I have recently had two separate employers tell me that they wanted to stop making safe harbor matching contributions to participants in their 401(k) retirement plans in the middle of a plan year. The employers had very different reasons for wanting to eliminate their safe harbor match mid-year, but they had identical stories about what …
Tax Tip: Generation-Skipping Transfer Trusts
Generation-Skipping Transfer (GST) trusts have long been a popular estate tax planning tool used to defer transfer tax to a future generation. While the estate tax exemption is at a historical high, the GST tax exempt status of existing trusts is still important when planning for a family’s overall tax situation. Trusts established by a …
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IRS Issues New Form For Reporting Non-Deductible Fines and Penalties
Internal Revenue Code Section 162, as amended by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), provides that no deduction is allowed for any amount paid to, or at the direction of, a governmental entity in relation to the violation of any law. A corresponding obligation to report the receipt or imposition of such “fines …
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2018 Gift Tax Returns
If you made gifts in 2018 now is the time to begin thinking about filing a gift tax return. If you made gifts in 2018 in excess of the gift tax annual exclusion amount ($15,000 per donee in 2018, or $30,000 if a husband and wife elect to split gifts and a gift tax return …
New IRA Technical Advice Memorandum Suggests There May Not Always Be Such a Things as a Free Lunch for Employees
For many years, the IRS has looked the other way when employers have provided their employees with free meals. A new Technical Advice Memorandum (“TAM”) suggests otherwise, in ultimately holding that employer-provided meals were not excludible from income except in limited situations. In 2014, the Department of Treasury released its priority guidance plan, which raised the …
Estate and Trust Planning Opportunity – The 65 Day Rule
It is not is too late to plan for 2018. Under Section 663(b) of the Code, the “65 Day Rule” provides an opportunity for estates and certain trusts to elect to treat distributions made within 65 days of year-end as if made on the last day of the prior tax year and thus to carry-out …
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New and Valuable Ways to Reduce Capital Gains Tax
If property is held by someone at their death, the “basis” in the property used by the seller to determine taxable gain on its sale is re-set to the fair market value at the date of death. Income and capital gain tax rates have increased over the last 10 years, and during that time the …
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Why Do Any Estate Planning?
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act raised the amount that can be sheltered from federal estate tax in 2019 to $11.4 million for an individual and double that amount, or $22.8 million, for a married couple. Why undertake any estate planning in this relatively tax-free environment? Here are some compelling reasons: After 2025, the …
Determining Eligibility for the Employer Credit for Paid Family and Medical Leave
Section 45S of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), added to the Code by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, establishes a general business credit for an employer who provides paid family and medical leave to qualifying employees. The credit would partially offset the cost of the paid leave, however, it is available only …
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“Non-Performing Artists” Wait on IRS Final Regulations Under Section 199A
In early August, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued proposed regulations under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that provide guidance to owners of pass-through businesses as to eligibility for a federal tax deduction of 20% of the income generated by the businesses under new Section 199A of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). Although …
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