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.

Have you worked toward losing weight in the past because you want to look more attractive, or fit into an expensive wardrobe you already own? When you lose weight you often also lower your blood pressure and/or cholesterol as a bonus. It might not be the primary motivation, but the extra benefit is of course welcome! If you are a business owner, then we pose this question. Some time ago you had an idea. Over the years your turned that idea into a successful and profitable business. Have you properly protected what you worked so hard to build? An unexpected turn of events could put your biggest asset at risk. Did you know that moving business earnings into a qualified plan

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 easy

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

Sometimes “tax planning” can be easy: “Open an IRA and it reduces your taxable income.” Other times it can be quite complex: “Cost segregation” on a building means hiring an engineering firm and having a structure broken down into its many components on paper, with each value separately listed; the frame, wiring, heating systems, etc., and taking write-offs, generally much faster than simply taking a standard approach. These are both ways to lower federal or state taxes.   For the people who have made large amounts of money or have larger estates, the year to year tax bill is not as much of a concern as the “Death Tax Bill.” Planning for them can be simple or complex as well,