Header Right

TAX TIPS FOR INDIVIDUALS

Year-End Tax Options

by

‘Tis the season to review your investments and make some tax beneficial year-end moves. 

Capitalize on Winners 

Your investments are a good starting point for implementing tax-saving strategies. You can benefit from favorable tax rates on long-term capital gains by selling and taking profits on appreciated securities you’ve held longer than one year. Long-term gains are currently taxed at a maximum rate of 15% for most taxpayers and 20% for taxpayers with taxable income of over $492,300 ($553,850 for joint filers) in 2023.

Cut Your Tax Bite With Losers

Investments that have lost value and have consistently underperformed may be perfect sell candidates, particularly if you’re not confident of a turnaround. By selling your losers, you can use your losses to balance out gains on appreciated securities you’ve sold. Capital losses are fully deductible to offset capital gains from any source and up to $3,000 of ordinary income each year ($1,500 if married filing separately). Any losses that you can’t deduct for 2023 can be carried over for deduction in future years, subject to the same limits.

Don’t make taxes your only reason for selling a security. Many factors enter the decision to sell securities, including how the sale of a specific investment would affect your overall portfolio.

Donating Appreciated Securities

Many public charities accept contributions of publicly traded stock or other securities. A donation of highly appreciated securities held more than one year provides a potential tax deduction for the securities’ fair market value while also avoiding the capital gains tax that would be due if the securities were sold.

Need an RMD in 2023?

Your first RMD (required minimum distribution) must be taken by April 1 of the year following the year in which you turn 72 for those who reached age 72 by Dec. 31, 2022. The first RMD for those turning 72 after Dec. 31, 2022 must be taken by April 1 of the year following the year you turn 73. After that, your RMDs must be taken by Dec. 31 of each year.

Want to save Taxes on the RMD? Use a Qualified Charitable Distribution

A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) allows you to donate to qualified charities directly from your individual retirement account (IRA). While there is no tax deduction allowed for the donated assets, they don’t count as income either. What’s more, a QCD can help satisfy your annual required minimum distribution (RMD). To make a QCD you must be at least 70½ years of age. Gifts must be made directly from your traditional or Roth IRA to a public charity. Up to $100,000 may be transferred annually per spouse.

Heir to an inherited IRA? The IRS is providing relief to heirs of inherited IRAs who are subject to the 10-year rule, allowing them to skip required minimum distributions in 2023. However, there are reasons why one should take an RMD in 2023, although not required:

  • If he has high medical expenses, the medical expenses will offset the RMD income eliminating the income tax on the RMD
  •  By taking an RMD in 2023, he will have a smaller balance to distribute in the remaining years of the ten RMD years, avoiding larger RMDs at higher tax rates

Contact your tax advisor at Urbach & Avraham, CPAs to discuss options suitable for you.

Need to take an RMD in 2023…Perplexed?

by

When is your Required Beginning Date (RBD) to take the first RMD?  Your first RMD (required minimum distribution) must have been taken by April 1 of the year following the year in which you reached 72 for those who reached age 72 by Dec. 31, 2022. The first RMD for those turning 72 after Dec. 31, 2022 must be taken by April 1 of the year following the year you turn 73. After that, your RMDs must be taken by Dec. 31 of each year.

Beneficiary of an IRA account? (Rules below apply to IRA owners who passed away after Jan. 1, 2020)

An individual non-spouse beneficiary must distribute the entire account balance by the 10th calendar year after the account owner’s death. If the IRA owner reached his required beginning date, the beneficiary must take annual RMDs based generally on his own life expectancy. These RMDs must begin by December 31 of the year after the owner’s death. Although the beneficiary must take annual RMDs, you will need to fully distribute the account within ten years from the owner’s date of death.

If the IRA owner passed away before the RBD, the RMDS are not required. However, the entire account balance must be distributed within ten years from the owner’s date of death.

The IRS is providing relief to heirs of inherited IRAs who are subject to the 10-year rule, allowing them to skip required minimum distributions in 2023. However, there are reasons why one should take an RMD in 2023, although not required:

  • If he has high medical expenses, the medical expenses will offset the RMD income eliminating the income tax on the RMD
  • By taking an RMD in 2023, he will have a smaller balance to distribute in year ten, avoiding a bunched higher RMD at higher tax rates

If an estate is the beneficiary of an IRA, and the account owner reached his RBD, the estate must make distributions based on the remaining life expectancy of the IRA owner. If the IRA owner passed away before his RBD, the assets must be completely distributed within five years of the owner’s passing, but no annual RMD is required.

IRA owner passed away in 2023? If the IRA owner passed away in 2023 prior to taking this year’s RMD, the beneficiary, whether an individual or an estate must distribute the RMD by the end of 2023.

Want to save income taxes on the RMD? – Use a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) in 2023 For IRA owners with charitable intentions, there is a substantial tax benefit using a QCD. The owner contributes all or part of his RMD to charity. The portion contributed to charity will not be taxed. QCDs can be made as early as age 70.5, even though minimum distributions are not required until age 73. A QCD may only be made by an original account owner, not by a beneficiary.

What happens if I don’t take the RMD in 2023? If an account owner fails to withdraw an RMD, the amount not withdrawn is taxed at 25% (reduced from 50% for missed RMDs prior to Dec. 31, 2022).

Still confused? Everyone’s situation is different. Please consult with a tax advisor at Urbach & Avraham, CPAs, to analyze the impact on your personal situation.

 

ABCs of 2022 RMDs

by

Perplexed? Need to take an RMD in 2022? 

Over age 72? – The age for withdrawing from retirement accounts was increased in 2020 from 70.5 to 72. Your first RMD (required minimum distribution) must be taken by April 1 of the year following the year in which you turn 72. After that, your RMDs must be taken by Dec. 31 of each year. However, if you became 72 in 2022, you may want to withdraw the first RMD in 2022. This will avoid having two RMDs in 2023 and bunching income into higher tax brackets. 

Beneficiary of an IRA account?- An individual non-spouse beneficiary must begin taking RMDs on the basis of his/her own life expectancy by Dec.31 of the year after the owner’s death. If the original account owner passed away in 2022 prior to taking this year’s RMD, it still must be withdrawn. The responsibility for taking the year-of-death RMD falls to the beneficiary.

Although the RMDs are calculated based on the beneficiary’s life expectancy, if the original account owner died after Jan. 1, 2020, you need to fully distribute the account within ten years from the owner’s date of death. In year ten, the balance of the account must be distributed. 

If an estate is the beneficiary of an IRA, and the account owner reached age 72, the distributions would be based on the remaining single life expectancy of the IRA owner. If the original account owner passed away in 2022 prior to taking this year’s RMD, the estate must withdraw it by the end of the year. If the owner was younger than 72, the assets must be completely distributed within five years of the owner’s passing, but no annual RMD is required. 

Want to save taxes on the RMD? – Use a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) in 2022 For IRA owners with charitable intentions, there is a huge tax benefit using a QCD. The owner contributes all or part of his RMD to charity. The portion contributed to charity will not be taxed. QCDs can be made as early as age 70.5, even though minimum distributions are not required until age 72. A QCD may only be made by an original account owner, not by a beneficiary. 

What happens if I don’t take the RMD in 2022? If an account owner fails to withdraw a RMD, the amount not withdrawn is taxed at 50%. 

Still perplexed? Everyone’s situation is different. Please consult with a tax advisor at Urbach & Avraham, CPAs, to analyze the impact on your personal situation.

 

Preserve Family Wealth with Portability

by

 

Extension of Time to Elect Portability of the DSUE

and Preserve Family Wealth

In 2011, the IRS introduced the concept of portability of the estate tax exemption from a deceased spouse to a surviving spouse. Currently, with the federal estate tax exemption at $12 million, a married couple can transfer up to $24 million to heirs without a federal estate tax. One of the tools enabling this large tax-free transfer is electing the DSUE, the “Deceased Spouse Unused Exclusion.”

What is Portability and How to Obtain it?

Portability occurs when a surviving spouse files a US Form 706, Gross Estate Tax Return, for the sole purpose of calculating and capturing any unused estate tax exemption from the estate of the first spouse. Completing a Form 706 to make the DSUE election is no easy task.

Why should one elect Portability/DSUE?

If the surviving spouse has an estate worth much lower than the current $12 million estate exemption, why file for the DSUE?

  1. Congress may reduce the estate tax exemption to 5 or 3.5 million
  2. The estate of the surviving spouse may appreciate substantially if there are businesses and/or real estate
  3. A young healthy spouse has many years to accumulate more wealth and have a potential taxable estate
  4. The surviving spouse may inherit from other relatives

When must one file to elect Portability/DSUE?

Good news! This year the IRS extended the time to file for the DSUE election to on or before the fifth anniversary of the decedent’s death.

Conclusion

With the current federal tax exemption so high, spouses should take advantage and claim any unused estate tax exemption after the death of the first spouse. Given the factors mentioned above, even smaller estates should consider filing for portability.

‘Tis the Season- Charitable Deduction Strategies

by

The charitable contribution deduction is normally an itemized deduction. The 2022 standard deduction for every filing status is significantly high and there are limits on some itemized deductions — e.g., the deduction for state and local taxes. As a result, many taxpayers can’t itemize. Here are several strategies that can help taxpayers get more tax mileage from their charitable contributions.

Timing Donations With a Donor-Advised Fund
With a donor-advised fund, you make contributions to the fund and instruct how you want your gifts to be disbursed. Contributions to a donor-advised fund are generally tax deductible in the year they are made. If desired, you can put those dollars to use over several years by supporting your favorite charities through your donor-advised fund. You itemize in years you make the contribution and benefit from the high standard deductions in the years you don’t contribute.

Timing Donations by Bunching

Taxpayers can itemize every second or third year and maximize their deductions, by bunching donations. If a married couple’s only non-charitable deduction is $10,000 of state tax, and they donate $15,000 a year, they will take the standard deduction of $25,900 a year for two years, a total of $51,800. If they bunch the contributions into one year and donate $30,000, they take the standard deduction year one and itemize ($30,000 and $10,000) year two, for a total two-year deduction of $65,900. By bunching, they have increased their deduction by $14,100 ($65,900-$51,800).

Donating Appreciated Securities
Many donor-advised funds and public charities accept contributions of publicly traded securities. A donation of highly appreciated securities held more than one year provides a tax deduction for the securities’ fair market value while avoiding the capital gains tax that would be due if the securities were sold.

Making Qualified Charitable Distributions 
A qualified charitable distribution (QCD), also known as an IRA charitable rollover, allows you to donate to qualified charities directly from your individual retirement account (IRA). While there is no tax deduction allowed for the donated assets, they don’t count as income either. What’s more, a QCD can help satisfy your annual required minimum distribution (RMD).
To make a QCD you must be at least 70½ years of age. Gifts must be made directly from your traditional or Roth IRA to a public charity. Up to $100,000 may be transferred annually per spouse.

Charge Year-end Donations to a Credit Card

Donations charged to a credit card before the end of the year count for that year. This is true even if the credit card bill isn’t paid until the next year. In other words, credit card contributions are deductible in the year the charge is entered into the system.

Each individual’s tax situation is different. Please consult with a tax professional at Urbach & Avraham, CPAs to help you analyze the impact on your personal situation.