Archive for July 16, 2015

Ever wonder why some tax returns are eyeballed by the Internal Revenue Service while most are ignored?

The IRS audits only slightly more than 1% of all individual tax returns annually. The agency doesn’t have enough personnel and resources to examine each and every tax return filed during a year. So the odds are pretty low that your return will be picked for review. And, of course, the only reason filers should worry about an audit is if they are fudging on their taxes.

However, the chances of being audited or otherwise

If you inherit an individual retirement account (IRA) then you may be facing decisions about what to do with this asset.

Inheriting and IRA requires work in the areas of estate planning, financial planning, and tax planning which makes the account a difficult one to handle. You will want to be wise when determining the future of an IRA because the sad truth is that one small mistake could lead to a very expensive chain reaction of consequences.

Most attorneys say that an heir of an IRA account should not do anything

A DUI conviction in California can result in a number of severe penalties including hefty fines and a mandatory jail sentence. If you are one of thousands of Californians who have a prior drinking conviction, the stakes can be even higher. A second DUI offense in California can result in much harsher punishment than a first offense under the state’s mandatory sentencing guidelines. If you have been convicted of a DUI within a 10-year period, you will be classified as a “repeat DUI offender.”

Severe Consequences

You can face several serious consequences

For years, married couples have used AB trusts to maximize the amount of assets they pass to their heirs free of estate tax.  When the estate tax exemption amount was only $2,000,000 per person several years ago, an AB trust arrangement was necessary just to pass $4,000,000 to heirs fee of estate tax.

With the estate tax exemption amount now over $11,400,000 per person and with surviving spouses allowed to use the “unused” portion of the tax exemption from the deceased spouse, is there any reason to use AB trusts if