Good News: The IRS Simplifies Its Proposed ABLE Act Rules
NOVEMBER 23, 2015 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 43 The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act initially looked like it would provide important opportunities to people with disabilities. Although much work was left to the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration and individual states, advocates hoped that it might open up a simple choice for […]
New Tax-Related Numbers for 2015
JANUARY 12, 2015 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 2 Welcome to 2015! Who thought we’d ever make it? The Internal Revenue Service did, that’s who. They’ve busily updated numbers for the upcoming year; most of the new numbers have actually been known for a couple months. Once you get used to writing “2015” every time, we have […]
Same-Sex Married Couples Should Pay Attention to Income Taxes
MARCH 10, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 10 Income tax filing season is upon us, and so it’s an appropriate time to turn our attention to what’s new (or little-known) in the income tax world. We’re particularly interested, of course, in income tax issues that affect our clients, who usually are more interested in estate and […]
Helping Care for Your Relative Provides Income Tax Benefits
APRIL 9, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 14 Federal and Arizona state income tax returns are due next week. It’s a good time to review tax deductions for one of the common situations we deal with: in-home (or, for that matter, institutional) caregiving for an infirm family member. We wrote about an individual case involving long-term […]
In-Home Caretaker Wages Deductible Based on Doctor’s Letter
SEPTEMBER 5, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 31 Queens (New York) resident Lillian Baral was in her early 90s. She lived at home, but she required full-time assistance with her care. In 2007 she paid two caretakers a total of $49,580 for live-in care (one lived with her for five weeks while the primary caretaker took […]
Estate Tax or Death Tax — Who Actually Pays Any?
AUGUST 9, 2010 VOLUME 17 NUMBER 25 Want to read about the debate over estate tax reform/repeal/reinstatement? There is plenty of literature. You can easily learn about the history of the estate tax (going back to 1797 in the United States, or to the 7th century BCE elsewhere). Want more? You can see the arguments […]
