Category Archives: Elder News & Alerts

Retirement planning using IRAs

Using IRAs in tax planning during retirement

TAX: Because of the flexibility of IRA distributions, it’s easy to move income among years

By Richard Malamud, CPA, J.D., LL.M., and Tim Hilger, CPA

Those of us who are age 59½ and older and still working face some interesting decisions. After decades of hearing the mantra, “Defer, Defer, and then Defer” maybe it is time to change that to “Accelerate” — at least sometimes. It is the thing to do if you assume tax rates will not be going down and the future may bring us large capital gains or other income that could cause us to owe the new Medicare tax. Continue reading →

IRS Narrows Options for Bad Debts Being Worthless

Are there conditions that you must meet before you can claim a bad debt?  Of course! 

Just because you believe you are unable to recover a debt, you must be absolutely certain there is no prospect of recovery. And even then, the loss may be disallowed. The courts will look at the level of collection effort that was made by the creditor, and if there is even a remote possibility that the debt can be collected on.

So how do you determine if a debt is worthless?   Continue reading →