Bob Carlson of Retirement Watch on how to manage your taxes and planning strategies to pay less
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Anyone can make unlimited tax-free gifts. The strategy gets wealth out of your estate, and unlike many other gifts, you can be sure of how the money will be used. The strategy of maximizing tax-free gifts is growing in popularity, especially since the change in Congress makes it unlikely that elimination of the estate tax […]

There still is time to make some valuable year-end tax planning moves, and this year there are some special opportunities to reduce tax payments. The Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT snares more taxpayers each year, taking away tax benefits and pushing up tax bills. Basically, we have two tax systems, the regular tax and the […]

Successful investors and business owners always face a tax planning dilemma. If they sell their highly appreciated assets, they owe capital gains taxes. Even at today’s low top federal rate of 15%, the tax can amount to a sizeable chunk of money. People do not like their net worth to decline by that amount with […]

Income taxes are likely to be lower for many who inherit 401(k) plan accounts and other employer retirement plan accounts, thanks to the pension reform law the President signed into law in August. The law puts non-spouses closer to an equal footing with spouses who inherit the accounts. Employers are not required to give heirs […]
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The IRS believes that nonfilers of estate and gift tax returns are a major cause of the “tax gap” between taxes legally owed and those actually paid. From 1995 to 2000, estate tax returns filed increased from 86,000 to over 123,000. In 2004, only 74,000 estate tax returns were filed. The IRS is undertaking a […]

In late July, Congress passed the most comprehensive changes in decades to retirement plans and also made it easier to make charitable gifts with retirement accounts. Most of the law is directed at the old-style defined benefit plans that pay a guaranteed income for life. Congress became concerned that too many employers were not properly […]

Though set up to help regular people save, IRAs are fraught with complicated tax rules. Missteps can be made without the owner knowing it until it is too late to correct the problem. The result often is higher taxes and penalties. Sometimes the result is reduced IRA options. Here are some little-known but very common […]

A new tax law passed Congress just before Memorial Day. It contains important tax breaks and tax increases for investors and others. We gave the highlights last month. In this month’s visit we will delve into more details of the newly-enacted law, known as Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2006. The major provision […]
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