Many investors and financial advisors treat the notion of tax loss harvesting as an event
that should be done once a year in December, like the payment of taxes in April (or
October) or the administration of a required minimum distribution from an IRA.
In closely held businesses owned and operated by multiple individuals, buy-sell agreements are a common way to address a variety of business succession issues. Usually contained within the governing instruments of the business (e.g., the Operating Agreement of an LLC), they allow the owners to express their goals with respect to future transfer of business interests institutionally.
A policy research strategist we revere often refers to different parts of legislation as “candy” and “spinach.” Candy and spinach refer to tax cuts and revenue raisers, respectively. The idea is that legislators (like children) have to eat their spinach before they can have any candy.
For those fortunate souls who have not succumbed to the Siren’s call that is the game of golf, a Mulligan is basically a free “do-over.” The term “mulligan” represents an opportunity to have a second chance to do what you wish you had done from the start. In the world of federal income taxes, there are not many chances at a mulligan. There are even fewer chances at a mulligan for wealthy families.
On a yearly basis the IRS adjusts more than 40 tax provisions for inflation. This is done to prevent what is called “bracket creep,” when people are pushed into higher income tax brackets or have reduced value from credits and deductions due to inflation, instead of any increase in real income.
As has been noted in earlier installments of this series, the current estate and gift tax exemption of $12.06mm is at a historically high level and is set to sunset at the end of 2025. This combination of facts means that many high-net-worth individuals are trying to find ways to take advantage of the exemption now before it’s gone. But not everyone has the ability to part with $12mm of investment assets right now!
We are asked frequently by our clients whether they should contribute to a Roth or a traditional IRA (or if they should consider converting traditional IRA assets to a Roth. And while there are myriad variables to consider, one of the more succinct responses we’ve encountered is the rhetorical question: would you rather be taxed on the seed or the harvest?
Benjamin Franklin’s famous observation “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” is an often-quoted opening remark when discussing the estate tax, so please forgive the quip. And yet, while death and taxes remain certain, the nature of the tax associated with death is less so. The federal estate and gift tax regime (often referred to jointly as the transfer tax regime) is a political football that gets tossed around with predictable regularity. While our clients carefully prepare for the future, changing winds in Washington can and often do result in uncertainty.
Our clients ask us a lot about how they can be tax efficient. That can mean a lot of different things, of course, because there are many forms of taxes. They could be thinking about property taxes, sales taxes, income and capital gains taxes, or wealth transfer taxes (taxes on wealth that is transferred from one person to another). And within these types of taxes, there are also levels of tax – local, state, and federal taxes to boot!
About six weeks ago, we wrote a summary about some of the key personal tax elements to proposed tax law changes introduced by the US House Ways and Means Committee on September 13, 2021. Much has changed since then, and the purpose of this writing is to provide a further update based on the latest Congressional revisions to that proposal.
