Still, time is limited. Tell clients they’d better take advantage of the current exemption before it expires. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: Thanks to New IRS Decree, Clients Can Relax When Making Large Gifts—For Now. ...

After Dec. 31, spouses responsible for paying alimony won’t get a tax deduction, due to a change under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: Hurry Up—Get Your Clients Divorced. ...

Retirees may face a more complicated tax situation than when they were still working.  For example, a portion of their Social Security benefits may be taxed at the federal level if their combined income, which is their adjusted gross income, plus any non-taxable interest and 50% of their benefits, exceeds a certain limit.  Their retirement benefits may also be subject to state income taxes.  Those who reach ...

Although 2013 Rates Are Still Unclear, Smart Planners Are Making These Moves Today Laura Sanders at the Wall Street Journal reports that the annual scramble to make smart tax moves before December 31 is proving especially vexing this year, since Congress still hasn’t settled 2013 tax rates on income, investments, large gifts, and estates. Deductions and other breaks are in doubt.  And some questions—such as ...

How to Pay Less in Taxes  Norm Brodsky answers a reader's question at Inc.: To begin with, [the reader] needs to start his planning process early enough to allow him to end the year with as little cash profit as possible. That's the idea if you have a young company using cash-basis accounting. I gave him a hypothetical -- and oversimplified -- example, just so he'd have a general idea of how it works. Let's ...