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estate & gift

Trying to Sort Out 2010: Estate Planning

6 July 2010

Tweet One of my special interests has always been estate planning and the associated tax consequences (if you follow the blog, you may recall that I clerked at the IRS in the estates division). What you may not realize is that you don’t have to be rich to be subject to taxes at death – [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Gifts and Income

3 April 2010

Tweet Taxpayer asks: If I received $500 or say $5,000 in anonymous donations for brain surgery because I have no insurance, do I need to report that anywhere or as income? thank you for any help tax girl. Taxgirl says: So long as these are pure gifts – and you didn’t make any representations as [...]

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Federal Estate Tax Update

28 December 2009

Tweet Um, there is none. Seriously. And just three more days left in the year. The discussions about the constitutionality of a retroactive tax have already started flying. My two cents: it’s a stupid idea but it will likely pass muster.

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Noise on the Hill: Estate Tax Update

9 December 2009

Tweet Wow, they did it. The House really did vote on a federal estate tax bill. And it passed. The vote was narrow and partisan: in the end, 225 for, 200 against (see how your Representative voted here). The bill, HR 4154, was, as I blogged earlier, a compromise bill introduced by Rep Earl Pomeroy [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Charitable Donations and Estates

9 December 2009

Tweet Taxpayer asks: Can you tell me what the tax implications are for donating inherited items? My mother passed away about a year ago and I’m the executor of the estate. Now, my siblings are interested in taking deductions for items they feel they “inherited,” yet were actually immediately donated to charity without my siblings [...]

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Federal Estate Tax Bill Up for A Vote

30 November 2009

Tweet I, for one, am just reeling about the possibility that the House may vote on legislation to extend current estate tax rates. Shocked. I mean, there are, what, four weeks left until the end of the year? That’s just crazy. Tax professionals have just gotten comfortable with the idea that there’s no news on the [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Income Tax on Gifts

25 July 2009

Tweet Taxpayer asks: Recently my father-in-law passed away. My Mother-in-law is planning on selling her home and giving each child $10,000 and then putting the rest in CDs and she is planning on doing this before the end of the year. How will this affect the income tax that we have to pay? My husband [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Michael Jackson’s Funeral

8 July 2009

Tweet One of my recent “ask the taxgirl” questions involved whether Michael Jackson’s funeral expenses were deductible. When I paused to consider whether I wanted to post about Michael, a colleague kindly offered to address the issue on his blog at sofloridaestateplanning.com. The blog is authored by David Shulman, an attorney located in South Florida [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Cancellation of “Debt”

31 May 2009

Tweet Taxpayer asks: Two years ago, I gave my son a considerable amount of money so that he could finish graduate school without having to take out any student loans. Last year, he announced that he was “taking a break” from school. Since he was no longer going to school, I asked him to give [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Income Tax Consequences of a Gift

4 May 2009

Tweet Taxpayer asks: Hi Tax Girl Question If someone pays my Credit line directly. i.e. they write a check directly to my bank to lower my credit line balance. with their after tax dollars. Is this taxable income to me. Taxgirl says: It depends on who that “someone” is… In most cases, this would be [...]

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