Tax-Efficient Family Gifting: An Advisor’s Guide
The line between taxes and financial behavior is very thin. Taxes give clues to other issues that might be going on beyond what goes on the tax return. Even though many of the answers are not tax-driven, the fact that financial planners are often viewed as trusted tax advisors (which in turn is often different from being the tax preparer) means they have the opportunity to learn where there are other questions that need to be addressed.
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When I last Googled “IRS RMD Table,” the first result that popped up was a link to an active IRS web page with the outdated RMD information. Millions of people who clicked on the first link provided by Google were given, by the IRS, incorrect information. Countless other examples of incorrect tax information, ranging from capital gains rates to Medicare premiums to gifting limits and especially the math on Roth conversions can be found prominently displayed across the internet, including on some of the most reputable websites.
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