With the end of the year just around the corner, now is the time to consider year-end strategies for tax planning. Ed Slott, CPA, suggests that low tax rates offer opportunities for some taxpayers to make some smart retirement moves.
The clock may be ticking on backdoor Roths. The latest proposal (under a House of Representatives bill submitted on November 19, 2021) would eliminate both the regular backdoor Roth and the mega-backdoor Roth next year for everyone, regardless of income.
As we’ve seen from recent tax proposals, Congress has retirement accounts in its sights for future tax increases, especially the larger IRAs. We know what the tax rules and tax rates are for 2021, but advisers can also help clients make some defensive moves now, just in case any of these IRA tax proposals resurface in future years.
Congress has set its sights on mega-IRA balances, in large part due to the recent reports about Peter Thiel’s $5 billion Roth IRA. But some of these proposals will impact many other clients with smaller individual retirement accounts and Roth IRAs.
Imagine spending a lifetime building a retirement account only to have your beneficiaries lose it in one fell swoop: They mishandle the account, triggering tax on the entire inherited individual retirement account.
IRA data released from the Joint Committee on Taxation revealing some mega-million dollar IRA and Roth IRA balances has set off alarm bells, with Congress citing shock and “abuse” and looking for something to do about this.But there is really no story here when you look at the numbers
2021 is the last year your clients can use their retirement funds for unlimited charitable giving as a result of provisions in recent tax laws.
As a result of widespread job loss during the coronavirus pandemic, many suddenly-unemployed persons who dipped into retirement accounts are saddled with outstanding loans from company savings plans.Advisers can play a valuable role in helping these clients by understanding how the “loan offset” rules work, how the CARES Act affects loan offsets, and how offsets differ from “deemed distributions.”
The age when older Americans must start making withdrawals from retirement accounts could change yet again.
Under a provision in proposed retirement legislation pending in Congress, required minimum distributions, or RMDs, would start at age 75 by 2032, up from age 72 — which only took effect last year after the 2019 Secure Act raised it from age 70½.
I figure Ed Slott has been asked this question a million times, “How much do I need to retire?”, but I ask it anyway.Like anything in life, the true answer is a little more nuanced
