Are you divorced or in the process of divorcing? If so, it’s critical to understand how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has changed the tax treatment of alimony. Unfortunately, for many couples, the news isn’t good – the tax cost of divorce has risen. WHAT’S CHANGED Under previous rules, a taxpayer who paid [...]
Traditional and Roth IRAs can be relatively “safe” retirement-savings vehicles, depending on what they’re invested in. But a drawback is that they limit your investment choices. A self-directed IRA gives you more flexibility in your investment choices but comes with greater risk as well. GAINING MORE CONTROL A self-directed IRA is simply an IRA that [...]
When the TCJA was passed, the big estate planning news was that the federal gift and estate tax exclusion doubled from $5 million to an inflation-indexed $10 million. It was further indexed for inflation to $11.18 million for 2018 and now $11.4 million for 2019. Somewhat lost in the clamor, however, was (and is) the [...]
A long-term care insurance policy supplements your traditional health insurance by covering services that assist you or a loved one with one or more activities of daily living. Such activities include eating, bathing, dressing, toileting and transferring (in and out of bed, for example). Long-term care coverage is relatively expensive, but it may be possible [...]
If your estate plan includes one or more trusts, review them before you file your tax return. Or, if you’ve already file it, look carefully at how your trusts were affected. Income taxes often take an unexpected bite out of these asset-protection vehicles. 3 WAYS TO SOFTEN THE BLOW For trusts, there are income thresholds [...]
As the 2018 tax-filing season heats up, investors have much to consider. Whether you structured your portfolio to emphasize income over growth – or vice versa, or perhaps a balance of the two – will have a substantial impact on your tax liability. Let’s take a look at a couple of the most significant “big [...]
