Capital gains taxes

A proposal is expected as early as next week as part of the administration's tax increases to fund social spending in the forthcoming “American Families Plan.”

While qualified contributions won’t necessarily give clients the biggest tax bang for their buck, there are exceptions to the rule, Jeffrey Levine writes.

The outcomes of two elections in Georgia that are scheduled for Jan. 5 are expected to determine the balance of power in the Senate and may also have an impact on the kind of tax planning that accountants should be advising their clients to do.

Many taxpayers want to pay less themselves — but want others to pay more.

It may seem counterintuitive, but paying appreciably more taxes in 2020 could save families a lot of money down the road.

Here's an at-a-glance guide to the candidates' positions on individual taxes.

Many clients have seen the value of their investment accounts drop, making this a good time for planners to prove their value

There are appealing methods to shift investments “upstream” to aging parents or “downstream” to grown children.

Few clients think to look at the impact of capital gains on their mutual funds.

If not addressed, the client may see a higher tax bill than was planned. That won't go over well at tax time next year.

One option is to sell funds with lower or no estimated distributions, especially if possible savings will exceed trading costs.

Clients should consider paying more deductible expenses before year-end if their total itemizable deductions will be close to their standard deduction amount.

But health care is probably more expensive.

Officials hope to peg capital gains to inflation before the president faces reelection.

A lump-sum distribution for net unrealized appreciation on employer stock can slash a tax bill in half, but there’s plenty of fine print.

Rather than developing a new family of ETFs, the asset manager created them as a share class within its existing mutual funds.

Capital gains tax rates are not just taxed at a single, more favorable, rate anymore.

Use this checklist to help clients avoid the bill from surprise capital gains distributions.

Dividend tax rate cuts in 2003 had no impact on C- and S-corporation spending, an economist found.

Advisors must be wary of “making permanent decisions based on a temporary law,” an expert says.