People try, but “adulting” is hard!  Kids, pets, job, relatives, friends, bills, medical problems, car problems, work problems all in the last day, so when I have time I will start tax planning.  Same as….so when I have time I will start estate planning, it’s just so far down on most peoples’ day to day list of things to do that all the other issues just cycle in some complex order that nobody understands and the last two items never seem to bubble up to the top…UNTIL THEY DO! If you are a business owner, thoughts of tax planning might bubble to the surface a couple times a year, perhaps March 15th and April 15th (or later if you have

Dear Santa, I feel like you put me on the naughty list every year. When I file my tax return you impose taxes on me that I don’t want to pay. It feels like tons of coal are being unfairly put into my very little stockings. I try to be a good person all year, so I’m not sure why you are singling me out and treating me this way. Dear Suzie, You are not on the naughty list. In fact, you’re not on any list at all. You’re not being watched by me or my elves, unless you are doing things you ought not be doing. Every year I actually provide you with lots of presents, the following just

People who are worried about the 10 year rule, requiring beneficiaries of inherited IRAs to withdraw the entire balance within 10 years, can double that time with a CRT beneficiary in front of inheritors. What if you really have a big IRA and the 10 year rule just isn’t enough of a stretch to help your beneficiary stay out of the top tax bracket? Or any other reason you care about reducing the negative tax impact from the 10-year rule? You could use other remaining tax rules to your benefit by setting up a charitable trust. A charitable trust allows the retirement assets to continue growing tax-deferred, even once the assets are distributed from the retirement account into the CRT.

From our family to yours, have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Most people feel like their taxes are a sleeping giant. They tiptoe around them as if staying away from the topic will keep it from waking up. Then at tax time when the giant awakens, they often act as if the final tax refund or bill is a surprise. Many working people try to change their withholding to get their tax outcome “dialed in”, but that joy of having a refund of “XYZ” coming is so often way off from what was expected and they are shocked. That’s because taxes are dealt with one time a year for most and their scenarios that lead to a consistent outcome change. For example, they go from no kids, to having kids. Children