How to Choose a Guardian for Your Child

If you have minor children, arguably the most important estate planning decision you need to make is choosing a guardian for them should the unthinkable occur. If you haven’t yet made this decision, formalize your choice as soon as possible.  When it comes to choosing the best candidate for a guardian for your child, you probably already have a short list consisting of members of your immediate family. This is an excellent start, but don’t forget about extended family members and trusted friends. Things to consider when choosing a guardian for your child There are many issues you’ll need to consider in making your decision. Perhaps the most important issue is whether you and your guardian choice share similar values, such as parenting philosophy, religious and moral beliefs,...

What is Your Taxpayer Filing Status?

For tax purposes, December 31 means more than New Year’s Eve celebrations. It affects your taxpayer filing status . . . the filing status box that will be checked on your tax return for the year. When you file your return, you do so with one of five filing statuses, which depend in part on whether you’re married or unmarried on December 31. More than one filing status may apply, and you can use the one that saves the most tax. It’s also possible that your status options could change during the year. Here are the filing statuses and who can claim them: Single. This status is generally used if you’re unmarried, divorced or legally separated under a divorce or separate maintenance decree governed by state law. ...

Your Online Match May be a Fraudster

According to various estimates, approximately 25% to 30% of online dating accounts involve scammers. Therefore, if you maintain a dating platform account, you need to know that a significant portion of accounts — including possible “matches” that contact you — belong to fraud perpetrators.  Yes, your online match may be a fraudster.  Here’s something else you should know: The dating app provider may be using these bad actors to pad its own bottom line. Love connection? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says that Match Group, Inc., the owner of Match.com and other dating sites, did just that. In a lawsuit filed by the FTC, the company is accused of allowing millions of its members to receive “You caught his eye” notices from accounts it knew were likely...

Flexibility is Key in an Unpredictable Estate Planning Environment

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made only one change to the federal gift and estate tax regime, but it was a big one. It more than doubled the combined gift and estate tax exemption, as well as the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption. This change is only temporary, however. Unless Congress takes further action, the exemptions will return to their inflation-adjusted 2017 levels starting in 2026.  What does this mean for your estate plan? If your estate is well within the 2019 exemption amount of $11.40 million ($11.58 million for 2020), the higher exemption won’t have a big impact on your estate planning strategies. But if your estate is in the $6 million to $11 million range, it’s important to build some flexibility into...

Tax Implications of Environmental Cleanup

If your company faces the need to “remediate” or clean up environmental contamination, the money you spend can be deductible on your tax return as ordinary and necessary business expenses. There are however "timing difference" types of tax implications of environmental cleanup. You want to claim the maximum immediate income tax benefits possible for the expenses you incur but that may not always be possible. These expenses may include the actual cleanup costs, as well as expenses for environmental studies, surveys and investigations, fees for consulting and environmental engineering, legal and professional fees, environmental “audit” and monitoring costs, and other expenses. Current deductions vs. capitalized costs Unfortunately, every type of environmental cleanup expense cannot be currently deducted. Some cleanup costs must be capitalized. But, generally, cleanup costs are...

Beneficiary Defective Inheritors Trusts

By temporarily doubling the gift and estate tax exemption, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) opened a window of opportunity for affluent families to transfer assets tax-free. To take advantage of the higher exemption amount, many families that own businesses or other assets worth more than the pre-TCJA exemption amount are planning substantial gifts to their children before 2026.  Traditionally, parents use trust-based gifting strategies to transfer assets to their children. Even though these strategies offer significant tax-planning benefits, they also have a major drawback: They require you to relinquish much of your control over the assets, including the right to direct the ultimate disposition of the trust assets. One strategy for avoiding this drawback is to use beneficiary defective inheritors trusts (BDIT). It’s better to...

Creepers are a Threat to Your Business

If you devote all your business’s security resources to fending off hackers and other cybercriminals, you may be unlocking the door, literally, to more basic types of theft. “Creepers” are criminals who gain access to offices or other physical facilities via unlocked doors and social engineering tactics. Once in, they steal proprietary information, inventory, computers and personal property, or gather information that makes it easier to hack your network.  As such, creepers are a threat to your business. Creepers in action A major energy company’s Houston office was infiltrated by a creeper who’s believed to have stolen sensitive information, possibly to sell to a rival company or foreign government. Surveillance footage released by the FBI shows a man walking through an unlocked door in the middle of...

Using an ABLE Account to Save for a Disabled Family Member

There’s a tax-advantaged way for people to save for the needs of family members with disabilities — without having them lose eligibility for government benefits to which they’re entitled. It can be done using an ABLE account to save.  An Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account, which is a tax-free account that can be used for disability-related expenses. Eligibility ABLE accounts can be created by eligible individuals to support themselves, by family members to support their dependents, or by guardians for the benefit of the individuals for whom they’re responsible. Eligible individuals must be blind or disabled — and must have become so before turning age 26. They also must be entitled to benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs....