One of the most attractive features of the Roth - the ability to avoid Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs") - is under attack by the Obama White House. Under the clever euphemism of "harmonizing Roth RMD rules with other retirement accounts" President Obama's fiscal 2015 budget calls for a provision that would require Roth IRAs to [...]
The Orator in Chief wants to play a shell game with American taxpayers. He's about to pull a bait and switch that would be the envy of even the most unscrupulous salesman. Barely three months removed from the fiscal cliff deal that made "permanent" the inflation-adjusted $5 million exemption and set the top rate at 40% [...]
The Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") has released a new draft version of Form 706 - the form used to prepare and file the Estate and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return. For the first time the draft includes a check box enabling an executor to opt out of the portability election for the unused portion of a deceased spouse's estate and [...]
What? Is that possible? Could there truly be a good place to die? When did dying become a good thing? It isn't. But from a tax perspective there are places where it's "less bad" to die. Why's that? Because of state-imposed estate and inheritance taxes. Much has been made of the $5,000,000 Federal estate tax [...]
What's more American than baseball, July 4th or apple pie? . . . . . it's the prenuptial agreement! You know what we're talking about. The "prenup" as it's come to be affectionately known is that device used by many a terrible movie, TV show and book to manufacture conflict. Well, maybe. More accurately the [...]
A Senate panel's recently adopted budget resolution would reinstate the federal estate tax at 2009 levels for two years. The resolution is non-binding. The House has not yet approved a budget resolution. However, it previously passed HR 4154 ("Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers and Small Businesses Act of 2009") that repeals provisions of [...]