For low-income individuals considering contributions to Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), understanding the income limits and potential benefits is crucial. Here's an overview:

A Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) trust is an effective estate planning tool for married couples looking to provide for a surviving spouse while ensuring that their wealth is preserved for future generations. In this post, we discuss who benefits from a QTIP trust, review the income and gift tax implications, and provide a step-by-step guide on transferring assets into the trust.

The current lifetime estate and gift tax exemption, which was significantly increased under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), is set to expire at the end of 2025. If Congress does not act to extend the higher exemption, it will revert to pre-TCJA levels, adjusted for inflation, starting January 1, 2026. This means the exemption will likely drop from its current level (approximately $13.99 million per individual in 2025) to an estimated $7.2 million per person in 2026.

The materials required for filing taxes in 2025 may vary depending on whether you are filing as an individual or a business. Below is a general checklist for reference:

After the account owner's death, beneficiaries of retirement plans and IRAs must follow specific required minimum distribution (RMD) rules. Beneficiaries include individuals or entities chosen by the account owner. Depending on the account owner's death date (before or after 2019), beneficiaries face different RMD requirements due to the SECURE Act changes.

A backdoor Roth conversion is a strategy to get around income limits for contributing to a Roth IRA by making a non-deductible contribution to a Traditional IRA and then converting it to a Roth IRA. Here’s a step-by-step example of how to do it:

Based on the IRS Draft Version (1040 Tax Table Draft), the following is a summary of the Earned Income Credit (EIC) for the 2024 tax year across different filing statuses and income ranges. The EIC amount depends on the filing status, the number of qualifying children, and the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).

A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust designed to hold assets so they are not counted as part of a person’s estate for Medicaid eligibility purposes. The trust's primary goal is to protect assets from being depleted by long-term care costs, allowing individuals to qualify for Medicaid coverage for nursing home or other long-term care services while preserving assets for beneficiaries.

"BOI" in a tax context typically refers to "Beneficial Ownership Information." This involves the reporting requirements for businesses to disclose their beneficial owners to the relevant authorities, like the IRS in the U.S. or similar agencies in other countries. Here's an overview of BOI filing requirements: