Practical perspectives for contemporary legal challenges.
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE Act”) established a new in-service distribution known as a qualified birth or adoption distribution (“QBOAD”). Generally, a QBOAD is any distribution of up to $5,000 from an “eligible retirement plan” (other than a defined benefit plan), made to an individual during the one-year …
Continue reading “IRS Guidance on Retirement Plan Qualified Birth or Adoption Distributions”
So you have gone through all of the work to get your estate planning documents finalized, you have had your signing meeting with your attorney, and now it is time to celebrate that you are done, right? In most cases, the answer is not quite yet. There are few items that are often overlooked that are …
Continue reading “Practical Estate Planning Tips That Are Often Overlooked”
Many wealthy individuals are asking that question out of fear that the historically high estate/gift tax exemption of $11,580,000 ($23,160,000 for a married couple), indexed annually for inflation, could be significantly decreased prior to its scheduled “sun-setting” on December 31, 2025 to $5,490,000 (indexed for inflation) if the Democratic party sweeps Congress and the White …
The IRS this week issued Information Release 2020-187 to remind IRA owners and beneficiaries, as well as participants in workplace retirement arrangements, that they have until August 31 to return required minimum distributions (“RMDs”)received earlier this year and, thereby, avoid paying income tax on the distribution in 2020. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security …
The IRS recently granted additional relief for retirement account owners due to Covid-19. Generally, when a person attains age 72 (previously age 70 ½) that person is required to begin taking required minimum distributions (“RMDs”) from their retirement account each year based on their life expectancy. Individuals with inherited IRAs are required to take annual …
The CARES Act made a number of well publicized revisions to the tax code, including as to the payment of employee wages and the deduction of interest and net operating losses. Perhaps lesser known are the revisions in the CARES Act relating to charitable giving. For non-itemizers, there is a new $300 “above the line” …
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Recognizing the increased burdens that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on hospitals, the IRS has relaxed its deadline for meeting the Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) requirements per Internal Revenue Code Section 501(r)(3). See Notice 2020-56. To maintain their tax-exempt status, non-profit entities that operate hospitals must meet additional requirements, one of which relates to …
In general, a participant must make a deferral election to a non-qualified deferred compensation plan before the beginning of the plan year and the election must remain in effect for the entire plan year. Participants made their deferral elections by December 31, 2019 to calendar year plans, before anyone knew how impactful the COVID-19 virus …
The SECURE ACT (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act) was included as part of the massive December 2019 appropriations bill. The inclusion of the Act was a stealthy surprise, since most thought that it had been taken off the table earlier that year. For the most part, the new rules are effective for …
No good deed goes unpunished. Aimed at providing a financial lifeline during the “stay home” world of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government flung the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) to the “small business” community. The PPP was one of several programs in the $2 Trillion CARES Act stimulus bill. President Donald J. Trump quickly signed …
Continue reading “Down With PPPs? The Continuing Saga of the Payment Protection Program”