The IRS has released a 12-page notice (PDF) providing guidance in question-and-answer form for employers that want to offer their 401k or 403b participants the opportunity to move money from a regular account to a designated Roth account within the same plan. This guidance was on a fast track so that employers could make this opportunity available before the end of 2010 for those participants who want to take advantage of the special rule, available only this year, to delay the reporting of income from a conversion — splitting it between 2011 and 2012 instead of reporting it as 2010 income. (more…)
Archive for November, 2010
New Guidance on In-Plan Roth Conversions
Saturday, November 27th, 2010Tax Agenda for Congress
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010The current Congress has little time and much to accomplish. It has five big items on its tax agenda. Here’s a quick summary of what they are and where they stand. (more…)
Fairmark Wrapup
Friday, November 12th, 2010Here’s our summary of recent items of interest. (more…)
AMT Relief, We Promise
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010Congress has not yet “patched” the alternative minimum tax, or AMT, for 2010. Without a new law, millions of taxpayers will encounter this tax for the first time — and those who pay AMT will pay much more than normal. Everyone expects Congress to act, but the IRS generally has to proceed on the basis of what the law says, not what it’s expected to say. That creates a problem because we’re so late in the year: forms, instructions and publications written based on current law will require costly and time-consuming revisions after we get the new law. (more…)
Deduction Goes Up in Smoke
Monday, November 8th, 2010In some locales, if you want to demolish a home you can donate it to the local fire department to use for training purposes. They burn it down for you, eliminating the cost of bringing in a wrecking crew. As an added benefit, you get to claim a charitable contribution deduction for the donation to the fire department . . . or so we might have thought prior to a recent decision of the Tax Court. (more…)
WSJ Quotes Our Author
Monday, November 1st, 2010Today’s Wall Street Journal quotes Kaye Thomas, Fairmark.com’s author, in an article on tax loss harvesting. His expertise was requested on the question of when different securities, and in particular, different ETFs, might be considered substantially identical for purposes of the wash sale rule.
