Category Taxes
Tax Brackets, Limits, and Phaseouts
[Just a heads-up — this is mostly a placeholder for now — we are going to add more detail, including historic numbers so trends and changes are more clear. And there are some changes which won’t make sense without more context, such as when the standard deduction increased enormously due to the 2017 TCJA, but […]
UGMA, UTMA and 529 Plans (vintage post from 2009!)
The following post first appeared on Meyers Wealth Management’s pre-blog “News and Notes” section of our old website — back in October 2009. It is reproduced here all these years later, as still pretty accurate and relevant: A question often comes up amongst folks of a certain age regarding UGMA/UTMA accounts. Namely, since many of […]
Roth == Time-Based Tax Arbitrage
“Arbitrage” is what we call it when one takes advantage of a difference in prices between two markets. Traditionally, it means buying a security in one market at a low price while simultaneously selling that same security in another market at a higher price — and pocketing the difference, taking advantage of that mismatch in […]
(Coronavirus) CARES Act and RMDs
A quick note about annual Required Minimum Distributions from IRAs and 401ks and other retirement accounts — The CARES act, which passed last week and was signed into law on Friday has made a lot of headlines, especially for the “stimulus checks” — the $1200/person which is simply being sent to most Americans. (It phases […]
Beware of Erroneous Tax Refunds!
The IRS has issued some warnings recently about a new scam which seems especially on the rise with more tax professionals having more client data online than ever before. The scammers file a fraudulent tax return – but include the taxpayers’ real bank account information (or if they don’t file for electronic deposit of their […]
Kiddie Tax and the 2017 Tax Reform
What’s the Kiddie Tax? Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, a new “Kiddie Tax” was introduced in order to close a loophole through which wealthy folks were getting investment income taxed at lower rates by transferring assets to their children. Under the ’86 rule, unearned income (mainly investment income like stock dividends, interest, and […]
Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
The Child and Dependent Care Credit helps working families offset some of the cost of childcare.
Doubling Your Tax Break: Giving Appreciated Assets to PTA and PIE
[Note – this was written with Palo Alto CA public schools in mind, and specifically a pair of charitable organizations which help support those schools. It applies just the same to any 501c3 charitable organizations, including similar organizations associated with other school systems as well as other types of charities altogether.] It’s annual appeal time […]
Required Minimum Distributions – What You Need To Know
Many types of retirement accounts offer enormous tax advantages. For example, if you make contributions to an IRA or 401k, you may be able to deduct those contributions (i.e., not pay income taxes on the income you use to fund those accounts) now — and, instead, let the money grow — with no taxes due […]
Free Money! Which, sadly, only 25% of those eligible are taking…
Now that I have your attention, let’s try that again. Free Money! What we’re talking about here is the “Retirement Savings Contributions Credit”. It was first created as part of the 2001 tax cut package called the “Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001” and was made permanent as part of the 2006 […]
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