News About IRS And Tax

Friday, 7 April 2017

8 Last Minute Tax Tips to Help You File Before the Tax Deadline

There’s just a little over a week left in the tax season. If you still have not filed, don’t worry there is still time and TurboTax can help you with these 8 last minute tax tips to get you to...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/8-last-minute-tax-tips-to-help-you-file-before-the-tax-deadline-22738/

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Apr 8-9)

Enjoy the current installment of “weekend reading for financial planners” – this week’s edition kicks off with the big news that the DoL fiduciary rule was in fact delayed this week, not only with a 60-day delay to the applicability date itself, but also including a further delay until the end of the year for complying with the full-BIC, the need to acknowledge fiduciary duty to clients, and the application of the Best Interests Contract Exemption to annuities… though the debate is on as to whether this is still the beginning of the end of the DoL fiduciary rule, or if the extended delays for key provisions will actually make it harder to eliminate the rule now that the industry has been granted more time to accommodate! Also in the news this week is the launch of the CFP Board’s new “I’m A CFP Pro” campaign to encourage more people to become CFP professionals (particularly amongst Millennials, women, and people of color, who are all currently under-represented amongst financial advisors), and a ‘heads-up’ from the SEC that it is increasingly scrutinizing RIAs who have ‘independent’ investment adviser representatives affiliating with them as 1099 contractors.

From there, we have a few articles about industry trends, including: a look at how regardless of the DoL fiduciary rule and its prospective delay, the biggest broker-dealers are in the process of reinventing themselves for a fiduciary-advice future; how advisors who are considering changing broker-dealers in this environment should scrutinize how the payouts really work, as some broker-dealers who offer 90%+ payouts also have higher costs (from trading charges to custody fees to compliance and technology fees) that may mean the advisor actually finishes with less on the bottom line; and a look at how a new “breakaway” trend is starting to emerge, not amongst the brokers who are breaking away to form RIAs, but amongst independent RIAs themselves, where advisor teams are breaking away to form their own new independent RIA firms.

We also have several more technical articles this week, from a new study by David Blanchett on the interplay between the amount of a retiree’s guaranteed income and their ability to sustain a higher “safe” withdrawal rate from the portfolio that complements that guaranteed income (especially for retirees who have at least a little income flexibility), to discussion of another study that finds mutual funds holding ETFs tend to have inferior performance to those that hold stocks and bonds directly (whether due to bad market timing, or adding a layer of ETF fees while acting as a closet indexer), and an explanation of how conservation easements work and why they can be an appealing tax planning strategy for high-net-worth clients that have substantial positions in (undeveloped) land.

We wrap up with three interesting articles about personal development and learning: the first is an overview of the latest research on how we actually learn, and what we should do as adults to try to learn better; the second is a fascinating series of short interviews with prolific readers about how they read, and what strategies they engage in to get the most out of their reading material (hint: it’s ok and normal to read for a while, then skim, then lose interest before getting to the end and picking up another book instead); and the last is a fascinating look at how the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, comes about naturally, and why it is that you don’t have to be twice as good to get twice the results… it’s only necessary to be 1% better, and do so persistently over an extended period of time.

Enjoy the “light” reading!

Thursday, 6 April 2017

Is This Deductible? Business Clothes for the Self-Employed

When I first started working, I didn’t have what I’d call “work clothes”. Fortunately, I was working in a corporate office environment that only expected business casual. I could even wear jeans! I stopped by a local store to pick...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/is-this-deductible-business-clothes-for-the-self-employed-30509/

How Do I Know if I Should Amend My Tax Return?

Whether you forgot, transposed numbers, or you received essential paperwork after you filed, you can still amend your tax return, but here are some things you need to know about whether you should amend or not.

source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-planning-2/how-do-i-know-if-i-should-amend-my-tax-return-14541/

Key Questions To Ask In A Financial Planning Job Interview

When interviewing for a financial planning job opportunity, it can be easy to get caught up in the process. Especially if it’s your first job interview. You want to answer the questions “right”… You want to put your best foot forward… And you want to make a good impression. But the reality is, a job interview should be a two-way street. The firm interviews the candidate, but the candidate is also interviewing the firm! Unfortunately, though, few prospective financial planners really interview the firm they’re applying to work at. And as a result, too many new financial planners wind up in bad first jobs – whether it is a sales job, an admin job, or something else that involves little real financial planning – all by failing to ask good questions of the firm during their interview process!

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, I discuss the 10 best questions that you, the financial planning job seeker, should be asking the prospective firm before you take the job, and what answers you should be looking for in response! And why just looking for a fee-only RIA is not actually the best way to find a good financial planning job opportunity!

First and foremost, though, if you want to find a good financial planning job, you will need to do due diligence on the firm yourself. To start out, there are three particularly valuable sources of information. First, check out the firm’s website. Realize that some great firms may not necessarily have a great website, but see what you can learn about them online. Who are they? How do they work with clients? What can you learn about the founder and the firm’s leadership? Second, look up their regulatory information, via BrokerCheck or IAPD. Do they have any infractions? If they are an RIA, look up their Form ADV Part 2 and see what you can learn about them from this document. Finally, get a copy of the actual job description itself, and really read through it. It stuns me the number of times I hear new advisors unhappy in their jobs, but then I see a copy of the job description, and it says they were going to do exactly what they’re doing now (but they didn’t really read it themselves before saying ‘yes’!)!

The next step is the interview itself. If you’ve done your due diligence well, not only will you be prepared to ask great questions, but the prospective firm will likely be impressed you took the time to look up information about them. When the opportunity comes in the interview, be ready to speak up and ask your questions. A few important questions to ask include asking about the software the firm uses, how often they update financial plans for clients, whether they’re growing and where their new clients come from, what a typical week looks like (for someone in the position you’re applying for), and whether they think it’s important to get the CFP marks?

Notably, it’s not necessarily about whether the firm is a fee-only RIA, but whether they really put a focus on financial planning, regardless of their business model. In fact, the value of these questions isn’t just the exact answers that the firm provides, but what the answers reveal about the overall attitudes and culture of the firm (regardless of whether it’s under a broker-dealer or at an RIA), whether they’re really serious about financial planning, and whether the job you’re applying for is really a good way to get CFP experience, or if it’s just an admin or sales job instead!

In the end, the reality is that there are no perfect answers to all of these questions. Most advisory firms are small businesses, and the truth is that this may be a new scary process for them, too. But, ultimately, the sense you should get from the interview is that the position is really about financial planning and it’s not simply a sales job. And if it’s a growing firm, and they take planning seriously, it may be a great first job, even if it’s not the perfect job! So, if you find yourself interviewing for a new financial planning job, hopefully you’ll find these questions helpful, because ultimately a successful interview is not just about the questions you answer, but also the questions you ask!

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

1099-MISC or 1099-K: What’s the Difference?

Self-employment comes with many perks, including deserved business expense deductions. Did you drive during the course of the work you performed? You can take a mileage deduction. Did you buy computer or office supplies to use for consulting? Then you...

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source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/1099-misc-or-1099-k-whats-the-difference-29903/

Tax Benefits for Having Dependents

Kids can be overwhelming when they are cooped up in the house while on break, but they are also blessed tax-savers when you file your taxes. Here are some of the tax benefits for having children and other dependents.

source http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-deductions-and-credits-2/family/tax-benefits-for-having-dependents-12835/