Taxes

Anthony Charles Dwight Box was at what I consider the end of the line in tax litigation – appealing his sentence from prison – when he heard from the Eleventh Circuit last month.  It was not good news.  The Circuit Court approved the 36 month sentence handed down by Judge Federico Moreno of the Southern District

Will IRS give you a straight—and binding—answer in advance? Yes, if you get an IRS private letter ruling. It involves costs and delays, and there are risks of asking and not getting it. A common choice is between getting a tax opinion or an IRS ruling, but how do you decide which way to go? The dynamics are

Over half of businesses in the United States have increased their commitment to renewable energy in response to reports warning of a worsening climate crisis . A study led by Deloitte has shed light on how businesses and consumers are reacting to climate change and the steps they have taken to reduce their carbon emissions.

529s can help you save for college costs, but sometimes the limitations can offset the tax benefits. photo credit: Getty Getty 529 plans offer a useful and tax-efficient way to save for your kids’ education. Still, they aren’t for everyone. Limited options can offset some of the potential tax benefits. Plus options for using them beyond college costs

Credit: Getty Royalty Free Getty Selling an insurance policy you no longer need can be a good way to raise cash. Usually, this happens if a policyholder’s spouse has died, the holder can’t afford to pay the premiums or has a terminal illness. With these so-called life settlements, investors buy your policy at a discount

Does the risk of a law change make it unwise to wait until 70? Wait as late as you can to take Social Security. You’ll get more in the long run. Unless Congress double-crosses you. Open in Google Sheets Forbes Late claiming has been the standard advice coming from financial planners and from commentators like

Interest rate cuts have an unequal impact on Americans. Getty For the first time since 2008, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates. They made this move Wednesday preemptively attempting to continue the U.S.’s record-long economic growth and to protect it from slowing growth overseas. The quarter-point decrease was expected, although whether it was even

Section 1031 is one of the few sections of the tax code everyone seems to know. It is even routinely used as a verb. Under 1031, if you exchange real estate for ‘like-kind’ real estate, gain is postponed until you sell your replacement property. Starting in 2018, swaps of Bitcoin for Ethereum, exchanges of private aircraft,

Things did not go well for Christopher Dufresne, son of famous psychic Sylvia Browne and himself a psychic,  in the Tax Court decision that came out last week.  Judge Kerrigan confirmed the IRS notices of deficiencies of over $500,000 and accuracy penalties that tack on another hundred thousand plus. You would have thought that he

Social Security may be one of your largest assets. What and when you collect will make a huge difference to your lifetime benefits. Today’s column addresses restricted applications, when the deeming provision is applied, the availability of divorced spousal benefits, unexpected payments from SSA and the earnings test. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics

Many LGBTQ people struggle with money, same-sex parents are hit especially hard. Getty Seven in ten LGBTQ Americans say they are behind on saving for retirement. This statistic blows my mind as my recent post that talked about how married Gay Men and Lesbians made more on average than our straight counterparts.  All the same, I’m not

Woodbridge, New Jersey – April 26, 2015: A replica of the Back to the Future DeLorean is shown at a local car show Getty My daughter asked for a pair of throwback Nike sneakers this week to match her ringer tees and scrunchies. Not to be outdone, my son wants a DeLorean. It feels like

Shoppers at an outlet mall exit an Adidas store on May 21, 2019 in Los Angeles. Photo credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images The economic benefits of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) seem to have petered out.     The US economy grew robustly in late 2017, perhaps partly due to expectations for

Recently, in Revenue Procedure 2019-32, the IRS provided a six-month extension for certain partnerships to file a superseding Form 1065 (its partnership return) and corresponding Schedules K-1 to each of its partners.  The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the “BBA”) drastically changed the way that partnerships are audited, including partnership-level assessments; smaller partnerships, however, can

College fund. Piggy bank with coins. Money for education. Getty 529 plans and custodial accounts are two of the most common ways to save for college, but they have distinctly different benefits for families. Understanding the differences between the two savings methods is essential to choosing the right one for you and your children, so

Government regulators believe that many financial advisors give bad advice about IRAs because the advisors have inherent conflicts. There has resulted in a stream of rules and regulations. The main concern of regulators is what happens to an individual’s 401(k) account after leaving a job. The regulators concluded that too many advisors recommended that the

Credit: Getty Royalty Free Getty Are you a small business owner, a contractor or a freelancer—and in a high tax bracket? Well, why stay there? You can use retirement planning to lower your tax liability. The idea is to plug in a lot of money to retirement funds, allowing you to build your post-work future

Trump’s trade wars are hurting the economy. Getty “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Sun Tzu ‘The Art of War (Sunzi Bingfa)’ Sun Tzu Harvard Business Review Last year I wrote several pieces about the potentially negative effect of Trump’s trade wars on companies,

It’s not enough to pick the right funds; you must also consider the type of account the asset will be located in. Getty All else equal, we all want to pay as little tax as legally possible. For do-it-yourself investors, one of the biggest challenges is choosing which funds to invest in. Unfortunately, fund selection is

Samuel and Louise Edelman are challenging the voracious state of New York in the US Supreme Court.  The top rate of 8.82% is among the highest in the nation (and then there can be a city tax on top of it), but it is the reach that the Edelmans are complaining about not the rate.