• Free newsletters - Wealth Advisor, Breaking News and More
  • Earn Free CE Credits
  • Free Seminars and Podcasts from Industry Experts
  • Access our Discussion Boards

  • ACLI Slams Obama’s Plan to Tax Annuity Income

    February 26, 2010

    Whitehouse plans to tax the “non-earned” income of high earners to pay for Medicare could hurt annuity sales, claims a lobbyist for the insurance industry.

  • Senator Proposes Alternative Bill to Tax Bonuses

    February 16, 2010

    Sen. Sherrod Brown has introduced a bill that would tax more Wall Street bonuses than similar legislation introduced a week ago.

  • Tax-Credit Debt Fades To BABs?

    January 26, 2010

    Stripping Rules Coming by July

  • Tightening Screws on Tax Refund Anticipation Loans

    January 12, 2010

    Tax-time loans, already an embattled product, now face even more regulatory scrutiny — and not just from the traditional banking agencies.

  • CUSO Launches ActivePassive Portfolios

    January 8, 2010

    Advisors can select from 14 different investment approaches designed to satisfy their clients’ various risk tolerance levels and tax situations.

  • Despite Hard Times, Americans Keep on Giving

    December 29, 2009

    Despite the weak economy and tight household budgets, 80% of survey respondents say their charitable donations in 2009 will be the same or more than what they gave away last year.

  • Estate Tax to Temporarily Expire Until Next Year

    December 17, 2009

    Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., dropped efforts to temporarily extend the estate tax at its current level in the face of Republican opposition.

  • Investors Still Undecided about Roth Conversions

    December 10, 2009

    A TD Ameritrade survey of 1,000 retail investors found that 44% are undecided on whether to convert from a tradition IRA to a Roth.

  • Extenders Bill Would Allow More Time for Liberty Bonds

    December 8, 2009

    New York Liberty Bond issuers — including the Liberty Development Corp., which planned to sell $2.59 billion of the bonds this month to beat the current deadline — would have another year to put together deals under legislation introduced yesterday by the top tax writer in the House.

  • SEC Settlements Fall For Second Year

    December 7, 2009

    In 2009, settlements overall declined 6.98%.

  • Extending the Estate Tax: The Battle Heats Up

    December 4, 2009

    If you happened to die in one year rather than the other you’d have vastly different results.

  • House Approves 45 Percent Estate Tax Extension

    December 4, 2009

    The House voted to set the inheritance tax at 45% permanently for estates larger than $3.5 million. The estate tax is set to expire next month and disappear temporarily next year, only to return at a higher rate of 55% in 2011. All estates of whatever size will be subject to a 15% capital gains tax rate unless the legislation passes. The bill, which was approved by a vote of 225-200, would continue to exempt estates of less than $3.5 million. Married couples with estates of $7 million would be exempted through estate planning, leaving less than 1 percent of estates subject to the inheritance tax. Republicans had pressed to eliminate the estate tax completely, but that effort was rebuffed as Congress also tries to tackle the budget deficit. “Few tax professionals or estate planners expected the estate tax to disappear in 2010,” said Bill Smith, director of the national tax office at CBIZ Mayer Hoffman McCann. “Those who planned ahead and took advantage of the depressed asset values and low interest rates will be ahead of the curve, while those who were waiting until after the 2010 to do their estate planning will be scrambling. The takeaway is that now is the best time in recent history to do estate planning, especially since the tax is not going away.”

  • CFA: Led Zeppelin, Beatles, The Who Offer Investment Advice

    December 2, 2009

    Inspirational and practical investment advice from Rock ’n’ Roll

  • A Vacation From Capital Gains?

    December 1, 2009

    It might be a shorter one than you think.

  • ABA Seeks Clarification on BABs, Other ARRA Issues

    November 25, 2009

    The American Bar Association’s section on taxation has asked the Treasury Department to clarify a number of points in tax-regulatory guidance of Build America Bonds and other new programs under the ­American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to ensure issuers don’t do ­anything when issuing the bonds or ­spending the proceeds that could jeopardize the federal subsidy on the bonds.