Starting January 1, 2010 there are many tax changes to deal with. Many tax breaks are phased out. The changes below are the current state of the law. It is always possibly for Congress to act to extend or replace disappearing provisions. The House passed a bill that extended many of these provisions, but the… Read More
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, enacted in February 2009, included among its provisions a new education credit, The American Opportunity Tax Credit. As it was originally proposed by President Obama, the Act would have provided a $4,000 credit in exchange for 100 hours of community service. That didn’t make it to the… Read More
The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (the “Act”) became law on December 23, 2008. The Act waives 2009 Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), 401 (k), Profit-Sharing, Money Purchase Pension, 403 (b), and certain 457 retirement plans. The law generally requires taxpayers over age 70 ½ to take a… Read More
When the Roth IRA conversion law was enacted in 1997, taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes over $100,000 could not convert. No more. On January 1, 2010, every IRA owner will qualify for a Roth IRA conversion – there will be no income limitation. When a traditional IRA is converted to a Roth, all before-tax contributions… Read More
Is your retirement plan invested in your employer’s company stock? If so, there is a tax strategy available to you that is often overlooked. Normally, all withdrawals from a retirement plan are taxed as ordinary income, at ordinary income tax rates. However, if you take distribution of your employer’s company stock from your retirement plan… Read More
On March 23, 2009 the IRS announced a new voluntary disclosure program for undeclared foreign accounts. The “amnesty” program is open for six months, closing on September 23, 2009. For qualifying taxpayers who come forward and report their undisclosed foreign bank accounts and pay back taxes for six years plus interest and some penalty, the… Read More
See Greg Herman-Giddens’ post on the North Carolina Estate Planning Blog: Deductibility of Estate Planning Legal Fees which sets forth the general rule that all legal fees for estate planning are not deductible for income tax purposes. They are only deducible to the extent that they represent tax advice (that is fess in connection with… Read More
Here is an Important post about keeping copies of your tax returns from The Wandering Tax Pro : click here
Remember Dabby DeVito and Billy Crystal in Throw Momma from the Train? Danny Devito is a mystery writer who has had it ” up to here” with his overbearing mom. He makes a deal with Billy Crystal. Danny will kill Billy’s ex-wife and in exchange Billy will kill Danny’s mother. When I gave seminars on… Read More
It has been a lousy year for equity mutual fund investors. According to Morningstar, the average U.S. diversified stock fund is down 33% year-to-date. Adding insult to injury, some mutual fund owners are going to have to pay hefty income tax bills on their mutual funds that lost value. Why? Because of year-end capital gain… Read More