Legacy Planning
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Capital Gains Tax On Inherited Property
We got this question from one of our readers: “My wife received about 160 acres when her mother passed away 3 years ago in a trust, which came from her grandfather who left it to her mom in trust. We were told that we will have to pay capital gains tax on what the value of […]
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Why Imputed Interest Matters For 2013 (And Beyond)
Any time a farmer loans money to a corporation that they own (or vice versus), the income tax laws require these loans to bear interest. If the loans do not bear interest, then the law requires the farmer to calculate an “imputed” interest amount based upon the applicable federal rates published by the IRS each […]
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Up to Ten Capital Gains Tax Rates for 2013!
After reviewing the various phase-outs of itemized deductions and personal exemptions based upon gross income plus the implementation of the new 3.8% investment surtax, for 2013 there now at least 10 different possbile maximum long-term capital gains and qualifying dividends tax rates. The rates range from zero for that portion in the 10-15% tax bracket […]
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Help! What Is My Capital Gains Tax Rate?!
We are continuing to digest the new tax bill (assuming President Obama signs it today). One of the unique features in this tax bill is, that for many taxpayers, they will not accurately know their capital gains (or qualified dividends) tax rate until they prepare their tax return. In brief, we know the following for […]
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Some Major Tax “Goodies” in Senate Bill For Farmers!
The Senate in the early morning hours of January 1, 2013 passed a bill to avert the “Fiscal Cliff”. This bill is now headed to the House and it may be passed, not passed or amended and passed back to the Senate for further agreement. Assuming that the Bill is passed as is, there are […]
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One Week to Go Checklist
Since there is about one week to go in the year, we thought we would present a quick checklist for accounting and tax related items: Make sure that all checks for 2012 expenses are written and mailed by December 31 Make sure that any gifts made at year-end are deposited into the donee’s account before […]
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Annual Exclusion Update
I was talking with a reader from North Carolina today about our post from yesterday. He was not sure if the annual exclusion amount was or was not included in the lifetime. So, I have decided to do one more update on this subject. The first $13,000 ($14,000) of gifts that you give to everyone […]
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Annual Exclusion Does Not Eat Into Lifetime Exclusion.
We had a reader ask the following question: “Am I correct in that this accumulation of gifts during lifetime does not include those under the Annual Gift Tax Exclusion ($13,000)?” It seems like most of my posts lately deal with estate and gift taxes, but this is a very important subject and with the end […]
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What Does Unified Credit Mean?
We have gotten a few questions lately on how the lifetime gift and estate tax exclusion are tied together. In brief, transfers made during your lifetime are called gifts and reported on a gift tax return while transfers made at death are also a “gift”, but reported on an estate tax return. The gifts made during […]
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Another Nice Feature of a Living Trust
We have gotten some feedback on my previous post about revocable living trusts. One of the features of a living trust versus a will is that the trust can be set up to provide for “guardianship” of your affairs during your lifetime should you suddenly become disabled, etc. You can create other forms of documents that […]