Richard C. Kyanka v. Ashley K. Martin (2020) - Lowtax's second divorce

[break these cuffs]

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Richard has sold his business, his sole source of income besides the now almost drained Gaming Garbage patreon currently netting $559 per month. How is doing this kind of shit in the middle of a divorce likely to affect the proceedings?

I wonder if Jeffy will dish on Lowtax, at least a little bit. He could have just said that he was taking down the store to redo it, but he had to include a vagueposting dig at Rich. You don't have suffer under the yoke of that demented drug addict any longer Jeff. Let it all out. Let us know how he hurt you.

 

[AnOminous]

I wonder if Jeffy will dish on Lowtax, at least a little bit. He could have just said that he was taking down the store to redo it, but he had to include a vagueposting dig at Rich. You don't have suffer under the yoke of that demented drug addict any longer Jeff. Let it all out. Let us know how he hurt you.

Do it Jeff, let us know exactly how deep he put his peeny weeny into your butthole you fucking fag.

 

[X Prime]

Do it Jeff, let us know exactly how deep he put his peeny weeny into your butthole you fucking fag.

"He... he made us probate people who posted about killing politicians they didn't like!"

I mean, that is assrape of a sort, right?

 

[AnOminous]

Amicus update,

Nick said he is still working on getting it filed. He's looking for a Texas attorney to waive him in or file it on his behalf. He doesn't want to ask someone to turn in his work though. He regrets not having applied to the Texas bar and plans to do so in the future because he has family in Texas and visits often.

Seriously why? This is just embarrassing. Just stop embarrassing yourself.

Why the fuck is he doing this?

 

[break these cuffs]

Seriously why? This is just embarrassing. Just stop embarrassing yourself.

Why the fuck is he doing this?

Everyone check out this confused old man.

 

[Dyn]

Seriously why? This is just embarrassing. Just stop embarrassing yourself.

Why the fuck is he doing this?

He was so stupid he had to refile because he accidentally filed the amicus in the wrong thread.

 

[TinyKitty]

I'm neither a lawyer nor an accountant, but I'd give a lot to hear what either or both have to say about Lowtax's sale of his business and its assets. SomethingAwful LLC is encumbered with a delinquent tax situation going back years, business accounts that were kept on the back of a napkin when anyone bothered to keep them at all, and an owner who co-mingled his personal debts and income with the site's expenses and profits pretty much from day one. Now he's sold it right in the middle of an ugly divorce and child-custody situation, unmet child-support obligations, and a domestic violence case. It's going to be fun untangling that mess.

Does Jeffrey even know what exactly he's bought? Why do I have a feeling that he drew the contract up himself or got a strip-mall lawyer to do it?

 

[Ghostse]

I'm neither a lawyer nor an accountant, but I'd give a lot to hear what either or both have to say about Lowtax's sale of his business and its assets. SomethingAwful LLC is encumbered with a delinquent tax situation going back years, business accounts that were kept on the back of a napkin when anyone bothered to keep them at all, and an owner who co-mingled his personal debts and income with the site's expenses and profits pretty much from day one. Now he's sold it right in the middle of an ugly divorce and child-custody situation, unmet child-support obligations, and a domestic violence case. It's going to be fun untangling that mess.

Does Jeffrey even know what exactly he's bought? Why do I have a feeling that he drew the contract up himself or got a strip-mall lawyer to do it?

Given the length of time of negotiations, I would be shocked if Jeffo didn't have a halfway decent lawyer handling this. Because I'm pretty sure that the Lawyer had the unenviable task of trying to make Jeffery's stupid decision as unstupid as possible.

 

[Sabrina]

I'm neither a lawyer nor an accountant, but I'd give a lot to hear what either or both have to say about Lowtax's sale of his business and its assets. SomethingAwful LLC is encumbered with a delinquent tax situation going back years, business accounts that were kept on the back of a napkin when anyone bothered to keep them at all, and an owner who co-mingled his personal debts and income with the site's expenses and profits pretty much from day one. Now he's sold it right in the middle of an ugly divorce and child-custody situation, unmet child-support obligations, and a domestic violence case. It's going to be fun untangling that mess.

Does Jeffrey even know what exactly he's bought? Why do I have a feeling that he drew the contract up himself or got a strip-mall lawyer to do it?

I mean, besides what you've read already. The tax liens are in Lowtax's and Ashli's names. Even though SA was organized as an LLC it had one owner (wife unfortunately on the hook just due to marriage), so all of the tax "passes through," as in, it gets paid on his personal tax returns that he probably didn't file for years on end. Supposedly (according to LowT) he did have business bank accounts in addition to personal ones, but it's doubtful that he drew a paycheck and just treated all the money as his, which is actually 100% ok as long as you pay your taxes on it. Not spending money to improve and expand your business is a horribly stupid idea, because at tax time you get to write off all of the expense of doing so and only have to pay taxes on the remainder: the business's net profit. Honestly I doubt that Jeffrey would ever agree to take on Lowtax's tax debt, but I also doubt that that's even possible.

Without having access to the actual documents, we don't really know much at all. In fact, with the tax debt being on Lowtax's head, we're just assuming that it comes from SA. Practically, there's nowhere else it could come from unless he had some wacky underground business selling drugs or something, but we all know he sat on his ass and just didn't pay tax on the forum revenue. The lien also comes from the state of Missouri, so it could be that the federal is paid up and it's only state that he owes. We really don't know, but what we do know is public record rather than WILD SPECULATION as he claims.

There have been many comments on how it's a bad idea to sell off your final remaining source of income while rapidly draining your bank accounts with mobile games and overpriced takeout during a divorce and custody agreement. Rest assured none of that is lost on the courts. However it's almost a guarantee that his second wife will get up to half of the sale. The divorce isn't final at all and the reason we know that he had a business account with $70k in it a year ago that now has almost nothing is because that came up during proceedings. He's probably just an idiot living above his means, but in a divorce it looks like he's squandering all his money so the wife can't get any, which is *extremely* common and there will be penalties for doing so. Even if he didn't sell the site he'd still be fucked, but I'm leaning towards selling making him look bad, even if it results in his wife getting a bigger payday than if he didn't.

 

[George Floyd Sneed]

Jeffrey is an overpaid computer janitor who got into Bitcoin when they were worth just pennies. It’s very likely that he has a small fortune and got a decent lawyer involved. It’s pretty pathetic to fritter away anything on SA but I’m sure it’s been Jeffrey’s dream these last few years to step in for Lowtax.

 

[AnOminous]

Does Jeffrey even know what exactly he's bought? Why do I have a feeling that he drew the contract up himself or got a strip-mall lawyer to do it?

Don't dis strip mall lawyers. If you're familiar with weeb wars the only competent lawyer in the entire controversy was the strip mall guy.

We really don't know, but what we do know is public record rather than WILD SPECULATION as he claims.

Not even knowing any specific facts, I think it's a safe bet that whatever is going on, it is a huge fucking mess that will have negative consequences for all concerned.

 

[BlueSpark]

I wonder if Lowtax sold the site to Jeffrey because he offered to pay in cryptocurrency (so Lowtax can hide the funds from the courts and claim he was paid less than what he was really given).

 

[AnOminous]

I wonder if Lowtax sold the site to Jeffrey because he offered to pay in cryptocurrency (so Lowtax can hide the funds from the courts and claim he was paid less than what he was really given).

I hope so because that could be hilarious and end with a prison saga.

 

[waffle]

It also depends on whether you're the first asking for a transcript. If you are, you get to pay the full bill for it being done. If you're the next guy, you get it on a per-page basis.

Depends around here, the way a lot of them do it is they charge an "appearance fee" to whoever noticed it, but then everyone pays the same page rate.

 

[Learned Hand]

I mean, besides what you've read already. The tax liens are in Lowtax's and Ashli's names. Even though SA was organized as an LLC it had one owner (wife unfortunately on the hook just due to marriage), so all of the tax "passes through," as in, it gets paid on his personal tax returns that he probably didn't file for years on end. Supposedly (according to LowT) he did have business bank accounts in addition to personal ones, but it's doubtful that he drew a paycheck and just treated all the money as his, which is actually 100% ok as long as you pay your taxes on it. Not spending money to improve and expand your business is a horribly stupid idea, because at tax time you get to write off all of the expense of doing so and only have to pay taxes on the remainder: the business's net profit. Honestly I doubt that Jeffrey would ever agree to take on Lowtax's tax debt, but I also doubt that that's even possible.

Without having access to the actual documents, we don't really know much at all. In fact, with the tax debt being on Lowtax's head, we're just assuming that it comes from SA. Practically, there's nowhere else it could come from unless he had some wacky underground business selling drugs or something, but we all know he sat on his ass and just didn't pay tax on the forum revenue. The lien also comes from the state of Missouri, so it could be that the federal is paid up and it's only state that he owes. We really don't know, but what we do know is public record rather than WILD SPECULATION as he claims.

There have been many comments on how it's a bad idea to sell off your final remaining source of income while rapidly draining your bank accounts with mobile games and overpriced takeout during a divorce and custody agreement. Rest assured none of that is lost on the courts. However it's almost a guarantee that his second wife will get up to half of the sale. The divorce isn't final at all and the reason we know that he had a business account with $70k in it a year ago that now has almost nothing is because that came up during proceedings. He's probably just an idiot living above his means, but in a divorce it looks like he's squandering all his money so the wife can't get any, which is *extremely* common and there will be penalties for doing so. Even if he didn't sell the site he'd still be fucked, but I'm leaning towards selling making him look bad, even if it results in his wife getting a bigger payday than if he didn't.

Leapfrogging off of this a bit, which is a great post, and want to clarify that in MO, as in most states, normally an LLC shelters the principal owners from a lot of liability.

I also doubt it would be of direct consequence in a divorce, since it was formed long before their marriage, and under MO law wouldn't be considered a marital asset, though any profit earned by the LLC during the course of the marriage would be.

One point of clarification though -- co-mingling business and personal funds is very bad, and to the point where a divorce court or other court looks at your business, if they see it being operated "merely as a personal extension of the principal," they will pierce the corporate veil every time and absolutely tear it to ribbons for liability application.

My theory is that a lot of SA's obligations and debts were going to be imputed onto Rich personally, and subsequently lost in his divorce, and that's why he's selling it. Jeffrey, as long as he operated it as an actual corporation pursuant to the form, wouldn't be so burdened.

A rather quick and dirty explanation, but that's my thought.

 

[Sabrina]

The way I've been looking at it is since the tax liens against Lowtax are already in his name and not SA's, but Ashli is also named in them. If she's liable for the debt then she would be entitled to half the business assets as well. It could go in a variety of directions in divorce court, however, one possibility is she gets the liens discharged and half of his personal assets (of which there are almost none at this point.) We do know that the sale involved lawyers on both Lowtax's and Jeffrey's side.

LowT claims that he has separate bank accounts for business and personal but he's probably just doing whatever the fuck with the money. That, we don't really know. But while the LLC does stand for "limited liability corporation," the taxes still pass through. Someone has to pay them, after all, but from my experience the owner pays less from an LLC than other options. Registering this way rather than S-corp or individual proprietor is one of the only good decisions this junkie has ever made. He may have actually hired a CPA and/or business lawyer to get that done.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm the accountant type, not the lawyer type.

 

[Leonard Helplessness]

But while the LLC does stand for "limited liability corporation," the taxes still pass through. Someone has to pay them, after all, but from my experience the owner pays less from an LLC than other options. Registering this way rather than S-corp or individual proprietor is one of the only good decisions this junkie has ever made. He may have actually hired a CPA and/or business lawyer to get that done.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm the accountant type, not the lawyer type.

To respond with more accounting talk, single-member LLCs do get treated the same way as self-employeds for tax purposes unless they specifically elect to be treated as a corporation, and self-employed status is not ideal, because all the LLC’s profits will be subject to self-employment tax in addition to income tax. Self-employment tax is equal to whatever would be paid for Medicare and Social Security withholding if the income were wages plus the mandatory employer matching and gets pretty fucking steep.

One way to control that is to organize as an S Corporation, which an LLC can elect to be. An S corp files its own tax return but pays no federal taxes; instead all its profits pass through to the shareholders’ tax returns as income (there are limits on the number of shareholders an S corp can have amongst other restrictions, so huge businesses can’t do this.). The income is subject to individual income tax but not self-employment tax.

You can’t shirk all payroll taxes this way, because employee owners must pay themselves a reasonable salary, and that salary gets hit up for payroll taxes. Also, the IRS will shit all over you if they think your single-owner S corp salary isn’t reasonable, such as if you’re reporting half a million a year in profits and paying yourself $100 a year in salary and taking the rest as “distributions.” But S corps, while being subject to nastier administrative costs due to having to run payroll and file their own corporate tax return separate from the owner’s shit, are a pretty damn good tax strategy.

disclaimer: none of this is to be relied upon for any one tax situation and do not set up a fucking S corp without talking to a CPA about how you should be handling your business and taxes

 

[AnOminous]

You can’t shirk all payroll taxes this way, because employee owners must pay themselves a reasonable salary, and that salary gets hit up for payroll taxes. Also, the IRS will shit all over you if they think your single-owner S corp salary isn’t reasonable, such as if you’re reporting half a million a year in profits and paying yourself $100 a year in salary and taking the rest as “distributions.”

And of course all the really good tax loopholes are when you make in the millions or tens of millions range. In that six figure area you get a giant red white and blue dick in the ass.

 

[Sabrina]

Thanks for writing all of this out. You're right, an LLC can also be an S-corp, but it's highly doubtful that LowT has gone through the trouble of setting up payroll for anyone including himself. Certain writers that were paid regularly may have been referred to as "employees," (incl Bogan), but I suspect they were all abuses of 1099-MISC, which is a BAD thing if any of them ever came back to sue for being wrongly classified as contractors. If he lost, he could then owe the employer portion of payroll taxes on all of their earnings, either to the contractor that paid it themselves or to the IRS/Social Security, among other things. A lot of website writers can be and are contractors legally, but the ones that came into the office every day for set hours and did whatever he assigned to them (Shmorky and a few others over the years) should have been classified as employees and issued paychecks. But whether anyone actually drew paychecks out of SA, we honestly don't know.

You do turn around and deduct the employer portion of self employment tax on your returns, but it just gets tacked on at the end and not in the Schedule C deductions that come out of the company's net profit. Basically, you still pay double what you would if you worked for someone else, and you can't legally get out of it.

 

[repentance]

The way I've been looking at it is since the tax liens against Lowtax are already in his name and not SA's, but Ashli is also named in them. If she's liable for the debt then she would be entitled to half the business assets as well. It could go in a variety of directions in divorce court, however, one possibility is she gets the liens discharged and half of his personal assets (of which there are almost none at this point.) We do know that the sale involved lawyers on both Lowtax's and Jeffrey's side.

LowT claims that he has separate bank accounts for business and personal but he's probably just doing whatever the fuck with the money. That, we don't really know. But while the LLC does stand for "limited liability corporation," the taxes still pass through. Someone has to pay them, after all, but from my experience the owner pays less from an LLC than other options. Registering this way rather than S-corp or individual proprietor is one of the only good decisions this junkie has ever made. He may have actually hired a CPA and/or business lawyer to get that done.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm the accountant type, not the lawyer type.

The lien against Ashli is for a few thousand dollars worth of personal income tax. There's one against Lowtax for the same amount.