the end of the year. Dave: So that's like a miss application of the age old matching principle in accounting? Brian: Yes. Yes, definitely. Or a misapplication of someone thinking they have a evergreen dividend resolution, which I won't get into at the moment, but it's something that is used to accelerate dividends so that they do match the deduction of a IC-DISC. And you can't just match it because you have to match it because there's some reason to match it or there's action that's taken that would cause it to be matched. Dave: And I've heard some professionals maintain that because they're basically accelerating the dividend income to the current year, thereby bypassing the inherent deferral. That's okay, because why did the IRS care if they got paid a year early? Do you think that's, what's your opinion of that? Brian: I think that's a nice practical approach to that issue. I use it myself. I don't think that the IRS would audit a taxpayer and say, oh, by the way, you picked up that dividend too early. I'm going to write you a refund check. Dave: Yeah. Brian: Plus interest, I don't think, Dave: Now what if there was an audit though, and you had an issue where the audit period it covered had a mismatch so that if there was a year that you say it was the 2022 tax year and the dividend income should have been recognized in 2023, but they recognized it in 2022, and then let's just say they did an audit from of 2023 in isolation, and then let's say in 2023, the client didn't use the IC-DISC or had a much smaller commission amount, could the IRS potentially say, we don't care about 2022. In 2023, you should have recognized the dividend income. Brian: They they certainly could. And then they'd say, well, 2022 is closed. We can't adjust that. So it's always better to not fall into that fact pattern, but it happens. Definitely happens. Dave: So it Brian: Sounds like the good news is there's not a lot of IC-DISC audits that go, Dave: Yeah. So you're saying it sounds like when in doubt, just follow the rules, it sounds like. Brian: Yeah. Dave: When Brian: In doubt follow the rules, don't make up your own rules, for Dave: Sure. Yeah. Well, and I think part of the problem is people may not be aware of the rules. Brian: They're not, and then they just fill in the blank. Their brain fills in the blank with what they think makes sense. Dave: Yeah, because a lot of be a lot of differences between the IC-DISC and say an S corp, right? Like the election to be treated as an S corp does not have the same deadline urgency as the election be treated as a IC-DISC. Is that correct? Brian: I'm not a hundred percent sure, but there might, yeah, I am a hundred percent sure. Because if you miss the deadline for the S selection, there's automatic relief available for the S selection to be made late. There is no automatic relief available for a IC-DISC election. Either you've met the requirement to file it within the first 60 days of the corporation its existence, or you haven't. Now, there are exceptions, and we have written some private letter ruling requests in the past to get be granted relief for missing that 90 day window, but that's an extensive Dave: Miss. Yeah, understood. And then some other, Brian: And you may not know for two years whether you're going to get the relief or Dave: Yeah, I know I've had CPAs tell me that they frequently will just include the form 25 53 S corp election with the filing of the initial S corp return. Brian: That's allowed. And that's allowed, Dave: Yeah. Obviously you can't do that with the IC-DISC return. Brian: No, no. So then on the topic dividends, there's also some misunderstanding or misconception of whether a dividend from a IC-DISC is subject to the net investment income tax, the 3.8%. Dave: Oh, yes. I've heard people take that position that it's not subject to. What are your thoughts? Brian: Well, my thoughts are that many years ago, like 11 years ago, the IRS came out and said, it's definitely subject to the commission IC-DISC paying a dividend. That dividend is definitely subject to the net investment income tax. So I personally don't get involved in individual returns, so I don't know what people are doing, but if I'm ever asked, that's what I'll tell somebody. And I say, you can take whatever position you're comfortable taking, but this is the position I know the IRS would take. Dave: Okay, that makes sense. What other pitfalls do you see or misconceptions Brian: People have? So when I see IC-DISC, there's a $10 million, let's call the $10 million deferral cap with regard to a IC-DISC. And what that means is any IC-DISC commission related to export sales made by the related supplier, which are greater than 10 million above that $10 million threshold, create what's called a deemed dividend. You're not allowed to defer any of that income in the IC-DISC. Well, in practice or in the real world, people think, oh, I can't have more than 10 million of export sales. If I go over 10 million, I can't use the disk. That's clearly not true. I have clients that have seen clients that have billions of dollars of export sales. They just have a very large deep dividend that goes along with the IC IC-DISC commission. There is no limitation on the amount of export sales, the limitations on how much of the income you can defer the IC-DISC if you have more than 10 million of export suit. Dave: Okay. Brian: I've also seen related to that issues where someone's exporting military property. So military property, half of the income is a deemed dividend automatic under the rules. And then I've seen where they then add, and let's say the sales were over 10 million, they've added, they made an additive, they took half of the commission on the military property, and they said, oh, my sales are more than 10 million. I have additional deemed dividend as well. That's not how it works. The way it works is you compute your deemed dividend on the sales in excess of 10 million, and then from that you subtract the deemed dividend related to the military property. And so the most your deemed dividend can be is related to that $10 million cap. Dave: Okay. Yeah, I was less familiar with the military aspect of it. I don't think any of my clients are exporting military property. Brian: That's just an example. I mean, there's other things that give rise to deemed dividends as well. For example, one way you can defer income in a IC-DISC is to loan the money back to the related supplier. Under a producer loan arrangement, there's very specific facts that support the ability to use a producer loan. But then each year, the interest that's earned on that producer loan is a deemed dividend. Dave: Oh, sure. Brian: Whether it's paid or not. So whether the interest is paid, and then when the dividend is actually paid, it's not taxable because we've got a lot of ordering rules in the IC-DISC about when things get paid out and how they get paid out, and I don't have all day, but that's another area where I think there's a lot of misunderstanding. Dave: Okay. Brian: Oh, well, so I can focus on one small part of that is the IC-DISC in year one has the income of a hundred. In first quarter of year two, they pay out the 100 to the IC-DISC and the DIS pays the dividend. And in year two, it earns $300, and that gets paid in year three. Well, I hear all the time, well, I don't have any income deferred to the DIS because I earned the a hundred dollars in year one, I paid it in year two, and I paid the dividend in year two, and then I had income for year two of $300 that I paid in year three. Well, it doesn't work that way. In the DIS world or in the tax world in general, current earnings are always considered to be distributed first. So that a hundred dollars that gets paid out in year two is really coming from the year two earnings. And the year one earnings are still sitting in the deferred, thus giving rise to the interest charge that someone thinks they're avoiding. Dave: Okay. Brian: So there's some misconception about how that works. Dave: So I have one I just thought of, and I've heard this is the one, the misconception I've probably heard the most. Under no circumstances can the IC-DISC commission create a loss at the related supplier level? No matter how you do the calculation, it's Brian: Impossible. That's a big misconception. Dave: Yeah, Brian: There's no rule. There is no rule like that. Okay. So the rule is actually applied at the level in which you're computing the IC-DISC commission. So if you have exports with a profit, but overall your company has a loss, you can still compute a IC-DISC commission on those export sales because they have profit. Now, you can't cause the profit on the export sales themselves to become a loss. So let's say your export sales are making 2% bottom line, but overall, your company loses 3% bottom line. Some people will think, I can't get a IC-DISC commission. I have a loss. That's not true. You can claim a IC-DISC commission, but it cannot be more than 2% of the export profit because then makes the profit on the export zero, but it can't go below zero. Dave: And that's if you're using what we would call the standard or simple calculation. Brian: That's the simple calculation. Now, if you're doing something more detailed and you're calculating a IC-DISC commission on a product or product line or a transaction, you apply that no loss rule at that level. So you can have a number of transactions that are profitable, you can have a number of transactions that are not profitable, and then different rules apply. There's really people think, oh, there's two methods to compute a IC-DISC commission. That's probably another big misconception. There's really 18 methods to compute a IC-DISC commission, and you can choose one that allows you to get a commission but doesn't create a loss, and in some cases does actually allow you to create a loss. Dave: And is that methodology difference? I can't think of the technical accounting term, like where if you change your inventory method, you have to notify the IRS or you make an accounting change. This isn't like that, right? You don't have to each year notify the IRS. We used the 4% method last year, we're using the 50% this year, or we're doing other methodology. Correct. Brian: So you technically notify them by checking various boxes on the IC-DISC return, but it's not like a change in the accounting method where you have to apply for a change and have it approved or have an automatic change. This is considered a change in facts. And however your facts bear out, you can claim whatever commission you're allowed to claim. Dave: Now, when you do that transactional calculation, another misconception I hear is that it's just impossible because there's all this data that the company doesn't have, and it's so complicated to do it that just nobody has the ability to do it. Nobody can do it. Nobody wants to do it. Talk to me about that. Is the data really impossible to get from the clients? There no client that can provide any data that can be used. Brian: There may be handful that can't, but by and large, most companies have the ability in 2025 to obtain that data. When the rules were written in 1972, I'd say it was probably flipped where only a handful could probably get that information. And the vast majority of companies would never be able to get that information. But somebody wrote the regs that way back in the early seventies, and with the idea that you could get transactional information and compute the dis commission transactionally as opposed to at a higher level where everything's grouped together or a simple calculation. But in 2025, it's very, I have a hard time determining conceiving of a company that can't get some information pulled together. And that's the other, there's a related misconception. Oh, I have to tie out every dollar of my cost of good sold before I can tell you I have cost of good sold data for a transaction. Well, that's just not true because in the real world, companies make journal entries adjusting the cost of good sold. They don't do it at a transactional level. There's other things that schedule M'S on a tax return that affect cost of good sold. And so no, you don't have to nub that out to the last dollar to say, I have transactional data. You have to be able to identify what you can and what you can't identify gets allocated or apportioned across all the transactions. And if you think about it, if you say, I can't get anything, you're really apportioning all of the costs over everything anyway. That's the ultimate in apportionment. There's not even any allocation. You're just saying, oh, every one of my transactions has the same margin as a result, which is really factually never the case. Dave: Well, and I just thought of another one, and this isn't maybe a misconception as much as it is a misinterpretation. I can't tell you how many IC-DISCs I see that the related supplier is a flow through entity, yet they have the individuals own the IC-DISC. Have you seen this before? Brian: I've seen it. And sometimes they think that's the way it had to be. Sometimes they hadn't really thought of. It depends how they're using it. But the real downside to that is the IC-DISC commission reduces the income of the flow through entity, thus reducing the basis they have in their shares of that flow through entity. And then the dividend gets paid to the individual and there's no basis increase the dividend income. And unless they contribute the funds back to the business, they're eroding away their basis stock, which ultimately will result in a higher gain if they ever sell their business. Dave: When the ownership of the IC-DISC matches the ownership of the related supplier. Can you think of a scenario where it is actually beneficial for the individual shareholders to the IC-DISC instead of the related supplier? Brian: Yes. There are situations depending on where this shareholder lives. So let's say the shareholder lives in, say the company is operating in a state with a state income tax, but the shareholder lives in a state that doesn't have a state income tax. It's possible to get that dividend to the shareholder tax free, where maybe if it went through the S corporation or the partnership, it would not be tax free. Dave: I see. And you're talking about tax free at the state level? Brian: Yes. Federally, I don't really see in a regular IC-DISC that's just been used to pay dividends to the owners of the supplier. I don't see, unless it's a C corporation, in that case, you don't want the IC-DISC owned by the C corp, but if it's a flow through entity, you generally get the same tax answer, whether it's owned directly by the flow through entity or directly by the shareholders. Dave: Okay. Oh, I just thought of another misconception. It's funny, when we started this column, I only had a handful of misconceptions. But the more we talk, the more we think of. So here's another one. Say you have a flow through as the related supplier yet for whatever reason, you want the IC-DISC to be owned by the individual shareholders. Well, I've been told several times that the ownership of the IC-DISC must match the ownership of the related supplier. There is no option to do otherwise. Is that accurate? Brian: That's a fairly strong statement. So the answer to that is no, it's not absolutely not required. Now, if the shareholders are related to one enough FAMILIALLY related, and there appears to be donative intent. So if mom and dad own a company and set up a IC-DISC and transfer it to the kids, there is some old IRS guidance out there that says, Hey, when a IC-DISC commission's paid to that IC-DISC, mom and dad are making a gift to kids. So that's a pattern you want to avoid, which is pretty easy to avoid, frankly. Dave: And you would avoid that by just setting up a new IC-DISC that the children would Brian: Set up initially and not get transferred by Dave: To the right and where the kids are making the capital contribution to Bible stock and Brian: Right. Exactly. But that's the one little gray area. Otherwise, there are some people out there that set up a IC-DISC to fund bonuses for executives. And we've kind of transitioned here away from misconceptions to underutilized opportunities because really that's an opportunity where you can use a IC-DISC to fund bonus payments to key executives and owners, or not owners, and it doesn't save the company any money, but it certainly saves the recipients a good amount of tax because if they get bonuses, they're paying tax, whatever their ordinary rate is, let's just say 37%, where plus there's payroll tax of 3.8%, whereas if it's funded through a IC-DISC, they pay tax at the qualified dividend rate plus the 3.8%. So it's a 17% rate differential on that type of income between the wages and the qualified dividend for the recipient. Dave: And I guess it would also save the employer portion of the employment taxes as well, right? Brian: Well, it saves the employee and the employer, but it's replaced by the Obamacare net investment income tax. So they're both 3.8%. Dave: But if you had a simple example where an employee had a base salary of a hundred thousand dollars and they had a $20,000 bonus that was paid through the IC-DISC, that would've been subject to Brian: Fica. I'm thinking about people that are making more than Dave: Understood, Brian: But you can save FICA tax as well, Dave: And the Brian: Employer and the Dave: Employee, and that's kind of what I was thinking of. And even when they get above that limit, there's still the 1.45% that I think has no cap. Brian: Right. But again, that's the employer portion. Then there's the employee portion together that's 3.80, Dave: Right, which is the, Brian: So you've got the Obamacare tax. Gotcha. Dave: Well, that reminds me of another misconception that you had alluded to, and that is that a related supplier can only have one IC-DISC affiliated with it. Is that true? Brian: That is not true. Related supplier could have a thousand IC-DISCs if it wanted to. Dave: In fact, that option you mentioned of the employee owned IC-DISC, I usually see that as that being an additional IC-DISC kind of in addition to the primary IC-DISC. Is that usually how you see it? Brian: I see that way as well. Yeah, for sure. Or I see IC-DISC A is going to fund bonuses for the C level executives, and then IC-DISC B is going to fund bonuses for middle management. And so middle management IC-DISC has a targeted amount, and the upper level IC-DISC may not have a targeted amount. It might just be unlimited. Dave: Now, the drawback is if you have multiple disk, the combined commission amount for all of them cannot exceed what it would've been if you had just one IC-DISC. Right. It's not a mechanism to create larger combined Brian: That definitely can't, doesn't work. Yeah, it definitely would. But yeah, you can definitely set up different structures to fund bonuses for different people, or if it's a C corporation, and we don't see a lot of C corporations with IC-DISCs. But if you're a closely held C corporation, you can have a shareholder owned IC-DISC, and if you're in the habit of paying dividends, you can pay commissions to a DIS instead of paying those dividends, Dave: Avoiding the double taxation in Brian: The corporate layer. Exactly. So that's an underutilized opportunity in my opinion, because there's got to be more closely held C corps out there than the amount that are using IC-DISCs. Dave: And I guess another one, we touched on this earlier, but the evergreen dividend resolution, what's this all about? Why is this an opportunity? What are the benefits of Brian: It? So the evergreen dividend resolution basically says the IC-DISC is going to distribute, its right to receive a commission each year on the last day of its year. So that accelerates the dividend into the same year as the commission expense. That alleviates the need to move money under the 60 day rule and 90 day rule. There's no reason to move the money if you're not trying to qualify a receivable. That's what those rules relate to, whether you're as receivable as qualified or not. So that's a benefit. It also can guard against the law change where the rate on the dividend income would go up in the subsequent year. You can avoid that. But a lot of practitioners treat their IC-DISC like they have an evergreen, but they don't actually have it. And that's a problem in my mind. But if you have it, it just makes everything a lot easier. You don't have to try to figure something out by the end of February. You figure it out once and you just treat it like it all happened at the end of the year. And I know that that works because I had a client years ago that was in tax court in the great state of Texas. The issue came up. I wrote up a brief for the client, and the tax court accepted the evergreen as a viable dividend resolution Dave: Because in a way, didn't the tax court almost defer that to the state rules? Brian: Well, they just fall under. So you can have a dividend, you can create a dividend under state corporate law just by writing a resolution, but you have to have the income to support the dividend, to have a dividend for tax purposes. So if you have the resolution that says, I'm declaring a dividend on December 31st every year, then based on facts, you either do have a dividend or you don't for tax purposes depending on how much income you have. So it just falls back on that probably one other underutilized Dave: Opportunity. Well, Brian, before you move, I just wanted to talk about the evergreen, I guess is the biggest drawback that the taxpayer would miss out on the deferral. Brian: That's one of the drawbacks. The other drawback has to do with the interplay between all of this and this 4 61 L limitation, which limits how much of a flow through loss a taxpayer can deduct in a year. So you could have a situation where the IC-DISC dividend on a transaction by transaction basis becomes so large, the commission becomes so large, it creates a loss and the flow through entity, the shareholder can only deduct a certain amount of that loss, but they would have to potentially pick up all the dividend income Dave: And then Brian: Deduct that loss at a later point in time. Now, personally, I'm still getting a permanent rate benefit out of it. So if I'm not going to sit on this loss for years and years, I think it's okay. But if I'm going to sit on that loss year after year after year and not utilize it, then I don't want to be picking up those dividends that I can't utilize the losses. So it just requires some additional coordination between the CPA and us and the client to determine exactly what the right commission should be. Dave: Okay. So you're about to, Brian: And that's another misconception. Dave: Yeah, go ahead. Brian: Yeah, like, oh, my commission has to either be whatever I compute or zero can't be anywhere in between. That's a misconception because I can target an amount, and as long as my IC-DISC commission agreement gives the related supplier the unilateral power to include or not include a IC-DISC export sale in the IC-DISC calculation, I can pick and choose whatever number I want that to be so that I don't have a 4 61 L problem, or I don't have the number be bigger than I can utilize. In other words. Dave: And that's because the IRS does not require you to capture every export sale. So that's basically limit the IC-DISC commission to a specific amount and back into which of the export sales you'll basically exclude from the calculation. Brian: Right? Right. Exactly. Exactly. But again, also we like to see that supported in the IC-DISC commission agreement. And then the last underutilized opportunity has to do with G there. Having a IC-DISC does have some cost. So if I don't have at these 3 million of export sales, it might be questionable whether I can really benefit economically benefit from a IC-DISC. When I look at the cost and the benefit, well, there are structures out there that we'll call a shared ING IC-DISC where partner like small exporter can invest in a partnership. That partnership owns a IC-DISC. Maybe there's five or six investors in the partnership. They're all unrelated. They all have, let's call it a million dollars of export sales. And on a standalone basis, there'd be too much cost for setting up the disk compliance to offset the tax benefits, but it'd be greater than the tax benefits. But if I can use a shared disk, then I only have to share a portion of the cost, the annual cost of the IC-DISC, but I still get my tax benefit. And really what happens with the other partners? So the partnership owns the IC-DISC. The IC-DISC earns that commission from the related supplier, then the IC-DISC pays all of its dividends to that partnership, and the partnership can then allocate the dividends back to the individual exporters based on their contribution. So it's a way for smaller companies to still get a tax benefit out of it. And I seen very few of these out there. So there's got to be thousands of companies that export that just don't export enough to have their own IC-DISC. Dave: Yeah, yeah. No, that's an interesting opportunity. And I agree based on my experience. I mean, I've talked to so many people in the past, or I did talk to so many people who exported $2 million or less, and I'd have to say to them, it's probably not worth the time and the cost because there's time on their end and then there's hard cost to have the work done. Brian: Yeah. I've had the same conversation countless times with companies as well. It's really something that both exporters and their CPAs should be aware of because the CPAs are in the best position to know that their clients are doing some level of export. Dave: And I just thought of another misconception, and that is that the virtually from the day after the IC-DISC rules were enacted, prognosticators started saying that the IC-DISC is going away. It's just going to be a short-lived thing. And even in the two decades I've been involved in IC-DISC work, I've heard this from so many tax practitioners, oh yeah, this thing's going away anyway, why bother? Brian: Yeah. Well, it really, for it to go away would fly right in the face of current policy in the administration. So I don't think it's going away anytime soon. Some of the benefits have been whittled away over time with some of the other provisions that are coming into play, but it's really not going to get repealed anytime soon. Certainly not in the next four years after that, who knows. But certainly it's good for the next four years. But it's funny, in 2003 with the Bush tax cuts, they brought in this concept of qualified dividend income, which really revitalized the use of the IC-DISC for a lot of pass through businesses. One of the big four firms said, oh, it's going to be a technical correction, and the qualified dividends are not going to include the dis dividends. Well, here it is 22 years later, I'm still waiting for that technical correction out of Congress, but I guarantee you that they've advised their clients to use the IC-DISC, even though they were out there saying, oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is an error. It's going to go away. Dave: Well, I had this conversation, I think it was in 2009. I think the preferential dividend rate was IC-DISCussed going away at the end of 2010. If I have my time horizon. And I remember it was late summer of I believe oh nine, talked to the potential client, they connected me to the CPA, and this was the international tax partner of a top 50 CPA firm. And she said to me, quote, I think you're being reckless even bringing this idea up to my client. I said, why is that? She said, are you not aware of house resolution such and such that hadn't been passed, but the resolution was going to ever go away? And she said, if this is passed, then this will not be usable beyond the 2010 tax share. And she said, we think it's reckless and not even sure why you'd want to bother with it if you can only at max use it for a year and four months. And I remembered saying, I appreciate that. You may not think it's worth it, but I wonder if the client, when he does the ROI calculations, if they might think it's worth it. Because even if they only used it for a year and a half, it still might be worth the cost to set it up, the compliance cost and the cost to shut it down. Brian: That whole analysis took place in 2007, 2010, 2012. I remember, I'm not proud of this, staying up late on New Year's night of 2013, so I could watch Congress vote because they let the qualified dividend rate lapse and then they had to reenact it the next day. And they did it on January 1st, and I sat in front of the TV watching. I was fairly invested in whether they were going to vote for it Dave: Or not. Yeah. Well, I think that's appropriate. You're a little bit like the soup Nazi from Seinfeld. He is got such passion for his customers. Brian: There you go. Yeah, I definitely am passionate about what I do because I love what I do. I couldn't imagine not doing it. Dave: Yeah, I find the same. Brian: And I love helping taxpayers legitimately reduce their tax burden. Dave: Well, and the clients that we help tend to be entrepreneurial type companies, they're not Fortune 500. And I've seen where this can legitimately make a difference in freeing up cash to buy more equipment, hire more people. It's quite a stimulus. Brian: Also not a misconception is Fortune 500 companies can't use a IC-DISC. It's really for private companies. Dave: Yeah. Brian: It's not something that you'll see a lot of or any private public companies utilize. Dave: Okay. Well boy, we've covered a lot. Anything left to cover? Any other misconceptions or opportunities you can think of? Brian: Nothing that I don't think we've IC-DISCussed. Dave: Okay. Well, I have one final kind of fun question. So with the benefit of hindsight, if you could go back in time and give advice to, say your 25-year-old self, what advice might you give to yourself? Brian: It's going to be completely non-tax related. Dave: That's okay. Brian: If you tear a ligament to your knee, get it repaired. I did that and I didn't get it repaired. And ultimately I got a new knee, which works just as well as the original with a lot more probably pain in the interim. Dave: Gotcha. Okay. Well that's good advice. So the takeaway, if you're 25 years old and you have a ligament tear, don't wait 30 years to get it fixed Brian: Or to not get it fixed at all and just get an artificial knee. Dave: Yeah. Understood. Well, Brian, thank you so much. This was really fun. I mean fun by a couple of IC-DISC nerds. I guess not everybody would consider this conversation fun, but I thought it was a lot of fun and I appreciate the expertise that you bring to this matter. Brian: I appreciate the opportunity to be here and chat with you about it. And maybe in the future there'll be some more topics we can talk about. Dave: Yep. I would enjoy that. We should make it an annual tradition. Brian: That sounds like a good idea. Dave: Alright. Hey, have a great day, Brian. Brian: You too, David. Dave: There we have it. Another great episode. Thanks for listening in. If you want to continue the conversation, go to ic IC-DISC show.com. That's IC dash D-C-S-H-O w.com. And we have additional information on the podcast archived episodes as well as a button to be a guest. So if you'd like to be a guest, go select that and fill out the information and we'd love to have you on the show. So it we'll be back next time with another episode of the IC-DISC Show. Special Guest: Brian Schwam.

This week on Conflict Managed we welcome Mary Olson-Manzel. Join us as we explore: Mary's new book, What Lights You Up? Illuminate Your Path and Take the Next Big Step Looking for a new job? What now? Reaching out for help Leaning into your natural gifts Healthy conflict Growth mindset: Dealing with roadblocks and difficult bosses Generations at work Conflict Managed is available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube @3pconflictrestoration   Mary Olson-Manzel is a renowned expert in career and workplace success. She has over 30 years of leadership experience across various industries, including media, tech, healthcare, and sports, and has worked with many global organizations. She is the Founder and CEO of MVP Executive Development, a national leadership, coaching, and organizational management consultancy with offices in New York, Connecticut, and Illinois. Her clients range from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups with a broad reach of industries, from FinTech to Football (the NFL). As a seasoned executive leadership coach, Mary works with both companies and individuals to unlock their potential, improving business performance and catalyzing growth. Her coaching methods bring a fresh lens to business and a perspective that nurtures teamwork, helping drive results through grace, empathy, and Humane Leadership. Before starting her company in 2012, Mary was a partner at two leading global executive search firms. She also spent a decade at Tribune Company in Chicago, serving as National Managing Director of Talent, where she led a team of recruiting professionals. This is where her understanding and expertise in recruiting and coaching were honed. She worked closely with hundreds of media assets nationwide to attract and retain the best and brightest. Mary currently lives in Westchester, NY, with her husband and family. She is a part of Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches, which brings together the world's leading executive coaches, consultants, speakers, authors, iconic leaders, and entrepreneurs. Mary is a regular Guest Lecturer on career development, internships, and workplace success at the NYU School of Professional Studies, Division of Programs in Business. She also volunteers for various local charities. What Lights You Up? Illuminate Your Path and Take the Next Big Step in Your Career is her first book and is a USA Today National Bestseller. For more information, visit www.mvpexec.com and www.maryolsonmenzel.com.   Connect on social media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-olson-menzel-mvpexec/ https://www.instagram.com/maryolsonmenzel/ https://www.facebook.com/MVPExecutiveCoaching   Conflict Managed is produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services and hosted by Merry Brown.

Happy Mindful Monday Everyone! In this week's episode, our host Allie Brooke interviews the fantastic Mary Olsen-Menzel. Mary has over 30 years of leadership across global media, tech, healthcare, and many other industries. She is the Founder and CEO of MVP Executive Development, a national leadership, coaching, and organizational management consultancy with offices in New York, Connecticut, and Illinois. Her clients range from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups with a broad reach of industries from FinTech to Football (the NFL). As a seasoned executive leadership coach, Mary works with companies and individuals to unlock the potential that improves business performance and catalyzes growth. Her coaching methods bring a fresh lens to business and a perspective that nurtures teamwork and helps drive results through grace, empathy, and "humane leadership." Before starting her company in 2012, Mary was a partner at two leading executive search firms. She also spent a decade at Tribune Company in Chicago as the National Managing Director of Talent, where she honed her understanding and expertise in recruiting and coaching. She worked closely with 20 newspapers, 27 television stations, and hundreds of digital assets nationwide to attract and retain the best and the brightest. In her early years, Mary worked in both the tech space and media and entertainment, where she started her career as a television reporter. Her innate curiosity and ability to connect with people paved the way for her life's work: helping leaders at all levels channel what “lights them up,” guiding and inspiring them towards more fulfilling and successful personal and professional journeys. Mary earned her MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business and a Bachelor's in Communications and Public Relations from Illinois State University. Mary lives in Westchester, NY, with her husband, kids, and their Goldendoodle, Wrigley. She is a part of Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches, which brings together the world's leading executive coaches, consultants, speakers, authors, iconic leaders, and entrepreneurs. Mary volunteers for various local charities as well. Episode Topics How to live an inspired life and find your passions Lessons learned a decade after breast cancer and how her perspective on life changed physically, spiritually, and emotionally Why your inner light is your superpower Finding a career that gets your "head off the pillow" each day How she turned one of her biggest "upsets" into a career pivot How your passion, your purpose, your skills, and your personality will equal your paycheck How To Connect w| Mary Official site: www.mvpexec.com Book site: www.maryolsonmenzel.com Facebook @MVPExecutiveCoaching Instagram @maryolsonmenzel LinkedIn ***December Book Club*** "The Science of Stuck: Breaking Through Inertia to Find Your Path Forward" by Britt Frank Gro&Flo Book Club Group Coaching Program Winter Session Waitlist 1:1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GROWTH MINDSET COACHING PROGRAMS! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Application Form ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Tailored weekly discussion questions and activities to spark introspection and self-discovery. Guided reflections to help you delve deeper into your thoughts and feelings. Thoughtfully facilitated sessions designed to provide maximum support, accountability, and growth. Apply for a FREE discovery call with me! Allie's Socials Instagram:@thegrowthmindsetgal TikTok: @growthmindsetgal Email: thegrowthmindsetgal@gmail.com Links from the episode Growth Mindset Gang ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram Broadcast Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Growth Mindset Gal ⁠⁠Website Growth Mindset Gang WhatsApp Group Chat⁠⁠ Better Help Link: Save 10% ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://betterhelp.com/growthmindsetgal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠1rst Phorm Products⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠1rst Phorm App Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary Olson-Menzel has over 30 years of leadership across media, tech, healthcare, and many other industries globally. She is the Founder and CEO of MVP Executive Development, a national leadership, coaching, and organizational management consultancy with offices in Connecticut, New York, and Illinois. Her clients range from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups with a broad reach of industries from FinTech to Football (the NFL). As a seasoned executive leadership coach, Mary works with both companies and individuals to unlock the potential that improves business performance and catalyzes growth. Her coaching methods bring a fresh lens to business and a perspective that nurtures teamwork and helps drive results through grace, empathy, and "Humane Leadership". Before starting her company in 2012, Mary was a partner at two leading global executive search firms. She also spent a decade at Tribune Company in Chicago as National Managing Director of Talent, leading a team of 40+ human capital professionals. This is where her understanding and expertise in recruiting and coaching were honed. She worked closely with 20 newspapers, 27 television stations, and hundreds of digital assets across the country to attract and retain the best and the brightest. In her early years, Mary worked in both the tech space and media and entertainment, where she started her career as a television reporter. Driven by an innate curiosity and a deep passion for her work, Mary has dedicated her life to helping leaders at all levels channel what “lights them up” and inspires them into more fulfilling and successful personal and professional journeys. Mary earned her MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business and a Bachelor's degree in Communications and Public Relations from Illinois State University.Mary currently lives in Westchester, NY, with her husband, three kids, and their Goldendoodle, Wrigley. She is a part of Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches, which brings together the world's leading executive coaches, consultants, speakers, authors, iconic leaders, and entrepreneurs. Mary volunteers for various charities locally as well. Her newest book is “What Lights You Up? Illuminate Your Path and Take the Next Big Step in Your Career.” www.maryolsonmenzel.com

Organizations often talk about having a culture of innovation. But what does that look like? To explore innovation and how to achieve transformative breakthroughs I've invited Kim Christfort to join me.  Kim is the Chief Innovation Leader and National Managing Director of Deloitte Greenhouse Experience, where they work to spark new thinking, accelerate decision-making, and build long-term business development. Kim shares how her background in theatre and science gave her a love for problem-solving and interacting with people, but it wasn't until she created her position at Deloitte for herself that she could fully incorporate her creative side. The Deloitte Greenhouse Experience is not just a space, it is an experience, a stage where Kim can set the environment to diagnose what is holding the group back and activate the brain through immersion to create momentum and opportunity to break through the barriers that are holding you back. For ten years Kim and her team have been working with people, teams, and leaders to achieve breakthroughs but have never codified or packaged the research and data they have been doing.  This was the catalyst for Kim's book The Breakthrough Manifesto which acts as a field guide for leaders and organizations to act, join the movement, and achieve breakthroughs that can fundamentally shift the way an organization thinks and operates. Three Key Takeaways: ·         A good metric for thought leadership is repeat usage.  If people continue to come back time and again, investing their time and money they must be seeing value from it. ·         Moments are all around us.  They are opportunities.  Thought leadership can have a huge role in making those opportunities visible to clients. ·         Thought leadership that can become a movement is powerful. Those who believe in your ideas will become your biggest and loudest champions.

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're talking with Brian Schwam, National Managing Director of International Tax at WTP Advisors. WTP Advisors and Export Advisors are the two founding members of the IC-DISC Alliance, and in this episode, we talk about the work we do with CPA firms to support their clients who have, or would benefit from having, an IC-DISC. Removing any concern about 'losing' clients to a competitor. This collaborative approach is a great way for CPA firms to expand their client offerings due to the specialist nature of the Alliance work. The flexible engagement model also ensures firms remain in control of the client relationship. This was a really interesting conversation and highlights the partnership opportunities that allow everyone involved to focus on what they do best. LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance About Engineered Tax Services GUEST Brian SchwamAbout Brian Special Guest: Brian Schwam.

I invite Phil Fontaine to join me on Chatter that Matters to honour National Indigenous Peoples Day. Phil is an advocate for human rights and a survivor of residential school abuse. To bring about positive change, Phil served three terms as the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, the first being when he was only 28. He was also among the first to openly talk about the abuses in residential schools and twice visited the Vatican seeking an apology. Phil Fontaine's contribution to our country deserves to be honoured, as are his beliefs that the founding peoples of Canada must include Aboriginals. Phil also views self-determination as key and one that leads to a First Nation Economy where the best education is available and pursued, culture preserved, and wealth created. Two of my previous guests, Sandi Boucher and Jennifer Menard-Shand, join the show to ask Phil Fontaine an important question; his answers alone are worth the listen. I end the episode by inviting Dale Sturges, National Managing Director, Indigenous Financial Services Group at RBC, to share his perspective on Phil Fontaine, his pursuit of truth and a life well-lived.   

Jeff Levin is a National Managing Director at a global consulting firm with over 20 years of experience leveraging passion, technology, and innovative solutions to lead and inspire teams. He was also one of Learn to Lead host Matt Confer's early leaders. On this episode, we discuss the ways that Jeff's leadership has grown and changed since his early years, how he's adjusted to manage a group of over 1,000 individuals, and how he hopes to continue growing into the future. Matt and Jeff also discuss how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has informed each of their relationships with work and how Jeff is working to maintain a strong organizational culture even as more members of his team only know each other through Zoom.

Kim Christfort, National Managing Director of Deloitte Greenhouse®, where executives tackle tough business challenges, reveals what it takes to go beyond status quo to activate new opportunities and create differentiation that sparks brand desire and business growth. We explore why most business executives shy away from emotion in business environments, despite the powerful role that it plays in people's decisions and behaviors, and how it can actually lead to the results they are striving to achieve.Contact Info:Kim Chistfort - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimchristfort/Kevin Perlmutter - https://www.limbicbrandevolution.com/Limbic Sparks® is a registered trademark of Limbic Brand Evolution, LLCDeloitte Greenhouse® is a registered trademark of Deloitte Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022 is off to a rocky start: A supply chain crunch, a talent shortage, and campaign measurement challenges are just a few issues on the agenda. But BMW's new GM for Marketing Alex McLean says it's a great time to start – demand has never been so much higher than supply. Digital attribution is a growing challenge, Origin's Sara Varnell says, and the big measurement companies haven't cracked it yet, but she's working with Atomic 212° on an AI-fuelled platform to keep track of valuable conversion data. Atomic212°'s National Managing Director, Rory Heffernan, says clients are facing targets based on historical figures that they can't replicate. Asier Carazo and Sarah O'Leary, both from Atomic212°, say the days of annual planning are gone and brands being brave is key to success.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 25: What it means to be a “Schwabie”—Examining the Powerful Culture of Charles Schwab through the Stories of its People Guests: Brad Losson, VP & National Managing Director, Relationship Management at Charles Schwab Advisor Services Jerry Cobb, Managing Director, Business Consulting at Charles Schwab Leslie Tabor: Managing Director, Business Consulting at Charles Schwab In this episode of the Powering Independence Podcast, we explore the people and culture of Charles Schwab.  Our guests talk about what is different about their place of work and why they are so enthusiastic about promoting their firm.  With varying levels of experience and career paths, each story helps to illuminate the power of being a Schwabie.

Dr. Rachel York Colangelo is the National Managing Director of Jury Consulting at Magna Legal Services. Dr. Rachel has a doctorate in legal psychology from Florida International University and a bachelor's in psychology and sociology from the University of Virginia. Dr. Rachel has over a decade of experience in litigation consulting and has provided litigation support in a variety of criminal and civil matters. In this week's episode, Dr. Rachel shares what goes behind the jury selection process and how do you know if you have the right person (or the wrong one) on your trial!   Key Takeaways A bit about Dr. Rachel and how she got started as a litigation consultant. What goes behind selecting a good juror? Picking the right juror is not an exact science, but Dr. Rachel prefers to pick them based on data and research. Dr. Rachel does a mock trial before the actual trial to determine the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of the case. Based on that, Dr. Rachel can find people who are more or less susceptible to the trial's storyline. When it comes to jury selection, you are unable to pick the 6-8 jurors you want. Instead, you have to deselect what's available to you based on their bias or openness to listen to the trial's narrative. What have been some of the 'hot' industries that have required services for jury consulting? In large liability cases, those payout numbers keep going up and up. Why is that and how can professionals potentially mitigate this? Dr. Rachel explains what ‘reptile strategy' is and how it's used in court. After the jury has been selected and the trial begins, Dr. Rachel shares how both sides try to influence the jury. Dr. Rachel shares her differences in approach to a new trial vs. an appeal. No product hits the shelves without it being tested by the consumer, the same is true with a legal case. Pre-trial jury research is critical. Are jury consultants expensive? When does it make sense to settle vs. going to trial? Interested in this field? Dr. Rachel shares some of the pros and cons of this kind of work! Where does Dr. Rachel see the future of this industry going in the next five years? Is there anything Dr. Rachael wishes she'd known about sooner in her career?   Keep Getting Better Magnals.com Dr. Rachel on LinkedIn

A first for Winged & Ready where we access the resources of Bernstein to dig into some unique and timely wealth transfer strategies for business owners. When the world is upside down, we want to make it right side up, and our guest Tom Pauloski does just that for us. He explains why selling a portion of your business into a trust is your best bet in today's environment and why it is unique to now. This is part one of planning strategies for business owners and their families.questions: diane.johnston@bernstein.comThomas J. Pauloski is a National Managing Director of Wealth Strategies; he works with private clients and their advisors on wealth transfer strategies, focusing on tax-efficient wealth management and asset allocation decisions. Tom was appointed a National Managing Director in 2009. Prior to joining the firm in 2005, he was a partner in the trusts and estates department at Winston & Strawn LLP in Chicago. Tom is on the faculty of the American Bankers Association National Trust and National Graduate Trust schools; he has also been an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and has taught estate planning classes at Northwestern University Law School. Tom earned a BS in environmental engineering from Northwestern University and a JD, magna cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Loyola Law Journal. He retired as a commander from the US Naval Reserve in 2003, with 21 years of combined active duty and reserve service.DisclosureNote to All Readers: The information presented and opinions expressed are solely the views of the podcast host commentator and their guest speaker(s). AllianceBernstein L.P. or its affiliates makes no representations or warranties concerning the accuracy of any data. There is no guarantee that any projection, forecast or opinion in this material will be realized. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The views expressed here may change at any timeafter the date of this podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. AllianceBernstein L.P. does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. It does not take an investor’s personal investment objectives or financial situation into account; investors should discuss their individual circumstances with appropriate professionals before making any decisions. This information should not be construed as sales or marketing material or an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument, product or service sponsored by AllianceBernstein or its affiliates.The [A/B] logo is a registered service mark of AllianceBernstein, and AllianceBernstein® is a registered service mark, used by permission of the owner, AllianceBernstein L.P.© 2020 AllianceBernstein L.P.

We really enjoyed sitting down with Jay Duke this past September while at Springboard Event for Emerging Franchisors. Jay has been in franchising for over 30 years and he is the National Managing Director at the #1 ranked accounting firm for franchise brands. We will have him back on a longer form episode but do not miss this one! If you want to reach Jay: jduke@bdo.com www.bdo.com Cheers! Audio Engineer: Ben Kliever

Peter began his career over 30 years as the founder of Realm Project Marketing Group - one of the first independent project marketing firms in Australia. Since then he has held senior management roles at Winten Property Group Stockland and subsequently Colliers International - where he is currently the National Managing Director of residential property. Throughout his career, Peter has personally sold, managed and or overseen the sales of $100B worth of real estate, created his own blog with over 4,000 subscribers and pioneered some of the property industries most innovative marketing methods.

Episode 9: Catch Me If You Can: Cybersecurity for RIAs In 2002, Steven Spielberg released the movie Catch Me If You Can – focusing on the life of Frank Abignale, a master con-artist and check forger. Frank was eventually caught by the FBI and ultimately helped them catch other con-artists and fraudsters. Today’s fraudsters use technology and cybercrime to steal from unsuspecting victims – including phishing e-mails, malware and identity theft. Forbes magazine estimates that cybercrime will result in an estimated $6 trillion in damages by 2022. Half of all cyberattacks are targeted at small businesses. The latest episode of the Dynasty Powering Independence podcast is entitled; Catch Me If You Can: Cybersecurity For RIAs. We have brought together a great panel offering their insights and practical strategies for identifying and protecting RIAs from the threat of Cybercrime. Adam Mosely is the National Managing Director of business consulting at Charles Schwab & Co. Inc, Eric Castillo is the Chief Technology Officer at Dynasty Financial and Heather Ostrwoski is the CFO of DB Root, an RIA based in Pittsburgh, PA.

KL022 Beata Kirr National Managing Director, Head of Private Client Core Strategies at Bernstein Wealth Management Women and Wealth Episode Summary This episode of the Keep Leading!™ podcast is dedicated to women and those that love them! I sat down with Bernstein Wealth Management’s National Managing Director and Head of Private Client Core Strategies, Beata Kirr, to talk about wealth creation and wealth management for women. Bio Beata D. Kirr is the National Managing Director and Head of Private Client Core Strategies at Bernstein Wealth Management. She is a member of Bernstein’s Private Client Investment Policy Group, which oversees strategic asset allocation for high-net-worth, nonprofit and family office clients.  She holds a BS in economics (magna cum laude) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Beata has provided market commentary for the Chicago Tribune, WGN News, NPR and the Wall Street Journal. She is passionate about helping women investors succeed, speaks frequently to women’s groups nationally, and is the host of “Bernstein Insights” Women & Wealth podcast series. Beata is on the Board of Women Employed.  Website https://www.bernstein.com/women/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/beata-kirr-69892b/ Leadership Quote “There is a special place for women who don’t help other women.” Subscribe, share and review on iTunes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-leading/id1461490512  Please visit KeepLeadingPodcast.com for a full transcript of this episode. The Keep Leading!™ podcast is for people passionate about leadership. It is dedicated to leadership development and insights. Join your host Eddie Turner, The Leadership Excelerator® as he speaks with accomplished leaders and people of influence across the globe as they share their journey to leadership excellence. Listen as they share leadership strategies, techniques and insights. For more information visit eddieturnerllc.com or follow Eddie Turner on Twitter and Instagram at @eddieturnerjr. Like Eddie Turner LLC on Facebook. Connect with Eddie Turner on LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Taxpayer First Act which President Trump signed into law earlier this month included reforms to the IRS whistleblower program. Dean Zerbe is National Managing Director of the Alliantgroup and Senior Policy Analyst at the National Whistleblower Center, thinks they're an improvement — he joined Federal Drive to explain why.

Stephen Lewis and Tom Pauloski discuss how wealthy families, worried about giving too much, can benefit from a strategy to keep their assets but give away the future appreciation. Thomas J. Pauloski is a National Managing Director of Wealth Strategies. He works with private clients and their advisors on wealth transfer strategies, focusing on tax-efficient wealth management and asset allocation decisions. Prior to joining Bernstein in 2005, he was a partner in the trusts and estates department at Winston & Strawn LLP in Chicago. Tom is on the faculty of the American Bankers Association National Trust and National Graduate Trust schools; he has also been an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and has taught estate planning classes at Northwestern University Law School. Tom earned a BS in environmental engineering from Northwestern University and a JD, magna cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Loyola Law Journal. He retired as a commander from the US Naval Reserve in 2003, with 21 years of combined active duty and reserve service. For a copy of the Music to My Heirs research, go to: https://www.bernstein.com/bernstein/microsites/musictomyheirs/index.htmlNote to All Readers: The information contained here reflects the views of AllianceBernstein L.P. or its affiliates and sources it believes are reliable as of the date of this podcast. AllianceBernstein L.P. makes no representations or warranties concerning the accuracy of any data. There is no guarantee that any projection, forecast or opinion in this material will be realized. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The views expressed here may change at any time after the date of this podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. AllianceBernstein L.P. does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. It does not take an investor’s personal investment objectives or financial situation into account; investors should discuss their individual circumstances with appropriate professionals before making any decisions. This information should not be construed as sales or marketing material or an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument, product or service sponsored by AllianceBernstein or its affiliates. The [A/B] logo is a registered service mark of AllianceBernstein, and AllianceBernstein® is a registered service mark, used by permission of the owner, AllianceBernstein L.P. © 2018 AllianceBernstein L.P.Support the show (https://www.bernstein.com/bernstein/microsites/musictomyheirs/index.html)

This is our third show dedicated to reviewing the best of the year. Today, we are focusing on the intersection of women, work and money. As you can imagine, this topic came up a lot in 2017. It was a historical year for women. Starting back in January, we had the Women’s March on Washington, which was reportedly the biggest single-day demonstration recorded in our country’s history. Then late in the year, the #metoo movement, an outpouring of women’s accounts of sexual harassment in the workplace led to a number of high-profile and highly paid men losing their jobs over overwhelming claims of sexual misconduct. Call me an optimist, but I sort of feel like the New Year has got to see an uptick in female hires and promotions. Right? But to bring this all back to the podcast and the goal of So Money, in this episode we'll bring stories and strategies that can help us all conquer our financial challenges, especially for us women. This episode features excerpts from:Sallie Krawcheck, "Own It" Author from EP 532Alice Finn, "Smart Women Love Money" Author from EP 582Lisen Stromberg, "Work Pause Thrive" Author from EP 535Deepa Purushothaman, National Managing Director of Deloitte's Women's Initiative from EP 553For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.

You all know by now that I'm a big believer that when women earn more and participate in leadership roles the world is a better place. Today's guest is is the National Managing Director of the Deloitte Women's Initiative (WIN). Which is helping to achieve just that. Deepa Purushothaman is our guest today and through WIN, she works to help build opportunity, enrichment and new thinking around talent and inclusion in the workforce so that all leaders, especially women, thrive. She also leads the Social Impact service line of Deloitte Consulting LLP and has a lot of experience working in the private sector. Previously, she was part of the Telecommunications, Media and Technology practice where she helped clients nationally and globally to redefine their company evolution. In this episode learn about the financial hardship growing up that shaped the way she thinks about and runs her financial life, the critical business meeting years ago that defined her leadership style and what she thinks about whether women should take a page out of the male playbook when it comes to succeeding in the workplace. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.