Eps 87: Death, Thumb And Taxes: Tips To Avoiding Thumb
— The too lazy to register an account podcast
Despite creating a joint account, these parents often continue to report the income from the bank account on their own tax return.
So unless you transfer true ownership of the bank account - one indication of this may be your child reports half the income on their return, you have not minimized your probate fees or maximized your family wealth.
When considering changing an account to joint, parents should consider full disclosure to all their children about their intentions and how the account should be reported for tax purposes.
Host
Allan Gregory
Podcast Content
As always, you must take into account your own circumstances, but I hope that these examples have helped you to see what alternative approaches are possible for your situation.
Although investing always involves risk, some insurance products can guarantee a return stream, eliminating the risk of surviving some of your savings. Some products, such as annuities, offer this guarantee, but if you feel that you need savings to last until retirement, or find volatility irritating, history suggests that a higher allocation in equities may be less attractive. Choosing the right payout percentage can improve your chances of success, but it does not guarantee that your money will not run out.
Most pensions restrict or even eliminate access to your assets and are dependent on your ability to settle claims. Of course, there is a trade-off: you can reduce the amount of death benefits your beneficiaries receive, thereby depriving them of money they may be able to count on.
If your life insurance is classified as a Modified Endowment Contract (MEC), your payouts are subject to taxation. MECs are taxed in the same way as pensions, so check with your life insurance provider about the impact on your policy before you withdraw money. If you withdraw enough money to dive into the capital, your initial withdrawals from the MEC are considered to be interest-bearing.
A traditional retirement account is taxable until you actually withdraw money from the account. This is different from a regular taxable account, where you are taxed annually on income (i.e. interest and dividends) and on capital gains and sales. There are growth accounts that are taxable - deferred, but still taxable.
In a Roth account, withdrawals can be taxable until you actually withdraw money from the account (for example, in a 401 (k)).
The Internal Revenue Code requires pension account holders to withdraw 1 / 2 of their account when they reach age 70, limiting the tax-free growth of retirement accounts to $1,000 a year for individuals and $2,500 for families. One of the benefits of tax relief on pension accounts is that the federal government will eventually forget its share of the growth. You can distribute your funds without incurring income tax, ensuring that Uncle Sam can get his share.
However, the purpose of the RMD rule is simply to ensure that taxation of the pension account is no longer deferred and that any sensible pensioner would withdraw prudently anyway. As a result, an R-MDM obligation only requires the account holder to transfer the money to a specific recipient at the end of his or her retirement age.
Note that the availability of 12 months of cash reduces the risk of being forced to withdraw money from investments when stock and bond prices fall. In other words, you can allocate it to your pension needs just as you would any other type of investment.
This relationship helps you achieve a three-way balance between everyday things and at the same time enjoy life in the present and plan for the future. Instead of transferring ownership of the holiday homes, parents get a tax-free status to cover the resulting income tax liability. The idea is that taxes will be paid on the sale and the value of the cottage will instead benefit the children in the future.
However, the cost of insurance can ultimately reduce family wealth, so it is important to consider this option carefully. In most cases, a better tax strategy is for parents to keep the house in their name when they die. PR parents can transfer their home to their children, which results in less family wealth, resulting in a lower income tax liability for the parents and a higher tax burden for the children.
If you want to give the money to your children and grandchildren while they are still alive, you have another option. If you own a holiday home and transfer it to one of the children, that is fine, but if you transfer the holiday home to another child, it causes a higher tax burden.
The good news is that the inheritance tax exemption is a lifetime exemption that can also be used for gifts. Every dollar you give away today merely reduces the amount you can transfer tax-free in the event of death. Tax planning is complicated and tax laws often change, so if you want to give money to your children or grandchildren soon, you should sit down with your tax adviser to work out a workable plan.