Category: Tax Planning
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Investing an inheritance
Yesterday I handled a consumer question about investing an inheritance and published the Q&A after-the-fact. The amount of money being passed to the baby boomer generation is phenomenal and it is a huge impact on many people’s lifetime financial success. One recent study by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics indicated almost 1 in 3 American households…
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10 Tips for handling an Offer in Compromise to the IRS
When a taxpayer has no reasonable hope of paying the full amount of past taxes due or when it makes sense to borrow money from another source to pay taxes, sometimes it makes sense to settle the matter with an Offer in Compromise in order to get rid of the old debt and make a…
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A closer look at the self-employed health insurance tax deduction
The self-employed health insurance deduction seems simple at first glance but can trigger tricky questions when dealing with the details. Unlike other business expenses and itemized deductions, this is a separate deduction taken on the first page of the Form 1040 tax return. Because of its “above the line” status this deduction can be more valuable…
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Now is the time for effective tax planning
Today is June 30, 2014; the year is half over. Now is the time to be effective in planning and implementing changes that will be effective in reducing taxes. Those who wait until the last quarter will – like those in every other year – be told that tax planning strategies are “too little too…
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Tax break for small home based businesses
The AICPA points out that people in modest homes with small home based businesses will benefit from using the brand new Simplified Home Office Deduction allowed by IRS for 2013. The deduction is capped at $1500 ($5 per square foot for a 300 square foot working space). But if you have a bigger, more valuable…
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Whole life insurance revisited
One of the most maddening topics for me as an adviser has been whole life insurance for working class clients. It is clear that whole life insurance is the #1 financial vehicle of choice for the “top 5 percenters” in the wealth scale, often through the corporate entities that they control, but what about the…
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Colleges may stop offering CFP
Wall Street Journal Wealth Adviser brief writes “CFP controversy hits educators. College-level educators expect to see fallout from the CFP Board’s recent troubles over how advisers have been using the “fee-only” label. For one thing, it’s likely to hurt enrollment in CFP exam courses, one professor tells Financial Planning. Some educators are wondering if they…
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Tax planning notes for 2013
Following are unformatted meeting notes from a Presentation by Al Klingan JD, LLM, CLU, ChFC in a meeting 11/8/2012 hosted by First Financial at the Philadelphia Union League. CURRENT LAW FOR 2013 (if no congressional action) All brackets rise CG rise to 20% Dividends 39.6% Deductions phase out Exemptions phaseout Social Security to 6.2% Additional 3.8%…
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Obama and Romney on tax issues
This summary was prepared by CCH and IMO really helps to summarize and highlight the differences in the two party candidates’ ideas on tax issues: Obama on Individual taxes 2013 rates higher for higher-income taxpayers only Unspecified future date: lower rates for middle/lower income brackets Higher capital gains/dividend rate for higher-income taxpayers $3.5 million estate…
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Repeal of estate taxes in 2013?
This excerpt comes from an email from Jeff Reed at KestlerFinancial about the possibility of a capital gain tax replacing the estate tax. My gut reaction is to respond with an argument on the impact of these taxes on social policy but that clearly misses the point of the discussion. He is absolutely correct in…