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 […]
Posts Tagged ‘tax’
Tax Law Special Report Federal Individual Income Tax Filing Season Runs From January 23 Through April 18, 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 […]
TAX LAW SPECIAL REPORT: August, 2016 A Limited Proposal For Savings Accounts That Would Grow Tax-Free Regardless Of The Purpose
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 […]
ESTATE PLANNING LAW REPORT: Adding Your Child To Your House, Car or Bank Account As Joint Owner Is Both Unnecesary And Dangerous
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 […]
TAX LAW SPECIAL REPORT File Your 2015 Individual Federal Income Tax Return Between January 19 & April 18, 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? […]
REAL ESTATE LAW UPDATE: June 2015
How Does the Homestead Exemption Work, and
Should It Allow You to Not Pay Your Homeowners’ Association Assessments?
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 […]
Estate Planning Law Report: MAY 2015
A Sensitive, But Important, Subject
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 […]
TAX LAW SPECIAL REPORT Is A Gift Taxable Income?
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 […]
TAX LAW SPECIAL REPORT: July 2014 Wesley Snipes Released From Prison After Serving 3 Years For Willful Failure To File Tax Returns – An Object Lesson?
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 […]