Hi Everyone,
Tax season is upon us and I hope you all enjoyed Super Bowl weekend as much as I did because there’s lots of work to do the next few weeks.
I hope this helps,
Susan
Tax Rules
Taxes and our every-changing code are as annoying as bees at a picnic. Kiplinger recently put out a special letter addressing this year’s issues. Here’s some of it.
The 3.8% Medicare surtax on net investment income begins. It applies to unearned income (MAGI) of married couples over $250,000 and single filers over $125,000.
Investment income includes interest, dividends, capital gains, annuities and passive rental income. Interest that is federal and/or state tax free is exempted, along with payouts from retirement plans.
The estate tax exemption becomes $5,250,000 and the annual gift tax exclusion rises to $14,000 per donee.
The top rate on capital gains and dividends rises to 20% for high-incomers like married couples with taxable income over $450,000 and singles over $400,000. The Medicare surtax can boost rate to 23.8%. For others, a 15% rate applies, but filers in the 10% or 15% bracket can still qualify for the special 0% rate.
This is not intended as specific advice. Please consult your tax professional for guidance.
Documents
IRS moved 1099 mailing deadline to February 15th.
LPL Financial is required to report clients’ sales, dividends and other distributions paid by investment companies on the 1099 Consolidated Statement. Should these companies fail to provide data by 2/15/2013, it could be further delayed as LPL attempts to reduce the number of corrections.
Be patient, go ahead and provide your accountant other data and reach out to me with questions.
Meetings
For those of you in my fee-based asset management program, please remember that I will make myself available to meet with you and your tax accountant should it be needed.
The calendar can fill quickly this time of year so please let me know how I can be of assistance as soon as possible.
Thanks!