Qualified charitable distributions can offer a tax-saving opportunity, and they may be more advantageous to consider under the new tax law.  QCDs, which are available only for certain clients, count toward required minimum distributions and are excluded from income. To read the full article in InvestmentNews, click: Why Aren’t Clients Using QCDs?  Help Them! ...

The Many Tax Benefits of Making Charitable Contributions With IRA Distributions Now that the provision permitting these contributions is permanent, taxpayers can take maximum advantage of this rule, even using life insurance to increase the gift to charity.  David K. Smucker, CPA, Advanced Consulting Group director with Nationwide Insurance, explains that the recent legislation making the $100,000 charitabl ...

Disclose Now or Later? There is no requirement to attach an appraisal for an estate of gift tax return, but having been involved with the classification of returns at the Cincinnati Service Center located across the river in Covington, Kentucky, I want to share my thoughts on when it is appropriate to attach an appraisal done for gift and estate tax purposes. ...

Plus: Bishop v. Commissioner Rules on When and Whether a Bad Debt Loss Can Be a Claimed Deduction In Schwab v. Commissioner, a case turns on when a variable universal life insurance policy is a taxable event.  In Boone Operations Co., LLC v. Commissioner, find out when contributing fill dirt to the city of Tucson is or isn’t a charitable or taxable event. ...

In Berquist v. Commissioner, Judge Swift Finds a Company’s Pending Liquidation is Relevant and Foreseeable. The Tax Court valued closely-held stock in an anesthesiology practice donated to a hospital for charitable contribution purposes at its liquidation value since the anesthesiology practice would no longer exist after the physician-stockholders were consolidated into a newly-formed umbrella physician ma ...