Wall Street Big Law Journalist Jennifer Smith unveils that big law is ramping up hiring again, with an average starting salary of $160,000 but grueling hours. Read her article and research here at the Wall Street Journal
Posts Tagged ‘Employment’
Big Law Ramps Up Hiring
Posted by William Byrnes on June 23, 2014
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: big law, Employment, starting salary | Leave a Comment »
Fully Funded Retirement in 10 Years: A DB Plan for Now
Posted by William Byrnes on December 17, 2012
Your small business clients are faced with the increasing likelihood of higher taxes in 2013 and beyond; those aiming to reduce the slope of the fiscal cliff next year will want to take a closer look at the benefits of a defined benefit plan. …. read our strategy article at http://www.advisorone.com/2012/12/13/fully-funded-retirement-in-10-years-a-db-plan-for
Posted in Retirement Planning, Uncategorized, Wealth Management | Tagged: Business, Compensation and Benefits, Defined benefit pension plan, Employment, Human Resources, Pension, Retirement, Small business | Leave a Comment »
IRS: No Individual SEP Plans for Partners
Posted by William Byrnes on March 21, 2012
Partners in a partnership and members of an LLC, taxed as a partnership, cannot have individual SEP IRAs (Simplified Employee Pension Individual Retirement Account) plans, according to the IRS.
Only employers are capable of implementing SEP plans for their employees. Because partners are employees of the partnership for retirement plan purposes, they cannot have an individual SEP plan. If partners in a partnership wish to use a SEP plan, the partnership as an entity must maintain and contribute to the plan for the partners.
Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For previous coverage of IRAs in Advisor’s Journal, see Qualified Charitable Distributions from an IRA (CC 11-03) & How Are IRA Owners Investing Their Money? (CC 11-112).
For in-depth analysis of SEPs, see Advisor’s Main Library: IRAs and SEPs.
Posted in Wealth Management | Tagged: 401(k), Business, Employment, Individual Retirement Account, Internal Revenue Service, Pension, Roth IRA, SEP-IRA | Leave a Comment »
IRS Global Settlement for Millennium 419
Posted by William Byrnes on March 6, 2012
A massive increase of lawsuits and IRS investigations have surrounded the Millennium Multiple Employer Welfare Benefit Plan for years, with plan participants claiming it was nothing but a fraudulent device with sole purpose of generating millions in commissions for its agent promoters. There are accusations of taking a total of $500 million from 500 clients by inducing them to participate in a plan that offered no tax or other benefits to its participants.
Several lawsuits are still pending against the Millennium Plan, but at least one aspect of the alleged scam plan has been resolved. The IRS announced on July 5 that it reached an agreement with the Millennium Multiple Employer Welfare Benefit Plan (“Millennium Plan”). After numerous fraud allegations and the IRS abusive tax shelter investigation, the Millennium Plan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For previous coverage of welfare benefits plans in Advisor’s Journal, see Tax Courts Holds Employee Taxable for Value of Life Insurance Owned by Welfare-Benefit & Deductions for Life Insurance Premium Payments to Welfare Benefit Plan Denied (CC 10-29).
Posted in Wealth Management | Tagged: Employment, insurance, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, Millennium Plan, tax, Tax shelter, Welfare | Leave a Comment »
Battle Brewing Over Employments Status of Financial Advisors
Posted by William Byrnes on February 7, 2012
Are you an employee or independent contractor of your firm? If you’re doing business in California and get the classification wrong, you could be in for criminal charges and up to a $25,000 fine.
California State Bill 459—which would impose strict recordkeeping requirements and severe penalties on firms that misclassify employees as independent contractors—passed the state senate on June 2. The bill moved to the Assembly and went on to a hearing at the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment two weeks later. The bill is expected to come to a vote in the Assembly later this summer.
Under the bill, firms that mischaracterize employees as independent contractors can be subject to fines of up to $25,000. They also will be required to keep records verifying independent contractor status for at least two years or face a fine of $500 per employee and misdemeanor criminal charges.
Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For in-depth analysis of income taxation, see Advisor’s Main Library: Income Taxes.
Posted in Wealth Management | Tagged: Business, California, Employment, independent contractor, Internal Revenue Service, law, Self-employment, Vocus | Leave a Comment »
The Changing World of Health Insurance: MLR’s Slam Commissions
Posted by William Byrnes on August 31, 2011
Increased medical loss ratios (MLRs) are devastating health insurance producers’ balance sheets and driving agents out of the health insurance business. As of January, the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act increased the MLR requirement imposed on health insurance companies, forcing many carriers to reduce agent commissions by 25 percent or more.
The objective behind imposing MLRs is to ensure that consumers receive the full value of their premium dollars. This is accomplished by implementing a shift in how insurance carriers spend their money. Insurance carries are now required to spend premium dollars on direct medical services, rather than on administrative costs and profits. Under the new MLR program, insurers must spend 80 to 85 cents of every dollar on direct medical services. Insurers who fail to meet the MLR requirement must either adjust their premiums to account for any discrepancies, or refund excess premiums to consumers.
Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For previous coverage of health care reform in Advisor’s Journal, see Long-term Care Insurance Reform Act of 2010 (CC 10-46), Changes Affecting Large Employers in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-17), Changes Affecting Business in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-16), & Changes Affecting Individuals in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-15).
Posted in Wealth Management | Tagged: Affordable Care Act, Consumer, Employment, Health care, Health care reform, healthinsurance, insurance, United States | Leave a Comment »
Tax Court Calculates FMV of Policies Distributed from Terminated 419 Plan
Posted by William Byrnes on March 31, 2011
The Tax Court recently calculated the fair market value (“FMV”) of life insurance policies distributed by a terminated 419 welfare benefit plan. The FMV of the policies—which must be included in the taxpayers’ income—was determined by the court based on: (1) surrender charges, (2) conditions imposed on the taxpayers by the insurance company, and (3) “paid-up insurance coverage remaining on the policies as of the date of distribution.” Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For previous coverage of policy valuation in Advisor’s Journal, see Tax Courts Holds Employee Taxable for Value of Life Insurance Owned by Welfare-Benefit Plan (CC 11-14).
For in-depth analysis of welfare benefits plans, see Advisor’s Main Library: B—Welfare Benefit Funds.
Posted in Retirement Planning | Tagged: Business, Employment, Fair market value, insurance, life insurance, Policy, tax, Welfare | Leave a Comment »
Economy and Budget: Long-Term Outlook
Posted by William Byrnes on March 27, 2011
Why is this Topic Important to Wealth Managers? A wealth manager should be able to present Advanced Market Intelligence on the long-term economic impact of government spending and its ability to raise revenues with clients.
The United States faces daunting economic and budgetary challenges. The economy has struggled to recover from the recent recession, which was triggered by a large decline in house prices and a financial crisis—events unlike anything this country has seen since the Great Depression.
For the federal government, the sharply lower revenues and elevated spending deriving from the financial turmoil and severe drop in economic activity—combined with the costs of various policies implemented in response to those conditions and an imbalance between revenues and spending that predated the recession—have caused budget deficits to surge in the past two years. The deficits of $1.4 trillion in 2009 and $1.3 trillion in 2010 are, when measured as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), the largest since 1945—representing 10.0 percent and 8.9 percent of the nation’s output, respectively. [1]
Also, the recovery in employment has been slowed not only by the moderate growth in output in the past year and a half but also by structural changes in the labor market, such as a mismatch between the requirements of available jobs and the skills of job seekers, that have hindered the employment of workers who have lost their job. Payroll employment, which declined by 7.3 million during the recent recession, gained a mere 70,000 jobs (or 0.06 percent), on net, between June 2009 and December 2010. [2]
However, under current law, CBO projects, budget deficits will drop markedly over the next few years—to $1.1 trillion in 2012, $704 billion in 2013, and $533 billion in 2014. Relative to the size of the economy, those deficits represent 7.0 percent of GDP in 2012, 4.3 percent in 2013, and 3.1 percent in 2014. From 2015 through 2021, the deficits in the baseline projections range from 2.9 percent to 3.4 percent of GDP. [3]
Nevertheless, the deficits that will accumulate under current law will push federal debt held by the public to significantly higher levels. Just two years ago, debt held by the public was less than $6 trillion, or about 40 percent of GDP; at the end of fiscal year 2010, such debt was roughly $9 trillion, or 62 percent of GDP, and by the end of 2021, it is projected to climb to $18 trillion, or 77 percent of GDP. [4] Read the analysis at AdvisorFYI
Posted in Tax Policy | Tagged: China, Congressional Budget Office, Deficit, Employment, Government spending, Great Depression, Gross domestic product, United States | Leave a Comment »
National Underwriter Offers Tax Advisors Expert Analysis
Posted by William Byrnes on March 22, 2011
Tax and insurance advisors looking for answers on how the new Tax Relief Act of 2010 will impact their clients are finding them in The National Underwriter Company’s just-published Selected Provisions and Analysis of the Tax Relief Act of 2010. The proprietary analysis is the only practitioners’ guide in Q&A format that answers the most critical questions asked by clients on insurance, estate and gift tax law changes.
Copies of the 64-page report are available for only $12.95 plus shipping and handling here. Producers and their companies can also license use of their logos and contact information directly on the cover of the guide for a marketing and client-management tool.
National Underwriter’s wealth management experts and report authors, Professor William H. Byrnes, Esq., LL.M, CWM and Robert Bloink, Esq., LL.M., noted, “While most media attention has focused on the Act’s retention of existing tax rates on the highest-earning Americans, tax, insurance and investment advisors are finding that the most important changes, from their perspective, are likely to be found in insurance, estate and gift tax provisions that will drive client decisions on investment strategy and wealth management priorities in 2011 and beyond.”
Rick Kravitz, Vice President & Managing Director of Summit Business Media’s Reference Division, said, “This proprietary analysis – compiled by leading experts in the field – demonstrates National Underwriter’s commitment to bringing timely and critical updates to advisors and financial planners so that they can successfully build their practices and better serve their clients.”
Prof. Byrnes, a former Coopers & Lybrand associate director in international tax and now Dean of the wealth management graduate program at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, noted that the 64-page analysis has answers to more than 100 important questions in these areas:
- Income Tax
- Estate and Gift Tax
- Generation Skipping Transfer Tax
- Deduction for State and Local Sales Taxes
- Alternative Minimum Tax
- Tax Credits
- Payroll Tax Holiday
- Wage Credit for Employees Who Are Active Duty Members of the Military
- Charitable Distributions from Retirement Accounts
- Bonus Depreciation and Section 179 Expensing
- Basis Reporting Requirements for Brokers and Mutual Funds
- Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act of 2010
- Health Care Act
- Form 1099 Reporting Requirement for Businesses
- American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010
- Requirements for Tax Return Preparers
“This is the only guide available on the market today that gives financial planners and producers issue-specific, time-critical information in Q&A format that addresses their most important technical questions with content that can also be used directly in client presentations,” Prof. Byrnes added. “The unique combination of The National Underwriter Company’s editorial staff and the resources and professional experience of the wealth management faculty at Thomas Jefferson School of Law provides assurance that these are answers that can be counted on.”
About The National Underwriter Company
For over 110 years, The National Underwriter Company has been the first in line with the targeted tax, insurance, and financial planning information you need to make critical business decisions. With respected resources available in print, on CD, and online, National Underwriter remains at the forefront of the evolving insurance industry, delivering the thorough and easy-to-use resources you rely on for success. National Underwriter is a Summit Business Media company.
About Summit Business Media
Summit Business Media is the leading B2B media and information company serving the insurance, investment advisory, professional services and mining investment markets through a variety of channels, including print, online and live events. Summit provides breaking news and analysis, in-depth practice management strategies, business-building techniques and actionable data to the markets it serves. Through its Media and Reference Divisions, Summit publishes 16 magazines, 20 websites and 150 reference titles. Summit’s Event Division hosts a dozen conferences across the spectrum of markets the company services. Summit’s Data Division is the leading data provider of financial, marketing and benefits information on corporations, insurance companies and life, benefits and property-casualty agents.
Summit employs nearly 400 employees in ten offices across the United States. For more information, please visitsummitbusinessmedia.com.
Posted in Taxation | Tagged: Employment, income tax, insurance, Summit Business Media, Tax credit, Tax law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, United States | Leave a Comment »
Deductibility of Welfare Benefit Plan Contributions (Section 419)
Posted by William Byrnes on March 18, 2011
Company is an accrual basis fiscal year taxpayer. Company pays severance benefits in its discretion on an ad hoc basis, and vacation benefits pursuant to its established policy.
Historically, Company has paid both severance and vacation pay from its general assets. Due to a decline in the Market over the past few years, Company has paid significant severance and expects to continue to pay additional severance over the next few years. Effective Jan 1, 2009 Company established Trust to pay this anticipated severance and vacation pay. Trust intends to submit an application for recognition of exempt status in 2010. On 1/1/2009 Company contributed over $1,000,000 to the Trust and deducted that amount on its tax return for 2009. Company indicates that beginning in 2010, Company will make payments for vacation and severance and will seek reimbursement from the Trust.
Company computed the amount deducted based on the limitation set forth in the Code.
Company has not provided any information documenting any severance claims incurred in 2009 that it expects to pay in 2010. Company indicates that because the Trust was established “to pay severance that they anticipate they will have to pay over the next few years …”, and because the amount deducted is within the limit set forth in the Code that the deduction is proper. Read the analysis at AdvisorFYI
Posted in Retirement Planning, Taxation | Tagged: Employment, Fiscal year, Internal Revenue Service, IRS tax forms, Severance package, tax, Tax deduction, TurboTax | Leave a Comment »
National Underwriter Offers Tax Advisors Expert Analysis
Posted by William Byrnes on March 14, 2011
Tax and insurance advisors looking for answers on how the new Tax Relief Act of 2010 will impact their clients are finding them in The National Underwriter Company’s just-published Selected Provisions and Analysis of the Tax Relief Act of 2010. The proprietary analysis is the only practitioners’ guide in Q&A format that answers the most critical questions asked by clients on insurance, estate and gift tax law changes.
Copies of the 64-page book are available for only $12.95 plus shipping and handling here. Producers and their companies can also license use of their logos and contact information directly on the cover of the guide for a marketing and client-management tool.
National Underwriter’s wealth management experts and report authors, Professor William H. Byrnes, Esq., LL.M, CWM and Robert Bloink, Esq., LL.M., noted, “While most media attention has focused on the Act’s retention of existing tax rates on the highest-earning Americans, tax, insurance and investment advisors are finding that the most important changes, from their perspective, are likely to be found in insurance, estate and gift tax provisions that will drive client decisions on investment strategy and wealth management priorities in 2011 and beyond.”
Rick Kravitz, Vice President & Managing Director of Summit Business Media’s Reference Division, said, “This proprietary analysis – compiled by leading experts in the field – demonstrates National Underwriter’s commitment to bringing timely and critical updates to advisors and financial planners so that they can successfully build their practices and better serve their clients.”
Prof. Byrnes, a former Coopers & Lybrand associate director in international tax and now Dean of the wealth management graduate program at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, noted that the 64-page analysis has answers to more than 100 important questions in these areas:
- Income Tax
- Estate and Gift Tax
- Generation Skipping Transfer Tax
- Deduction for State and Local Sales Taxes
- Alternative Minimum Tax
- Tax Credits
- Payroll Tax Holiday
- Wage Credit for Employees Who Are Active Duty Members of the Military
- Charitable Distributions from Retirement Accounts
- Bonus Depreciation and Section 179 Expensing
- Basis Reporting Requirements for Brokers and Mutual Funds
- Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act of 2010
- Health Care Act
- Form 1099 Reporting Requirement for Businesses
- American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010
- Requirements for Tax Return Preparers
“This is the only guide available on the market today that gives financial planners and producers issue-specific, time-critical information in Q&A format that addresses their most important technical questions with content that can also be used directly in client presentations,” Prof. Byrnes added. “The unique combination of The National Underwriter Company’s editorial staff and the resources and professional experience of the wealth management faculty at Thomas Jefferson School of Law provides assurance that these are answers that can be counted on.”
About The National Underwriter Company
For over 110 years, The National Underwriter Company has been the first in line with the targeted tax, insurance, and financial planning information you need to make critical business decisions. With respected resources available in print, on CD, and online, National Underwriter remains at the forefront of the evolving insurance industry, delivering the thorough and easy-to-use resources you rely on for success. National Underwriter is a Summit Business Media company.
About Summit Business Media
Summit Business Media is the leading B2B media and information company serving the insurance, investment advisory, professional services and mining investment markets through a variety of channels, including print, online and live events. Summit provides breaking news and analysis, in-depth practice management strategies, business-building techniques and actionable data to the markets it serves. Through its Media and Reference Divisions, Summit publishes 16 magazines, 20 websites and 150 reference titles. Summit’s Event Division hosts a dozen conferences across the spectrum of markets the company services. Summit’s Data Division is the leading data provider of financial, marketing and benefits information on corporations, insurance companies and life, benefits and property-casualty agents.
Summit employs nearly 400 employees in ten offices across the United States. For more information, please visitsummitbusinessmedia.com.
Posted in Taxation | Tagged: Employment, income tax, insurance, Summit Business Media, Tax credit, Tax law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, United States | Leave a Comment »
Study Exposes Impact of Health Care Act’s Employer Penalties
Posted by William Byrnes on March 4, 2011
The Congressional Research Service last week released a publication describing the employer healthcare mandate and penalties for large employers under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Although penalties under the Health Care Act will not be applicable until 2014, the Act brings about a sea of change in the employer’ role in employee health insurance that requires significant present preparation.
Contrary to popular miscomprehensions about the Act, it does not mandate that employers provide their employees with health insurance; however, the Act does incentivize large employers to do so by penalizing them if their employees are not covered to a minimum level by employer-provided health insurance. Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Congressional Research Service, Employment, Health care, Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, healthinsurance, insurance, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, United States | Leave a Comment »
SEP Plans Simplified
Posted by William Byrnes on March 2, 2011
SEP is a written plan that allows a business to make contributions toward executive’s retirement and employees’ retirement without getting involved in a more complex qualified plan.
Under a SEP, the business makes the contributions to a traditional individual retirement arrangement (called a SEP-IRA) set up by or for each eligible employee. A SEP-IRA is owned and controlled by the employee, and the business makes contributions to the financial institution where the SEP-IRA is maintained.
SEP-IRAs are set up for, at a minimum, each eligible employee. An eligible employee means an individual who meets all the following requirements: the individual has reached age 21, has worked for the business in at least 3 of the last 5 years, and has received at least $550 in compensation from the business in 2010.
There are three basic steps in setting up a SEP. Read the analysis at AdvisorFYI
Posted in Retirement Planning | Tagged: Business, Employment, Individual Retirement Account, Internal Revenue Service, Pension, Retirement, SEP-IRA, tax | Leave a Comment »
Group-Term Life Policy Tax Consequences
Posted by William Byrnes on February 25, 2011
The Internal Revenue Code provides an exclusion from income for the first $50,000 of group-term life insurance coverage provided under a policy carried directly or indirectly by an employer. [1] Thus, there are no tax consequences to the individual if the total amount of such policies does not exceed $50,000. However, the imputed cost of coverage in excess of $50,000 must be included in income to the individual, using the IRS Premium Table, [2] and are subject to social security and Medicare taxes.
A taxable fringe benefit arises if coverage exceeds $50,000 and the policy is considered carried directly or indirectly by the employer. A policy is considered carried directly or indirectly by the employer if:
- The employer pays any cost of the life insurance, or
- The employer arranges for the premium payments and the premiums paid by at least one employee subsidize those paid by at least one other employee (known as the “straddle” rule).
A policy that is not considered carried directly or indirectly by the employer has no tax consequences to the employee. Also, because the employees are paying the cost and the employer is not redistributing the cost of the premiums through an insurance system, the employer has no reporting requirements.
Read the analysis at AdvisorFYI
Posted in Insurance | Tagged: Employee benefit, Employment, Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax, insurance, Internal Revenue Service, Policy, tax, term life insurance | Leave a Comment »
Tax Courts Holds Employee Taxable for Value of Life Insurance Owned by Welfare-Benefit Plan
Posted by William Byrnes on February 18, 2011
A recent Tax Court case demonstrates the severe tax consequences for an employee when a welfare-benefit plan ceases to qualify under section 419A of the Tax Code. Section 419A governs “qualified asset accounts,” which are employer provided welfare-benefits plans that set aside funds for (1) disability benefits, (2) medical benefits, (3) severance benefits, or (4) life insurance benefits. In general, contributions by an employer to a welfare-benefit plan are tax deductible by the employer if they are ordinary and necessary business expenses. In the case, part of the funds contributed to the plan were used to buy life insurance coverage for the principal and other employees, with the rest of the funds constituting excess contributions.
Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
Posted in Retirement Planning | Tagged: Employee benefit, Employment, insurance, life insurance, tax, Tax deduction, United States, Welfare | Leave a Comment »
National Underwriter Offers Tax Advisors Expert Analysis of the Impact of the Tax Relief Act on Their Clients
Posted by William Byrnes on February 7, 2011
NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Tax and insurance advisors looking for answers on how the new Tax Relief Act of 2010 will impact their clients are finding them in The National Underwriter Company’s just-published Selected Provisions and Analysis of the Tax Relief Act of 2010. The proprietary analysis is the only practitioners’ guide in Q&A format that answers the most critical questions asked by clients on insurance, estate and gift tax law changes.
Copies of the 64-page report are available for only $12.95 plus shipping and handling here. Producers and their companies can also license use of their logos and contact information directly on the cover of the guide for a marketing and client-management tool.
National Underwriter’s wealth management experts and report authors, Professor William H. Byrnes, Esq., LL.M, CWM and Robert Bloink, Esq., LL.M., noted, “While most media attention has focused on the Act’s retention of existing tax rates on the highest-earning Americans, tax, insurance and investment advisors are finding that the most important changes, from their perspective, are likely to be found in insurance, estate and gift tax provisions that will drive client decisions on investment strategy and wealth management priorities in 2011 and beyond.”
Rick Kravitz, Vice President & Managing Director of Summit Business Media’s Reference Division, said, “This proprietary analysis — compiled by leading experts in the field — demonstrates National Underwriter’s commitment to bringing timely and critical updates to advisors and financial planners so that they can successfully build their practices and better serve their clients.”
Prof. Byrnes, a former Coopers & Lybrand associate director in international tax and now Dean of the wealth management graduate program at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, noted that the 64-page analysis has answers to more than 100 important questions in these areas:
- Income Tax
- Estate and Gift Tax
- Generation Skipping Transfer Tax
- Deduction for State and Local Sales Taxes
- Alternative Minimum Tax
- Tax Credits
- Payroll Tax Holiday
- Wage Credit for Employees Who Are Active Duty Members of the Military
- Charitable Distributions from Retirement Accounts
- Bonus Depreciation and Section 179 Expensing
- Basis Reporting Requirements for Brokers and Mutual Funds
- Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act of 2010
- Health Care Act
- Form 1099 Reporting Requirement for Businesses
- American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010
- Requirements for Tax Return Preparers
“This is the only guide available on the market today that gives financial planners and producers issue-specific, time-critical information in Q&A format that addresses their most important technical questions with content that can also be used directly in client presentations,” Prof. Byrnes added. “The unique combination of The National Underwriter Company’s editorial staff and the resources and professional experience of the wealth management faculty at Thomas Jefferson School of Law provides assurance that these are answers that can be counted on.”
About The National Underwriter Company
For over 110 years, The National Underwriter Company has been the first in line with the targeted tax, insurance, and financial planning information you need to make critical business decisions. With respected resources available in print, on CD, and online, National Underwriter remains at the forefront of the evolving insurance industry, delivering the thorough and easy-to-use resources you rely on for success. National Underwriter is a Summit Business Media company.
About Summit Business Media
Summit Business Media is the leading B2B media and information company serving the insurance, investment advisory, professional services and mining investment markets through a variety of channels, including print, online and live events. Summit provides breaking news and analysis, in-depth practice management strategies, business-building techniques and actionable data to the markets it serves. Through its Media and Reference Divisions, Summit publishes 16 magazines, 20 websites and 150 reference titles. Summit’s Event Division hosts a dozen conferences across the spectrum of markets the company services. Summit’s Data Division is the leading data provider of financial, marketing and benefits information on corporations, insurance companies and life, benefits and property-casualty agents.
Summit employs nearly 400 employees in ten offices across the United States. For more information, please visit summitbusinessmedia.com.
Posted in Taxation | Tagged: Employment, income tax, PR Newswire, Summit Business Media, Tax credit, Tax law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law | Leave a Comment »
The Small Business Tax Credit
Posted by William Byrnes on January 26, 2011
During 2010, President Obama realized his goal of providing health care coverage to all Americans when Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
Under the new health care legislation many new changes will affect taxpayers beginning last year. This week’s blogticles are dedicated to the discussion of the health care legislation and the impact it is projected to have. We begin with a discussion of the Small Business Tax Credit.
Under the new law, the Small Business Tax Credit allows qualified small employers to elect, beginning in 2010 a tax credit for some percentage of their employee health care coverage expenses. Generally, a “qualified small employer” is an employer who has the equivalent of 25 full-time workers or less (e.g., a firm with fewer than 50 half-time workers would be eligible), pay average annual wages below $50,000, and cover at least 50 percent of the cost of health care coverage for their workers.
Further, the tax credit will cover up to 35 percent of the premiums a small business pays to cover its workers until 2014, when the rate will increase to 50 percent. Nevertheless, the credit has phase out provisions which gradually reduce the credit amount for businesses with average wages between $25,000 and $50,000 and for businesses with the equivalent of between 10 and 25 full-time workers. To read this article excerpted above, please access AdvisorFYI.
Posted in Taxation | Tagged: Employment, Health care, Health insurance, Laborer, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Small business, Tax credit, United States | Leave a Comment »
Enhancing Executive Compensation: 162 Bonus Plans
Posted by William Byrnes on December 31, 2010
An employer who does not want to, or cannot, institute a qualified pension or profit-sharing plan, or who does not want to extend benefits to all of its full-time employees, can use a “Section 162 plan” to meet its executive compensation needs. A Section 162 plan leverages life insurance to provide supplemental compensation to select employees while also allowing the employer to take an income tax deduction for the premium payments.
In a Section 162 plan, an employer applies for, and pays premiums on, a life insurance policy on its employee’s life. The employee, however, owns the policy and has the right to appoint beneficiaries; the employer does not take an interest in the policy’s death benefit.
As an example of Section 162 plan and its tax advantages, … read this complete article at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For in-depth analysis of Section 162 plans, see Advisor’s Main Library: Section 15 C—Executive Bonus – I.R.C. �162 Plan
We invite your questions and comments by posting them below or by calling the Panel of Experts.
Posted in Retirement Planning, Uncategorized | Tagged: Business, Compensation and Benefits, Employment, Executive pay, Human Resources, insurance, Profit sharing, Tax advantage | Leave a Comment »
HIRE/FATCA Act: Part II Discussion
Posted by William Byrnes on November 24, 2010
Image via Wikipedia
The Federal Government has estimated that the “United States loses an estimated $345 billion in tax revenues each year as a result of offshore tax abuses primarily from the use of concealed and undeclared accounts held by U.S. taxpayers or their controlled foreign entities.” [1]
In consideration of the goal of eliminating this gap, “it is not surprising that the government recently ratcheted up its pressure on taxpayers who structured their activities, in many cases, with the active help and assistance of promoters and facilitators to avoid reporting their taxable income on their tax returns or hide these offshore accounts from the government.” [2] This increased “pressure” came in the form of the HIRE Act passed in the first quarter of 2010. [3] As was discussed earlier this week,[4] the new law provides for reporting requirements by foreign financial institutions with U.S. accountholders about the status, specifically identity and balance, of their account. [5] Read the entire article at AdvisorFYI.
Posted in Compliance, Reporting | Tagged: Employment, Federal government of the United States, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, Internal Revenue Service, Offshore bank, Social Security, tax, United States | Leave a Comment »
How The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act May Impact Your Business and Clients
Posted by William Byrnes on November 23, 2010
Image via Wikipedia
During the first quarter of 2010, President Obama signed into law H.R. 2847, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act. “The act provides incentives for job creation, but in order to pay for the incentives, the act also contains significant changes that will affect foreign financial institutions that choose to do business with U.S. persons.” [1] Half of the “U.S. Congressional Record that contains the act” is “dedicated to foreign account tax compliance.” [2]
Therefore, “although the act is commonly referred to as the HIRE Act for its focus on job creation, one of its main purposes is to target tax dodgers’ use of foreign accounts.” [3] The act is basically a model of the 2009 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) which was introduced by the Senate. “The act incorporates substantially all of FATCA, with one important exception: FATCA would have imposed reporting requirements on material advisors, including attorneys, accountants, and other professionals, who advise on acquisitions or formations of foreign entities.” [4]
Read the entire article at AdvisorFYI.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Barack Obama, Congressional Record, Employment, Financial institution, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, Incentive, tax, United States | Leave a Comment »
Nonqualified Pension Plans and Life Insurance
Posted by William Byrnes on November 18, 2010
Why is this Topic Important to Wealth Managers? Provides information on one additional planning tool that many wealth managers find useful for affluent clients who own a small business. Gives an overview of the nonqualified plans as well as proving a common use of life insurance to fund plan obligations well into the future.
Simply a nonqualified pension plan is a retirement plan that does not meet the requirements under the tax code and federal employment law to be considered qualified, and therefore the nonqualified plan is treated differently for tax purposes. [1]
What are some of the advantages of using a nonqualified plan over a qualified retirement plan? [2]
- Flexibility and selectivity—because the plan is not subject to requirements under the qualified plan rules, employers have much more control in terms of who may be included and the varying terms of each individual participant.
- Vesting and contingencies—nonqualified plans allow for the employer to exclude all amounts not met by vesting conditions or contingencies that the employee must achieve to obtain the benefit. Say for example, that the retirement funds become available to the employee after 10 years of faithful service to the company. If the employee does not work for 10 years, no benefits have thus accrued and the employee has no benefit under the plan.
- Cost savings through minimal reporting requirements—since nonqualified plans do not usually fall within major regulatory scope of qualified plans, the cost to administer these plans is generally less than some alternatives.
How are nonqualified plans treated for tax purposes? Read the entire blogticle at AdvisorFYI.
Posted in Insurance, Pensions | Tagged: Business, Employment, Financial services, Human Resources, life insurance, Pension, tax, United States | Leave a Comment »
Life Insurance in Qualified Pension Plans
Posted by William Byrnes on November 17, 2010
Why is this Topic Important to Wealth Managers? Presents the general treatment of life insurance purchased through qualified pension plans. Discusses a common scenario where life insurance premiums may be deductible by an employer aw well as the consequential income tax effect on plan participants.
Suppose your client is the sole shareholder and president of a closely held corporation. The business generates significant positive income and cash-flow on a steady basis. Assume the client himself may have an insurance need without the funds personally to cover the obligation. Assuming further the business has a qualified pension (defined contribution or defined benefit) plan, one consideration may be to purchase life insurance through the qualified pension plan. [1] Assume this option, up to an insurable interest limit, was also offered to all employees participating in the qualified plan.
Since employer contributions to qualified plans are sometimes deductible, amount used to purchase life insurance may be also, subject to the incidental limitation. [2] First though, “[t]o qualify for deduction as a contribution to a qualified plan, the employer’s contribution must first qualify as an ordinary and necessary business expense within the limits of reasonable compensation.” [3] As a general rule, so long as the amount of the insurance is no more than 25% of the total cost of the plan the amount may be deducted as an incidental benefit to the plan.
Read the entire blogticle at AdvisorFYI.
Posted in Insurance, Uncategorized | Tagged: Business, Cash flow, Corporation, Employment, income tax, insurance, life insurance, Pension | Leave a Comment »
Health Care Reform Causes an Avalanche of 1099s
Posted by William Byrnes on November 11, 2010
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The Health Care Act includes many provisions that are not directly related to health care but which are intended to fund the colossal government expenditure necessitated by the Act. One of the most burdensome changes imposed by the Health Care Act is the massive expansion of the payees and payment types that require a 1099. The new requirements will trigger a flood of paperwork for everyone involved, including payors, payees, and the IRS.
The new information reporting requirement will kick in on January 1, 2012. But the IRS will not be releasing guidance on the changes right away, so the time for taxpayers to implement the new requirements may run short. The comment period preceding the IRS’s release of proposed regulations passed at the end of September, so we can expect proposed regulations in the coming months. Advisor’s Journal will keep you informed as the IRS implements these new rules. Read this complete article at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For previous coverage of the Health Care Act in Advisor’s Journal, see Changes Affecting Individuals in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-15), Changes Affecting Business in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-16), and Changes Affecting Large Employers in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-17).
Posted in Taxation | Tagged: Employment, Health care, Health care reform, Internal Revenue Service, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Politics, tax, United States | Leave a Comment »
The Department of Labor Releases Final 401(k) Disclosure Rules
Posted by William Byrnes on November 9, 2010
Fee disclosure rules for 401(k) plans were expected out of the Department of Labor in early 2011, but the Department beat its own estimates, releasing a final rule on plan fee disclosures on October 14, 2010. The rules impose significant disclosure requirements that are important for everyone associated with self-directed employee retirement plans, including employees and their advisors and plan fiduciaries.
The new rules apply to plan years beginning after November 1, 2011. Although plan administrators have over a year to comply with the new requirements, the disclosure requirements are very extensive—the release that includes the regulations is over 150 pages long—and will require significant action on the part of most plan fiduciaries, so time is of the essence. Read this complete article at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For in-depth analysis of 401(k) retirement plans, see Advisor’s Main Library: Section 17.5 401(k) Plans.
Posted in Wealth Management | Tagged: 401(k), Business, Employment, Fee, Human Resources, Labor Department, Pension, United States Department of Labor | Leave a Comment »
The Automatic IRA Act of 2010: Boon for Advisors?
Posted by William Byrnes on September 29, 2010
The Automatic IRA Act of 2010 (S. 3760) would require smaller employers to open automatically funded IRAs for their employees, a business opportunity for some advisors and a competitor for advisors to other retirement plans. In addition to its effect on advisors, the automatic IRA program may also benefit the insurance industry by allowing investment in insurance and annuity products, a blessing for insurers when life insurance coverage is at a fifty-year low.
For the complete analysis by our Experts Robert Bloink and William Byrnes, please read the article via your AdvisorFX subscription at The Automatic IRA Act of 2010: Boon for Advisors?
Posted in Retirement Planning | Tagged: Annuity (US financial products), Business, Employment, Financial services, Individual Retirement Account, insurance, Investment, Pension | Leave a Comment »
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