"We need to talk."That succinct and quickly conveyed prompt -- from either adult children to parents or from the latter to their kids -- might essentially be all that's needed to shake off inertia and family reticence regarding a centrally important matter. And that...
Bay Area Estate And Tax Planning Law Firm
Month: July 2016
Take a breath: facing an IRS audit with proven legal counsel
Just consider for a moment who's sitting on the other side of the table from you if you're cloistered in a room with an Internal Revenue Service employee undergoing a tax examination.First, let's call that event what it really is: an audit. And, while you are a lay...
How much can I give without paying a gift tax?
The good news is this number just went up. Currently you can give away $14,000 per individual per year and not pay gift tax penalties.Even better, any gifts of $14,000 or less do not count towards your total $5.45 million total exemption (this number represents the...
Gifting Money to Minors; What You Need To Know
Many parents and grandparents want to help their children and grandchildren out financially and not have to put the money into a trust for later use.Gifting thousands of dollars is easy to do when your children are grown adults and know how to handle money. But what...
Being a trust administrator: hardly a casual, indifferent task
Here's a central reality regarding trust administration in California and across the United States: Individuals who establish trust vehicles (such persons are often termed trustors or settlers) as planning tools intended to benefit others often appoint trust...
What is the IRS Criminal Investigation Division?
"A deterrent effect" and a signal "that fraud will not be tolerated." Such are the words employed by the Internal Revenue Service on an agency website page chronicling the objectives of the department's Criminal Investigation Division (most often delineated by the...
What is meant by undue influence?
Wills are an essential part of estate planning. A clearly written, comprehensive will can certainly relive grieving family members of confusion and misunderstandings. But what happens after the will is drafted and then changed due to the influence of a loved one,...
IRS continues to pursue Facebook over foreign asset transfers
Over the last few years, multiple U.S. companies have come under heavy criticism by federal officials for their reliance on elaborate tax-savings strategies, such as inversions. For those unfamiliar with inversions, they involve U.S.-based companies merging with...
Could you avoid an RMD tax?
If you are nearing retirement and have been saving diligently, the time is come to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Of course, you deserve the benefit of tax deferred savings, but the federal government may be just as interested in your money if you don’t withdraw it....
How a controversial tax proposal is further dividing San Francisco
While many people envision San Francisco as a primary destination for tech companies and one of America's most thriving metropolitan areas, this wasn't necessarily the case just a few years ago. Indeed, during the height of the recent recession the city saw an...