[quote=XBoxBoy][quote=njtosd]Has the licensing already been done? If its just a matter of how to treat the earnings on a license, a tax attorney (w/o IP experience) should be able to help you. (I saw a few cases saying that straight licensing fees are ordinary income). If you are trying to figure out how to structure it – I would recommend using a tax person and a separate IP attorney. The likelihood of finding someone with a specialty in both fields and your technical area (presumably computer science) is kind of low.[/quote]
My goal is to figure out if it can be structured so that money coming in is treated as capital gains instead of as ordinary income. I can probably modify the licensing without much problem. I’ve spent a good bit of time researching the IRS publications and looking at the actual tax code and I believe it could be possible, but that little details that are not well explained could be very important, thus I’m looking for someone with real experience in these matters.
Thanks,
XBoxBoy[/quote]
Again – I would look for two people who would work well together as opposed to finding a single person. I am a patent attorney, as is my husband and lots and lots of friends. I haven’t ever heard of anyone who has a second specialty in tax (they require significantly different educational backgrounds). FWIW – I think you have an uphill battle. Copyrights are excluded from the definition of capital assets under section 1221 of the IRS Code. Here’s a good article to at least familiarize yourself with the issues:
Federal Income Tax Treatment of the
Development, Acquisition and Disposition
of Intellectual Property
