Each year brings its own set of tax planning challenges, and this year is no exception. This course aims to arm tax planners with planning strategies and ideas that all clients, but in particular, wealthy clients, middle-income clients, and closely held business owners need to consider right now to take advantage of present opportunities and plan for future tax advantages. Learn strategies that can really have an impact on client lives, while also bringing value to you and your firm. This material is continuously updated for recent legislation impacting individual taxpayers.
Learning Objectives
- Mine a tax return for tax planning with a client
- Understand the planning implications of the current environment
- Determine the best tax strategies for retirement
- Understand tax planning for the middle-income client
Major Topics
- Understanding the environment: what’s new, what’s expired or expiring, and what’s likely to change in light of the new Trump administration and Republican Congress
- Reading a tax return for developing client-specific tax strategies
- Changes to the lifetime estate tax exemption considering proposed regulations
- The net investment income tax: planning for compliance
- Family income-splitting strategies that need to be considered
- Income tax issues: impact on timing of other income
- Selling a principal residence
- Two principal residences at the same time
- Use of life insurance to protect families: Whole Life Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Universal Life Insurance, and Variable Life Insurance
- Using Roth IRAs and Roth contribution programs to best advantage
- Conversions: do they still make sense?
- Taking distributions: matching timing to client requirements
- Qualified plan contributions to reduce current income and Social Security tax: implications for business owners and self-employed
- Social Security
- the latest on the looming solvency crisis
- Incentive Stock Options and Employee Stock Purchase Plan considerations
- What to do about itemized deductions
- Trans-generational planning: conversions, income, and gain-splitting
- Tax benefits of HSAs and other tax-advantaged accounts
- Identifying tax opportunities: reviewing the prior-year return to develop a plan for the future
- Planning for middle-income taxpayers: financial planning for the young, the working, and those approaching or in retirement
- Best financial planning ideas for young people
