Financial Planning

The Financial Planning Association has been awarded a $94,500 grant by the American Red Cross to support its pro bono September 11 Recovery Program.

The sale of many of its offices two years ago pushed financial planning and tax prep firm Gilman+Ciocia Inc. into the black for fiscal 2004, as a $6.1 million gain on that sale wiped out an operating loss of just over $1 million for the year ended June 30.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations that would permit distributions to be made from a pension plan under a "bona fide phased retirement program." It also would set forth requirements for the program.

The National Association of Securities Dealers charged H&R Block Financial Advisors Inc., the investment arm of the tax prep giant, with fraud in the sale of $16 million worth of Enron Corp. bonds after the energy firm's finances and bond ratings had begun to collapse.

Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities for the 2004-05 year climbed 10.5 percent from last year's levels, to $5,132, while fees at four-year private schools rose 6 percent, to $20,082, the College Board reported.

At the end of a year of sideways markets, many tax advisors are focusing on the ramifications of the two recently passed tax acts. There is, however, a roster of other year-end strategies that are worth looking into.

For tax years beginning in 2004 and 2005, the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, recently passed by Congress, allows taxpayers to elect to take state and local general sales and use taxes as an itemized deduction on their federal income tax returns for those years. However, a taxpayer who makes this election will not be able to take an itemized deduction for state and local income taxes for the same year.

WACHOVIA TO BUY TANAGER FINANCIAL: In an effort to strengthen its wealth management practice, Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia Corp., the nation's fifth-largest bank, agreed to acquire wealth advisory firm Tanager Financial Services Inc.

In two separate votes at a meeting today, one split and one unanimous, the Securities and Exchange Commission decided to require the registration of most hedge funds, and to propose new rules for companies seeking an initial public offering. Chairman William Donaldson and two Democratic commissioners voted against the two Republican commissioners to push through the tough new rules for hedge funds, which had previously been only lightly regulated. Traditionally investment vehicles for the extraordinarily wealthy, hedge funds have grown enormously over the past few years, both in terms of their assets under management and the types of investors involved. Of particular concern to many are the number of banks and pension plans that have turned to hedge funds as stock market returns have diminished from their dot-com highs. SEC registration would impose new record-keeping and information-sharing burdens on the industry, and require them to allow SEC inspections. Industry groups have complained that the new rules would hit funds with unfairly heavy costs for registration and compliance personnel, among other things. The other, unanimous decision by the commissioners was to propose changes for IPO-seeking companies that would, in some cases, eliminate the 70-year-old "quiet period" before the offering when they must remain incommunicado. "Well-known, seasoned issuers" would be allowed to distribute much more information than they currently can, in the form of media interviews, press releases and even possibly advertising. The proposal will now be sent out for public comment, with opinions required with 75 days of the proposal's publication in the Federal Register.

One year since being given the green light by the American Institute of CPAs, its trio of specialty credentials - the Personal Financial Specialist, the Accredited in Business Valuation and the Certified Information Technology Professional - have made steady, if not spectacular, membership gains, while the committee charged with their progress has deployed a grass-roots strategy to improve their value proposition.