Financial Planning

Many considered Dec. 31, 2013, the final date for year-end tax planning, but there are numerous planning actions that you can take in 2014 retroactive to 2013. Here’s a quick and easy guide to help you with your planning.

The Internal Revenue Service has released draft instructions for Form 8960, the Net Investment Income Tax that was mandated as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Many years ago my boss, Bernard D. Kleinman, had a client that was a creative genius in the advertising industry, and was being courted by many other firms. He liked his job, position and respect and had no desire or thoughts of leaving. But, as a gentleman, he listened to whoever approached him.

Lyle Benson, founder of L.K. Benson & Co. and chairman of the AICPA's PFP Section, discusses how some of the tax changes in the past year could affect a client's financial planning this year, in an interview with Accounting Today editor-in-chief Daniel Hood.

Capital markets executives at leading investment banks are projecting continued growth in initial public offerings on U.S. exchanges in 2014, according to a new survey by accounting and consulting firm BDO USA that projects $66 billion in IPO proceeds on U.S. exchanges this year.

Congress dangled an incentive for high-income Americans to convert their tax-deferred individual retirement accounts into post-tax plans. Their response was overwhelming.

Democrats in Congress plan to renew their efforts next week to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program that expired on December 28.

An additional tax of 10 percent is charged on premature withdrawals from a qualified retirement plan, SIMPLE plan or IRA. The additional tax is 10 percent of amounts withdrawn that are includible in gross income. The rules and exceptions are intricate enough that they don’t need to be complicated by things like fraudulent withdrawals by a soon-to-be former spouse. But that’s what happened to Andrew Roberts, whose wife withdrew funds from his IRAs without his knowledge.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a revenue procedure providing a safe harbor to those who invest in renovations of historic commercial buildings, addressing concerns stemming from a 2012 appeals court decision that upset users of historic tax credits, or rehabilitation credits.

A recent ruling by the U.S. Tax Court holds a costly reminder about the consequences of making inappropriate transactions within a client’s IRA.