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Structured Employment Settlements

Settlement recoveries under wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination, failure to promote, ADEA and other employment related theories of recovery, represent taxable damages. Lawyers for employers and employees alike can bring an efficient conclusion to employment litigation by using non qualified structured settlements. Structured settlement expert John Darer CLU ChFC CSSC RSP has concluded meaningful "win-win" employment structured settlements that have brought parties together and in this informative video podcast, provides a brief introduction to employment lawyers for plaintiff and defendants, corporate counsel and claimants and mediators handling employment related lawsuits.

                

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Employment Related Structured Settlements Bridge Gaps, Defer Tax, Guarantee Cash Flow

For more information please contact employment structured settlement expert John Darer CLU ChFC CSSC RSP at 888-325-8640

Non Qualified Structured Settlement Benefits Magnified By Tax Hikes

by John Darer® CLU ChFC CSSC RSP

A deal reached in the New York State legislature will hike state income taxes by an astounding 31% for all New Yorkers making more than $500,000 a year reports Sunday's New York Post

A second, slightly lower tier would increase state income taxes by 14.5% for singles earning $250,000 to $500,000 annually and for married and joint filers earning $300,000 to $500,000. 

Tax increases increase the intrinsic value of non qualified structured settlements as a tool for resolution of employment cases (e.g. wrongful termination, sexual harassment, qui tam), divorce, structured attorney fees and other settlements which where a non qualified assignment may be used.

New York based celebrities, athletes, actors and actresses may have more incentive to structure their endorsement fees.

Other factors which should stimulate use of non qualified assignments are:

• Inevitable federal tax increases
• Proposed end to sliding scale attorney fees in medical malpractice cases in New York, if enacted.

Non Qualified Structured Settlements Private Letter Ruling

Non qualified assignments have been concluded in thousands of non personal injury cases since Liberty Mutual introduced the BARCO program in the late 1990s. Allstate and Prudential versions of the non qualified assignment program soon followed. Today non qualified assignments are used in a wide variety of situations , including the resolution of employment cases.

Even with a large number of cases concluded, there was always the feeling that a larger number of claimants and their attorneys would feel comfort is there was a definitive IRS ruling.

Integrated Financial Settlements, the holding company for a number of NSSTA member companies, today announced such a favorable Private Letter Ruling, or PLR, which while based on an employment claim, opens the door to using periodic payments to resolve a multitude of taxable claims, such as non-physical injuries, fraud, slander, wrongful imprisonment and other types of claims not excluded from income under the Internal Revenue Code.

According to press release, the PLR was requested on behalf of a client with an employment claim stemming from a hostile work environment. Had the claim been paid out in a lump sum,  as is so often the case, most of the settlement would have been lost to taxes; instead, a series of periodic payments, via a non qualified assignment, will provide the claimant with a secure, tax-deferred income stream, specifically tailored to the claimant’s future needs.

IFS is to be commended for seeking the ruling. Others in the structured settlement and settlement planning industry are encouraged to invest in the business and to seek such rulings which benefit all parties and the industry. If you have a unique situation and the tab seems too much to bear, don't wish to invest your own money consider partnering up with other firms in the common interest.