Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 put a cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Beginning with your 2018 tax return, if you itemize deductions, you can count no more than $10,000 a year of SALT deductions for income and property tax on a single or joint tax return (you can choose to include sales tax instead of income tax). SALT deductions (other than those for state and local income taxes) are not limited if they relate to income from a trade or…
Save Heirs From An Unhappy Ending The article, “More give in the gift tax,” mentions that the federal estate tax exemption now exceeds $11 million per person. Accordingly, few individuals or married couples will owe this tax. Nevertheless, there is more to successful wealth transfer than reducing or eliminating estate tax. Ideally, you’ll want your assets to pass to the desired recipients with a minimum of turmoil and expense. To start, you should have a will prepared by an experienced attorney. Your will should not…
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 increased the federal estate tax exemption to $11.18 million for 2018. That’s per person, so the combined exemption for a married couple can be as much as $22,360,000 worth of assets this year. The same ceilings apply to the federal gift tax, which offsets the estate tax. Example 1: Mona McAfee plans to give $20,000 to her son Luke this year. Does that mean that Mona’s estate tax exemption would be reduced to $11,160,000? Probably not. In…
During the summer, it may be true that “the living is easy,” as the old song goes. The midyear season, though, is often not so easy at small businesses because many employees are taking vacations. Total work hours often shrink and so may company productivity. Spreading vacation time over the rest of the year might not be practical, especially if many of your workers have school-age children and desire family vacations during summer break. You may prefer to squeeze most vacations into the summer so…
We have seen an increase in market volatility in early 2018. A steep pullback in stocks could be good news for working people who are building retirement funds, but those approaching or recently beginning retirement might be hurt. Historically, stock market setbacks have proven to be buying opportunities for patient investors. Example 1: Harry Walker was 50 years old in 2008, with most of his retirement savings invested in stock funds within his 401(k) account. Then, Harry’s holdings dropped heavily. Harry stayed the course and…