Estate planning, gift tax rules, and everything that happens when wealth passes from one generation (or person) to the next.
When it comes to estate planning, most folks know that you can use wills and trusts to distribute (and in some instances, control) their “stuff.” The tricky part is often figuring out what actually constitutes your “stuff.” For estates purposes, your “stuff” includes such items as your real property (think house and other real estate),…
G is for Gift Expenses. The word gift can have a different meaning, depending on who is doing the giving and who is doing the getting. If you don’t believe me, check out an episode or two of Judge Judy (yes, I’m a fan). When it comes to business, however, the IRS has a very…
Taxpayer asks: Dear TaxGirl, Recently I received a request from a company to fill out a W-9 form. I am not, nor have I ever been, an employee of this company. However, I did receive money from them. I’ll explain quickly… My mother worked as a 1099 employee for a manufacturing company. She sold millions…
Last December, Congress pushed through a whole set of changes meant to make them look good on Election Day things easier for taxpayers. One of the changes was the new portability provision which allows spouses to “share” their federal estate tax exclusion amounts with each other. Each person is allowed an exclusion for federal estate…
If you lost a loved one in 2010, my sympathies are with you. If you lost a loved one in 2010 that might have a taxable estate, my sympathies are really with you. The “surefire vote getting” one year repeal of the federal estate tax for 2010 has turned into one of the biggest administrative…
Whew. It has taken awhile but the IRS has finally issued guidance for the treatment of basis for certain estates of decedents who died in 2010. As you’ve probably heard, there was no federal estate tax due for decedents who died in 2010. Well, er, sort of… Under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation…
The IRS has announced that federal form 8939, Allocation of Increase in Basis for Property Acquired from a Decedent, is not due on April 18, 2011 and should not be filed with the final federal form 1040 of persons who died in 2010. Of course, if you’ve tried to file a federal form 8939, you…
First in the series: A is for Applicable Federal Rates, or AFRs. Each month, the IRS provides various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes; those rates are regularly published as revenue rulings. You can see the latest list of rates as a revenue ruling here (downloads as a pdf). If you browse the list,…
With the significant increase in the personal exemption for federal estate tax (albeit temporary), many folks believe that they no longer need a will. That couldn’t be further from the truth: there are a lots of non-tax reasons to have a will (I just rolled back in from Center City with three of them: my…
Taxpayer asks: Hello Tax Girl: I am in NY. My father is giving me approximately $25-$30k this year. He will be reporting the payment to the government by sending me a 1099. My question is: Are there any special provisions to keep in mind when I report this on my income tax form or do…