President Biden has just signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The IRA includes significant provisions related to climate change, health care, and, of course, taxes. The IRA also addresses the federal budget deficit. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the IRA is projected to reduce the deficit by around $90 billion over […]
Defined-benefit retirement plans, commonly referred to as pensions, aren’t as popular as they used to be — and for good reason. Many such plans are underfunded and in danger of failure. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), a federal agency, recently published a final rule that sets forth requirements for special financial assistance applications, as […]
The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act (CHIPS Act) was recently passed by Congress as part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. President Biden is expected to sign it into law shortly. Among other things, the $52 billion package provides generous tax incentives to increase domestic production of semiconductors, also […]
Many people wonder how they can save taxes by transferring assets into their children’s names. This tax strategy is called income shifting. It seeks to take income out of your higher tax bracket and place it in the lower tax brackets of your children. While some tax savings are available through this approach, the “kiddie […]
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) significantly boosted the potential value of bonus depreciation for taxpayers — but only for a limited duration. The amount of first-year depreciation available as a so-called bonus will begin to drop from 100% after 2022, and businesses should plan accordingly. Bonus depreciation in a nutshell Bonus depreciation has […]
Portability allows a surviving spouse to apply a deceased spouse’s unused federal gift and estate tax exemption amount toward his or her own transfers during life or at death. To secure these benefits, however, the deceased spouse’s executor must have made a portability election on a timely filed estate tax return (Form 706). The return […]
Here’s a not-so-fun fact: The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax is among the harshest and most complex in the tax code. So, if you’re planning to share some of your wealth with your grandchildren or great grandchildren — or if your estate plan is likely to benefit these generations — it’s critical to consider and plan […]
Under IRS regulations regarding electronic consents and elections, if a signature must be witnessed by a retirement plan representative or notary public, it must be witnessed “in the physical presence” of the representative or notary — unless guidance has provided an alternative procedure. Recently, in Notice 2022-27, the IRS extended, through the end of 2022, […]
by Nicholas Sanchez and Qiva Dinuri | Companies have witnessed the potential benefits of remote work, such as decreased costs associated with real estate. As a result, although governmental restrictions have largely been lifted, companies must consider whether to allow a mobile workforce to continue indefinitely. Part and parcel of such a policy determination is […]
The downturn in the stock market may have caused the value of your retirement account to decrease. But if you have a traditional IRA, this decline may provide a valuable opportunity: It may allow you to convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA at a lower tax cost. Traditional vs. Roth Here’s what makes […]
For many business owners, estate planning and succession planning go hand in hand. As the owner of a closely held business, you likely have a significant portion of your wealth tied up in the business. If you don’t take the proper estate planning steps to ensure that the business lives on after you’re gone, you […]
Under a leave-sharing program, employees can elect to forgo vacation, sick or personal leave in exchange for cash payments made by their employers to qualifying charitable organizations. These arrangements have been around for a while, but they’ve gotten more attention in recent years as some employers have launched leave-sharing programs to aid those adversely affected […]