Ideas & Insight

As you plan your estate, don’t overlook the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax. Despite a generous $5.49 million GST tax exemption, complexities surrounding its allocation can create several tax traps for the unwary. Beware the Generation-skipping transfer tax when transferring assets. GST basics The GST tax is a flat, 40% tax on transfers to “skip persons,” […]

The IRA’s value as a retirement planning tool is well known: IRA assets compound on a tax-deferred (or, in the case of a Roth IRA, tax-free) basis, which can help build a more substantial nest egg. But if you don’t need an IRA to fund your retirement, you can use it as an estate planning […]

A primary goal of estate planning is asset protection. After all, no matter how well your estate plan is designed, it won’t do much good if you wind up with no wealth to share with your family.  Are your retirement savings safe from creditors? If you have significant assets in employer-sponsored retirement plans or IRAs, […]

Holding joint title on property with one or more children or other heirs is a common estate planning “shortcut.” But like many shortcuts, it can produce unintended — and costly — consequences.  Know what to expect before owning assets with children or other heirs. Advantages There are two potential advantages to joint ownership: convenience and probate avoidance. […]

“Sorry, we don’t carry that item.” Or perhaps, “No, that’s not part of our service package.”  How many times a year do your employees utter these words or ones like them? Lost sales are lost opportunities. The specific number is critical because, if you don’t know it, you could be losing out on profit potential. Although […]

What could stop your company from operating for a day, a month or a year? A flood or fire? Perhaps a key supplier shuts down temporarily or permanently. Or maybe a hacker or technical problem crashes your website or you suddenly lose power. Whatever the potential cause might be, every business needs a disaster recovery […]

Does your business have too much cash? From the time a business opens its doors, the owner is told “cash is king.” It may seem to follow that having a very large amount of cash could never be a bad thing. But, the truth is, a company that’s hoarding excessive cash may be doing itself […]

The IRS warns that tax professionals are increasingly the targets of phishing scams. Increase cyber security and beware of email that appears to be from friends, customers or companies. In conjunction with their Security Summit, the IRS has launched a campaign entitled, “Don’t Take the Bait” as part of their Protect Your Clients, Protect Yourself series. […]

The tax consequences of the sale of an investment, as well as your net return, can be affected by a variety of factors. You’re probably focused on factors such as how much you paid for the investment vs. how much you’re selling it for, whether you held the investment long-term (more than one year) and […]

Last month, the IRS issued a Revenue Procedure that simplifies the Portability election extension. This allows certain estates to make a late portability election without first filing a ruling request. Portability is a tax law provision that permits a surviving spouse to take advantage of the deceased spouse’s unused combined gift and estate tax exemption […]