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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

Many people have the intention of doing a better job of “tax planning” in order to start having more favorable outcomes, but busy lives and life interruptions can leave them little time.  If this is you, you’re not alone.  Time flies even in normal times, but with the current stressful environment, everyone is scrambling even more, so you look at the calendar and think, “I can go see my accountant or financial advisor, or I can get my shopping done”, and the next thing you know it, it’s Thanksgiving and the end of the year is upon us. Most advanced tax planning requires communication about concepts, takes reams of paperwork and time to submit to custodians, so it would be