Gary Beshara, co-owner and operator of the Marlboro, N.J. club, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison after admitting that receipts were diverted from the club for personal expenses over a three-year period, leading to a failure to report nearly $3.8 million in income and a loss to the government of over $864,000 in taxes. Beshara was also fined $5,000 and ordered to stay under court supervision for three years upon his release from prison.

Gary Beshara, a co-owner and principal operator of Bella Vista CC in Marlboro Township, N.J., admitted to siphoning more than $3.8 million from the club for his personal use over a four-year period and not reporting it as income, avoiding more than $864,000 in taxes. He will be sentenced in September and faces up to five years in prison and at least $250,000 in fines.

Golf courses have accounted for some of the more contentious cases over the tax breaks, which allow people to claim a charitable deduction for giving away the right to develop land. Last month, the Internal Revenue Service won a challenge to a claim by two St. James Plantation golf courses in Southport, N.C., to receive nearly $8 million in tax breaks, with the judge noting that “patches of native vegetation and wildlife don’t justify seven-figure tax breaks.”

The deadline for filing Forms 1094-C/1095-C of the Affordable Care Act with the IRS has been extended to May 31 (June 30 if filing electronically). The deadline for distributing Form 1095-C to employees has been extended to March 31.

Missing payroll reports sparked an IRS investigation into the bookkeeping practices at the American Legion Golf Course in Marshalltown, Iowa. An amateur golfer who got and shared stock tips through his membership at Oakley CC in Massachusetts was sentenced to over a year in prison.

The IRS said the pro shop operator at the Kimball, Neb., property was more of an employee than a contractor, prompting the club to allow others to make bids to run the pro shop, in compliance with federal standards.

The Florida retirement community that offers over 600 holes of golf and has more golf cars on property than New York has taxis has seen its population swell to 110,000 since 2000.

The two Louisville, Ky.-area properties have agreed to merge, effective April 1, after both member-owned clubs reported declines in profit in recent years. The merger will give members access to both clubs’ amenities, while reducing overall expenses for the clubs by combining staff and consolidating resources.

In its issuance of the final rules regarding the new health care law’s employer mandate, the Internal Revenue Services has added a new delay, in which clubs with 50-99 full-time employees do not have to comply with the law until 2016. The final regulations have also more clearly defined what a seasonal employee is.

A new ruling that took effect 1/1/2014 now classifies automatic gratuities as service charges that should be treated as wages and cycled through payroll systems before they are paid out to servers. They must now also be factored into hourly wage rates.

Five golf courses in the Charlotte, N.C., area will go into foreclosure, followed by a bankruptcy filing following a year of lawsuits from lenders, employee wage disputes, and more than $1.2 million of federal tax liens. The owner expects the properties to remain open throughout the process, and Traditional Golf Properties has been managing the courses since November 18.

The Obama Administration announced that it will delay the implementation of the “Employer Mandate” provision in the new health care law by one year. Under the newly announced policy, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which enforces this provision of the law, will not fine clubs for failing to comply with the Employer Mandate until 2015.

The Huntersville, N.C., club was abruptly shut down and locked up for nonpayment of taxes on July 2, in what the N.C. Department of Revenue is calling a “last resort” after judgments of $64,990 and $128,879 for the IRS went unpaid. Jeff Silverstein, owner of Carolina Trail Golf Partners, the club’s parent company, said the closure is a “misunderstanding,” and that “everything’s up to date.”

There’s a lot of talk and thinking going on about tips, gratuities and service charges, and how they can best fit in with strategies to motivate staff and maximize operating income.   It seems there’s a lot of talk and thinking going on these days, from various perspectives of the club market, about tips, gratuities…