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Personal financial planning

IRS fills in details of one-a-year IRA rollover rule

The IRS clarified how the recently announced change in how it interprets the statutory one-rollover-per-year rule for individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) will affect 2014 rollovers and how the rules will apply starting in 2015 (Announcement 2014-32). Sec. 408(d)(3)(A)(i) permits a tax-free rollover of funds in a taxpayer’s IRA as long

Data security, regulation spark investor confidence in US stock exchanges

Data security and regulatory oversight are the top factors contributing to rising investor confidence in U.S. stock exchanges, according to a Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) pulse poll released Tuesday. Seventy percent of investors responding to the CAQ’s 2014 Main Street Investor Survey, which was released Oct. 9, said they

Boilerplate trust clauses

Many clients sign estate planning documents without paying much attention to the clauses they contain. One clause that few clients pay attention to is the one governing how that client’s incapacity could be determined—and therefore how the client could be removed from serving as a fiduciary or trustee. A high-profile

2015 inflation-adjusted items and tax tables issued

The IRS issued the annual inflation adjustments for 2015 for more than 40 tax provisions as well as the 2015 tax rate tables for individuals and estates and trusts (Rev. Proc. 2014-61). Among the inflation-adjusted amounts that have increased are the personal exemption, which increases from $3,950 in 2014 to

Investors’ confidence in U.S. public companies grows

Investors’ confidence in investing in U.S. public companies—and in audited financial information released by those companies—has risen to a seven-year high in 2014. According to the Center for Audit Quality’s (CAQ’s) Main Street Investor Survey, 80% of 1,049 investors surveyed said they have some, quite a bit, or a great

Supreme Court: Inherited IRAs are not retirement funds

The decision resolving a circuit split allows an inherited IRA to be included in a bankruptcy estate.  The U.S. Supreme Court in Clark v. Rameker held that funds in an inherited individual retirement account (IRA) were not retirement funds that were exempt from a husband-and-wife debtors’ bankruptcy estate. Facts: The

QDROs demand the attention of CPAs

Expertise in qualified domestic relations orders and dividing retirement benefits in divorce can be a valuable accounting and tax specialty.

Electing to aggregate rental activities: Better late than never

Taxpayers that own several rental properties have to make many decisions when it comes to reporting income or loss from those properties. Among them is whether it would be more beneficial for the income or loss to be characterized as active rather than passive. If the taxpayer wants active characterization

One-IRA-rollover-a-year rule will be effective in 2015, IRS says

Following up on its promise earlier in the year to follow the Tax Court’s holding that the limit of one rollover per year applies on an aggregate basis and not on an IRA-by-IRA basis, the IRS withdrew a proposed regulation from 1981, Prop. Regs. Sec. 1.408-4(b)(4)(ii), which had provided otherwise

The lure of a Sec. 475 election

A mark-to-market election can be very beneficial for securities or commodities traders. Here’s how to determine who qualifies for the election and who should make it.

IRA participants can purchase longevity annuities

Final regulations issued on Wednesday (T.D. 9673) permit individual retirement account (IRA) participants to enter into contracts for annuities that begin at an advanced age (often called longevity annuities), using a certain amount of their account balances, without having these amounts count for calculating required minimum distributions from the IRAs

Guidance issued on application of Windsor to retirement plans

Qualified plans must recognize same-sex marriages after the Windsor decision and must be amended, if need be, to make them conform to the results of that decision. Under guidance issued by the IRS, administrators of qualified retirement plans must recognize the same-sex spouses of legally married participants as of June

Supreme Court holds inherited IRAs are not retirement funds

In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that funds from an inherited IRA were not retirement funds that were exempt from the debtor’s bankruptcy estate (Clark v. Rameker, No. 13-299 (U.S. 6/12/14), aff’g 714 F.3d 559 (7th Cir. 2013)). The Supreme

Notice clarifies midyear amendment of certain retirement plans post-Windsor

The IRS clarified that a qualified retirement plan will continue to be a qualified 401(k) or 401(m) safe-harbor plan if it adopts a midyear amendment to its plan to comply with the rules in Notice 2014-19 requiring qualified plans to conform to the Windsor decision (Notice 2014-37). A safe-harbor 401(k)

Rollover contribution to second IRA disallowed

The Tax Court held that a taxpayer who received distributions from two individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and later transferred the amounts back into his IRAs had taxable income equal to the amount of the second transfer. According to the court, the plain language of Sec. 408(d)(3)(B) allows a taxpayer to

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Preparing clients for new provisions next tax season

Preparing clients for new provisions next tax season

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From The Tax Adviser

October 31, 2025

Recent developments in estate planning

October 31, 2025

Current developments in taxation of individuals: Part 2

September 30, 2025

Current developments in taxation of individuals: Part 1

August 30, 2025

2025 tax software survey