Insights

1/31/25: Weekly Recap of Headlines We Found Interesting

Written by Next Vantage | 01/31/2025

 

What is Deepseek?

The fledgling Chinese AI company that is challenging business models around the tech sector and rocked the market.

What is it? Who is behind it? What are the long-term ripples of this “technological leapfrog”?

What are the political (and venture capital structure) ramifications?

This article provides a quick summary.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-deepseek-ai-china-stock-nvidia-nvda-asml/

And here is a quick poll I did to see how many people’s networks had actually heard of Deepseek before last week?  (Not Many!!)

Syndicated Conservation Easements

These tax structures have been identified as one of the most IRS scrutinized transactions (They’re on the IRS’ Dirty Dozen list of abusive transactions and require specific reporting).

While getting a tax deduction for donating property for conservation is still a sound concept, buying someone else’s tax deduction with inflated valuations has proven to be a bridge too far.

This recent case shows a detailed analysis by the court of:

  • How the transaction is supposed to work
  • Why it didn’t
  • The steep penalties involved and why this is truly a “buyer beware” idea

https://www.taxnotes.com/research/federal/court-documents/court-opinions-and-orders/easement-was-overvalued-deduction-allowed-penalty-applies/7qj1x

 

Buy Borrow Die?

If you have managed to stay on TikTok (and other social media) this long, the “Buy, Borrow, Die” is everywhere as the “Rich Person’s Ultimate Tax Dodge.”

According to “experts”, all wealthy people:

  • Buy assets,
  • Let them appreciate,
  • Fund lifestyle expenses by borrowing against them so as not to incur a steep capital gain liability
  • Die with them, so that the basis on those assets is stepped up and any liabilities are paid off having avoided a capital gains tax.

It has been the source of consternation among the Sanders and Warren crowd as a major loophole that tax policy should address (often in the form of a wealth tax, a mandatory capital gains tax on death and other tactics)

This paper questions how prevalent this phenomenon actually is. 

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5104644