April 1, 2024
DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, P.C. announced that attorney James M. Susa has been named to the Best Lawyers® 2024 Tax Law “Lawyer of the Year” for Tucson. James M. Susa, a Shareholder in the Tucson office of DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, P.C., was also named to the 2024 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Jim represents clients in state and local […]
January 27, 2020
I have addressed in previous reports the tax consequences of gifts and inheritances, but the subject is worth revisiting because I get asked about it frequently. There is a common misconception that inheritances are automatically taxable. Although the reasoning behind that misconception is usually not clearly articulated, or is unexpressed, I think it originates with […]
January 28, 2017
The IRS announced in its first news release of the year that it will begin accepting 2016 individual income tax returns via electronic filing, and will start processing paper returns, on January 23, 2017. The same announcement says that the deadline for filing 2016 returns is April 18, 2017. Yes, the filing deadline is April […]
August 22, 2016
Last year in this space I asked the question: should the income earned on savings be exempt from income tax regardless of the purpose of the savings? Under the federal tax code, there are three common types of savings accounts in which the earnings are given at least some exemption from income tax: retirement accounts […]
April 28, 2016
For as long as I have been advising clients on estate planning and estate administration, I have seen elderly people who have made one or more of their children a joint owner on their house, their car, their bank account, or all three. The reason for doing it is almost always that the parent wants […]
January 14, 2016
The IRS announced last month that it will begin accepting 2015 individual income tax returns via electronic filing, and will start processing paper returns, on January 19, 2016. The same announcement says that the deadline for filing 2015 returns is April 18, 2016. Yes, the filing deadline this year is April 18, not April 15. Why? […]
June 23, 2015
Most homeowners have probably at least heard of the homestead exemption. Many probably don’t fully understand how it works, however. The homestead exemption protects up to $150,000 of equity in your home from the claims of creditors (with some important exceptions that I will discuss in a moment). What do I mean when I say that […]
May 28, 2015
I have in the past touched on the subject of burial instructions, but probably not in as much detail as I should have. Maybe that’s because it’s a sensitive subject. There isn’t as much law on the subject as you might expect. There is an Arizona statute that says a legally competent adult may prepare […]
December 20, 2014
December seemed like a good time to talk about gifts, for some reason. It’s a popular subject all the time, but particularly this time of year. A misconception that I encounter frequently is the notion that when assets are distributed from an estate, the recipient has to pay tax on the distribution. Although the rationale […]
July 25, 2014
I wrote in May, 2009, about the travails of the actor Wesley Snipes resulting from his criminal conviction for three counts of willful failure to file income tax returns. I mentioned in April, 2012, that he was still in prison for claiming that he didn’t have to file income tax returns. More recently, I was […]