News

By Monica P. Ruela, Associate
Capell Barnett Matalon & Schoenfeld LLP

It is that time of year again when the Governor’s annual budget is signed and released. This year’s budget expands Medicaid benefits for people 65 and older and for those who are disabled. The expansion to the Medicaid program, which is discussed below, is set to be effective January 1, 2023.

What are the new Medicaid Income Limits?

The first change is to the income limits. Currently, a single person applying for Community (home-based) Medicaid is permitted to earn $934, and a couple is permitted to earn $1,367of monthly income without it adversely affecting Medicaid benefits. Effective January 1, 2023, these limits will be increased to $1,563 for an individual and $2,106 for a couple. As in the past, for community Medicaid recipients whose income is higher than the new limits, the pooled income trust remains a viable option to protect the excess income.

The new budget also increases the permitted resource limit for Medicaid applicants. Currently, to be eligible for Medicaid, a single individual’s non-exempt resources may not exceed $16,800. A couple’s income may not exceed $24,600. Under the new law, a single person will be permitted to keep $28,134 and a couple $37,908. Note that this resource limit is exclusive of exempt resources such as a primary residence and retirement assets.

Has the Medicaid look-back period changed?

Perhaps the most important change was the imposition of the 30-month lookback imposed on applicants for community-based Medicaid. This change, originally signed into law by Governor Cuomo in 2020, penalizes applicants for asset transfers made within 30 months of the application submission. Although this new law is alive and well, due to the ongoing COVID public health emergency, the implementation of this look-back period was postponed. While the law is set to become effective on July 1, 2022, there are indications that it may be postponed again. This means that an applicant for community-based Medicaid can transfer assets out of their name. As long as the application is filed with the appropriate Medicaid office before July 1, 2022, the applicant will not be penalized for the transfers.

Although the new budget increases the income and resource limits for potential Medicaid applicants, most New Yorkers do have income and resources that fall above those limits. The time to plan is now! We urge everyone to be proactive about their own planning. If you have questions about Medicaid planning and the application process, let’s talk.

In this episode of the Jabot podcast, Yvonne Cort, partner at Capell, Barnett, Matalon & Schoenfeld, talks about how her law school career goals matched up with her actual career. Yvonne discusses how she settled on her practice area. She also speaks about the benefits of small firms, and what it’s like when there aren’t a lot of women at the firm. Yvonne also shares her advice for folks just starting their legal career.

The Jabot podcast is an offshoot of the Above the Law brand focused on the challenges women, people of color, LGBTQIA, and other diverse populations face in the legal industry. Our name comes from none other than the Notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the jabot (decorative collar) she wore when delivering dissents from the bench. It’s a reminder that even when we aren’t winning, we’re still a powerful force to be reckoned with.

Happy listening!

On November 8, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that permanently gives New York not-for-profit corporations and religious corporations the ability to hold virtual meetings beyond the expiration of any emergency declarations related to COVID-19.

Although the new laws make the option of virtual meetings permanent, “secular” not-for-profit corporations and religious corporations are treated differently.

A not-for-profit corporation’s board of directors may choose to hold an “all virtual” meeting (where attendance is solely by means of electronic communication, with no “in person” attendance) or a hybrid meeting (where some attend by means of electronic communication, and others attend “in person”), if such meetings are not prohibited by the organization’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws. 

Religious corporations, however, are not permitted to hold hybrid meetings, and may only hold all virtual meetings if the board of trustees (by whatever name, e.g.,  board of elders, church council, etc.) is authorized to determine the place of meetings, and they, in their sole discretion, determine that the meeting shall be held solely by means of electronic communication, otherwise, it must be held solely in person. Unlike corporations formed under the N-PCL, meetings of religious corporations cannot be held partially virtually—they must be held either entirely in person or entirely virtually.  

Although virtual and hybrid meetings have become necessary alternatives to in-person meetings during this time of COVID-19, proper procedures must still be followed even in a virtual setting (notice, quorum, resolutions, minutes).

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RCL § 28. Electronic meetings

Notwithstanding any provision of law, certificate of incorporation or by-laws to the contrary, if the board of trustees of a religious corporation is authorized to determine the place of trustee meetings, corporate meetings, congregant or membership meetings, the board of trustees may, in its sole discretion, determine that the meeting shall be held solely by means of electronic communication, the electronic service and/or platform through which the meeting is held shall be the place of the meeting for purposes of this chapter.

N-PCL § 603. Meetings of members

(a) Meetings of members may be held at such place, within or without this state, as may be fixed by or under the by-laws or, if not so fixed, as determined by the board of directors. The board of directors may, unless otherwise restricted by the certificate of incorporation or the by-laws, in its sole discretion, determine that meetings of members be held partially or solely by means of electronic communication, the electronic service and/or platform by which the meeting is held shall be the place of the meeting for purposes of this article if a meeting is held solely by means of electronic communication. Meetings conducted partially or solely by means of electronic communications in reliance upon this paragraph and any member’s electronic participation in such meetings shall be subject to those guidelines and procedures as the board adopts, provided the board shall implement reasonable measures to: (1) verify that each person participating electronically is a member or a proxy of a member; (2) provide each member participating electronically with a reasonable opportunity to participate in the meeting, including an opportunity to propose, object to, and vote upon a specific action to be taken by the members, and to see, read or hear the proceedings of the meeting substantially concurrently with those proceedings; and (3) record and maintain a record of any votes or other actions taken by electronic communication at the meeting.

Published by Joseph Milano

All of us at Capell Barnett Matalon & Schoenfeld wish to thank you for your continued support and confidence in 2021 and look forward to our work together in 2022.

Happiest holidays to all!
From our families to yours!

Wealthy families are transferring millions of dollars of asset value ahead of the looming reduction to the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions (federal exemptions).

The reasons are many—but begin with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). When the TCJA passed, the federal exemptions doubled, increasing the 2017 federal exemptions from $5,490,000 (the then $5,000,000 exemption, as indexed for inflation) to $11,180,000 in 2018. As of 2021, the federal estate and lifetime gift tax exemption is $11,700,000 per individual ($23,400,000 for a married couple, with portability). However, the TCJA will sunset on Dec. 31, 2025: on Jan. 1, 2026, the federal exemptions will reduce to $5,000,000, as indexed for inflation.

Please view or download Greg Matalon‘s latest article below.

The following are important updates for New York Charities. If you have additional questions, please contact Joseph Milano (jmilano@cbmslaw.com) or Renato Matos (rmatos@cbmslaw.com).

“Schedule B” Collection Suspension

In July 2021, the United States Supreme Court held, in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, that it was improper for the California Attorney General to require nonprofit organizations to submit copies of Schedule B of Internal Revenue Service Form 990, which discloses the names and addresses of certain significant donors.

Please be advised that, as a result of that decision, the New York Attorney General’s Charities Bureau has suspended its collection of IRS Form 990 Schedule B. Effective immediately, charities filing with the New York Attorney General are no longer required to disclose information that identifies donors. Any notice that charities have received regarding any deficiency due to missing or incomplete Schedule Bs are no longer operative as to those deficiencies and annual filing will not be considered deficient for lack of or incomplete Schedule B.

Charities Bureau Extends Filing Deadlines to Organizations Affected By Hurricane Ida

In addition, the Charities Bureau of the New York Attorney General has granted an extension until January 3, 2022 to file CHAR500 annual financial reports to any charities that are eligible for an Internal Revenue Service filing extension due to Hurricane Ida. Those charities located in affected areas designated by the IRS and whose extensions to file are due to run out on November 15, 2021 now have until January 3, 2022 to file their annual financial reports. The “affected areas” include all counties (boroughs) within the City of New York and Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Other affected areas to which the extension applies may be found at https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-tax-relief-for-new-york-victims-of-remnants-of-hurricane-ida.

We regret to inform you that we are delaying the October 14th 6th Annual Interchurch Center Conference. We do so out of an abundance of caution and in consideration of everyone’s safety in light of the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

However, please hold the following dates:

May 4, 2022 | Ministry During Covid Webinar: What Have We Learned? What Will We Do?

November 3, 2022 | 6th Annual Interchurch Center Conference