The Death of the Stretch is Back On Congress’ Agenda

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The Death of the Stretch is Back On Congress’ Agenda

This just in.

Stretch IRA James Lange Pittsburgh PennsylvaniaThe House is scheduled to vote on Thursday, May 23, 2019, on the SECURE ACT. Then, it will be in the Senate’s court to vote on RESA. Then the House and Senate will need to reconcile the differences between the bills. Experts, including us, think a compromise will be found and that the “stretch IRA” as we know it, will be gone, dealing a severe blow to IRA and retirement plan owners who were hoping their heirs would be able to continue deferring the distributions on their inherited IRAs and retirement plans for decades.

Here is the story so far.

In mid-April, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., reintroduced their Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act (RESA).

Under this bill, which we’ve been talking about since 2016, the account balance in a defined contribution plan or IRA must be distributed and included in income by the beneficiary five years after the employee’s or IRA owner’s death. Surviving spouses, beneficiaries who are disabled or chronically ill individuals, individuals who are not more than 10 years younger than the employee (or IRA owner), or the child of the employee (or IRA owner) who has not reached the age of maturity are excluded from this rule. Plus, an exception to the five-year distribution deadline is provided for each beneficiary to the extent that the balance of the account they receive from the deceased employee or IRA owner does not exceed $400,000.

Also in April, the House Ways and Means Committee passed a bill known as the Secure Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019). What was remarkable about the Secure Act is that it was fast-tracked and approved with lightning speed, with the intention “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to encourage retirement saving, and for other purposes.” And while it does include some incentives for people to participate in retirement plans, it also proposes the “death of the stretch IRA.” The House version of the bill differs from RESA in that it proposes a 10-year time limit on holding an inherited IRA or inherited Roth IRA or other defined contribution plan before all of the funds in the account must be distributed.  According to the summary provided by the House Committee on Ways and Means:

Section 401. Modifications to Required Minimum Distribution Rules: The legislation modifies the required minimum distribution rules with respect to defined contribution plan and IRA balances upon the death of the account owner. Under the legislation, distributions to individuals other than the surviving spouse of the employee (or IRA owner), disabled or chronically ill individuals, individuals who are not more than 10 years younger than the employee (or IRA owner), or child of the employee (or IRA owner) who has not reached the age of majority are generally required to be distributed by the end of the tenth calendar year following the year of the employee or IRA owner’s death.

We have been anticipating the death of the stretch IRA for years and wrote two books about its consequences.  We were pretty convinced it was going to be eliminated in the last round of tax law changes, and frankly, we were surprised when the limit on non-spouse heirs stretching distributions from inherited IRAs over their lifetimes was not included. But, it’s back, and once again the devil is in the details which will have to be hashed out between the two houses. In the next post, I will offer some insight into the consequences and preliminary recommendations.

If you have an IRA and/or other retirement plan and were hoping to leave it to your heirs with a favorable tax treatment and want to be kept up to date with this information, please contact our offices at 412-521-2732.

How Does the Tax Reform Affect Retirees?

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How does the Tax Reform Affect Retirees? Read More on https://paytaxeslater.com/how-does-the-tax-reform-affect-retirees/

How does the Tax Reform affect Retirees?

I was able to spend some time reading over the holiday, and of course much of my efforts were devoted to finding out how people were reacting to the new tax reform bill. In quick succession, I came across three articles published by three different media outlets. The first said that the tax reform would hurt poor people; the second insisted that the tax reform would hurt the middle class, and the third swore that the tax reform would hurt the rich. Many of our clients are retired, and they are asking “how will the tax reform affect me?” So I thought I would give you some ideas about how the tax reform might affect retirees.

One concern for retirees involves the changes made to the rules affecting Schedule A, Itemized Deductions. Will the tax reform affect you if you are retired, and you have been able to itemize? The short answer is that, depending on what and how much you deduct, the tax reform may affect you because some of the itemized deductions were reduced or even eliminated. Let’s look at specifics.

Tax Reform and Medical Expenses

Many retirees have high medical costs – and the good news is that medical expenses will still be deductible in 2017 assuming that they exceed a certain threshold. What makes this statement less than straightforward, though, is that there were two different thresholds when you did your taxes last year. Prior to the tax reform, individuals who were younger than age 65 had to have medical expenses that exceeded 10% of their adjusted gross income in order to be able to use the deduction.

If you or your spouse were 65 or older, though, the threshold was lower – only 7.5%. And whatever your age, you could only deduct the medical expenses that were in excess of your threshold. The bottom line for retirees? If you itemize, tax reform shouldn’t affect your medical deductions unless both you and your spouse are younger than 65 years old. The tax reform may actually benefit younger individuals who have high medical costs because, starting in 2017, everyone regardless of their age will have to meet a threshold of only 7.5% before they can deduct any medical expenses.

Tax Reform and Property Taxes

Many retirees could be affected by the changes in state and local tax (or, SALT) itemized deductions. Through 2017, you can deduct all of your state, local, real estate, sales and personal property taxes on Schedule A if you itemize. In 2018, those deductions will be capped at $10,000. How does this affect retirees? It depends. If you didn’t deduct these expenses because you used the standard deduction last year, this provision in the tax reform won’t affect you at all.

But if your income is high enough that it is subject to state and local tax, or if you own a home on which you pay high property taxes, any deduction that you might be able to take after the tax reform could be reduced. If this sounds like you, you will need to check the Schedule A on your prior year return to see exactly how much of the taxes you paid were deductible in the past. The tax reform could affect you negatively if you’ve been able to deduct more than $10,000 because, starting in 2018, your deduction will be limited to that amount.

Tax Reform and Mortgage Interest

Many retirees prefer to have the mortgages on their homes paid off before they leave the work force. If that’s you, the changes to the mortgage interest deduction rules, by themselves, shouldn’t affect you. Prior to the tax reform, married couples could deduct the interest they paid on mortgages that were less than $1,000,000. Under the tax reform, that mortgage limit is lowered to $750,000 – which means that individuals who have large mortgages may not be able to deduct as much of the interest as in the past. If you are retired, this change should not affect you unless you are planning to buy a new home in 2018 or later. If you do buy a new home and finance more than $750,000 (and you itemize) you will not be able to deduct as much as you would have prior to the tax reform.

Tax Reform and Miscellaneous Deductions

How about miscellaneous itemized deductions? The big ones for my clients are their investment account fees and, in some cases, employee business expenses, but includes smaller deductions such as tax preparation fees and safety deposit box fees. The new law temporarily repeals all of those, so if you itemize and have taken advantage of them in the past, the tax reform may hurt you in this area of your return.

Tax Reform and Charitable Contributions

What about charitable contributions? The tax reform will not affect charitable contributions at all. If you don’t itemize, your charitable contributions weren’t deductible in prior years and so nothing has changed for you. If you do qualify to itemize, contributions that you make to legitimate charities will still be deductible in 2018.

This leads me to my big finale! My theme throughout this post has been, “assuming that you qualify to itemize”. Even if you were able to itemize in the past, you may not need to itemize after the tax reform because the standard deduction (or, the amount that the government gives to everybody with no strings attached) has almost doubled. In 2017, the standard deduction for married couples filing jointly is $12,700 but in 2018 it will be $24,000. So even if you fall into one of the categories where you believe the tax reform might initially hurt you – for example, if you have a significant amount of investment account fees that are no longer deductible – it might be a moot point if the government is going to just give you more than what you would have gotten by itemizing anyway.

Confusing? You bet! So please bear with us during tax season as we try to sort this out!

Stop back soon!

-Jim

Learn how Jim Nabors saved $4.8 Million by marrying his husband.

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017: Ten Huge Take-Aways

Posted on by in Current Events, Economy, Home Buyer, Income Tax, Market News, Tax Law and tagged , , , , .

Ten Huge Take-Aways from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by Jim Lange

 

Ten Huge Take-Aways from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

by James Lange, CPA/Attorney

The first thing to consider about the proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is that it is just a proposed tax bill.  It is possible it will face stiff resistance in the Senate and possibly get no votes from the Republicans.  Jeff Flake, John McCain, Bob Corker, and Lisa Murkowski might be on that list of Republican “no” votes. So, like health care it is possible, and even likely, that nothing will happen this year and maybe not in the foreseeable future.

Depending on your personal circumstances, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 could be good or bad for your family.  Critical factors like how many children you have, whether you live in a high-tax state and itemize your deductions or take the standard deduction, whether you own a home or are looking to buy one could sway you from benefiting from these changes or suffering from them.

In fact, there are so many variables to consider that it is difficult to make a blanket statement that the proposal will offer you tax relief.  Corporate America is a clear winner. Reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent, Speaker Paul Ryan argues, will create more jobs and drive up wages.  But critics, even Republican critics, say it is not a given that companies will pass their savings on to workers vs. shareholders through higher dividends.

However, the bill as it stands now is far from becoming law.  Ultimately, the Senate will introduce more changes and what we will end up with and whether it will pass are still great unknowns.  But, going forward it will still be helpful to understand some of the main provisions the bill advances so you can begin to assess the impact on you and your family.

Champions and underdogs in the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017:

  1. This doesn’t appear to be an overall tax-cut for the middle class, as promised. What we see in this bill is a tax cut for some, and a tax hike for others.  As usual, it all depends on how much you make, how you earn your living, where you live, the mortgage on your home, your property taxes, student loans, etc.  The Tax Policy Center commented that the bill wasn’t really tax reform but rather it was more of a complicated tax cut.  We have compared differences for different hypothetical clients and the results were less dramatic than we thought.  In one case, the elimination of the alternative minimum tax was helpful, but the dis-allowance of state and local income taxes netted out to a tax increase for one client.
  2. The bill reduces the number of tax brackets from seven to four. Currently the brackets are 10-15-20-28-33-35-39.6%.  Under the new provisions there will be a zero bracket (in the form of an enhanced standard deduction according to the bill), and from there the brackets will be 12-25-35-36.9%.  Here is how they break down:
2017 Single Filer2017 Married Filing Jointly2017 Head of Household
$0- $9,325 – 10%$0-18,650 – 10%$0- $13,350 – 10%
$9,326- $37,950 – 15%$18,651- $75,900 – 15%$13,351- $50,800 – 15%
$37,951- $91,900 – 25%$75,901- $153,100 – 25%$50,801- $131,200 – 25%
$91,901- $191,650 – 28%$153,101- $233,350 – 28%$131,201- $212,500 – 28%
$191,651- $416,700 – 33%$233,351- $416,700 – 33%$212,501- $416,700 – 33%
$416,701-$418,400 – 35%$416,701- $470,700 – 35%$416,701- $444,550 – 35%
$418,401 + – 39.6%$470,701+ – 39.6%$444,551 + – 39.6%

 

Proposed Single Filer Proposed Married Filing JointlyProposed Head of Household
$0-$44,999 – 12%$0-$89,999 – 12%$0-$67,499 – 12%
$45,000-$199,999 – 25%$90,000-$259,999 – 25%$67,500-$229,999 – 25%
$200,000-$499,999 – 35%$260,000-$999,999 – 35%$230,000-$499,999 – 35%
$500,000+ – 39.6%$1,000,000+ – 39.6%$500,000+ – 39.6%

Additionally, the bill would eliminate the alternative minimum tax (AMT), a second tax calculation for people earning about $130,000 which reduces the impact of many tax breaks.

  1. The bill doubles the current standard deduction, giving $12,000 to single filers, $24,000 for married filing jointly, and $18,000 for heads of household.
  1. But before you get too excited about a larger deduction, they’ve decided to repeal the personal exemption—currently $4,050 per person—and the deductions for state and local taxes. So, it isn’t as much of a break as you think it is.
  1. They are taking away one of our favorite, and edgiest strategies. No more recharacterization of Roth IRAs. If you’ve heard me talk about Roth IRAs, you’ve probably heard me mention recharacterization.  The ability to recharacterize, basically undo the Roth conversion, adds enormous flexibility in our Roth IRA conversion planning.  This will mean that the days of do-it-yourself Roth IRA conversion calculations will be highly risky.  Having a professional you can trust, who knows the system in and out, and who has the experience to get it right will become incredibly important.
  1. Taxpayers with a net worth of $10 million or more (and their children) have a reason to cheer as the plan almost doubles the current federal estate tax exemption from $5,490,000 to $10,000,000 per individual, with spouses exempt from any limits. The Joint Committee on Taxation has commented that this provision, while being a boon for business owners and wealthier Americans will reduce the federal revenue by around $172 billion over 2018-2027.  Oh, yeah…and after 2023, the estate tax will be repealed all together.  Compensating for that loss of revenue is a huge stumbling block for the proposed tax reform.  Though hard to confirm, rumor has it that originally they were going to eliminate the estate tax entirely but put this provision in to secure the support of Alaska.
  1. While the bill does simplify many areas, it also complicates many areas. It is not a major tax simplification.  I do not fear that our CPA firm will lose business because clients will find it so easy to complete their tax returns.
  1. While corporations and businesses will see a reduced corporate tax rate—from 35% to 20% – it will come with a price¾a much more involved and complicated filing process. New anti-abuse rules, complicated multi-national corporation rules, new tax treatments on interest, and changes in international income rules will make navigating your business tax return much more difficult.  Shareholders of pass through entities, like Subchapter S corporations will get a big break, but the complications for claiming that break are considerable.
  1. The Act is silent on the Death of the Stretch IRA. We still aren’t sure if and when this will happen.  It is very possible that they are holding it in reserve to for future negotiations pertaining to reducing the deficit.  The tax cuts in this bill will massively reduce federal revenue.  We’re talking in the trillions of dollars here.  To get any version of this to pass, it is very likely that the GOP will have to come up with ways to offset some of the deficit.  Killing the ability to stretch IRAs and retirement plans for generations is one way to do that.
  1. Even the Republican’s admit that this bill will increase the deficit by $1.5 trillion dollars over the next ten years, and that is a huge issue. Critics on both sides see increasing the deficit as unacceptable.  Further, the Tax Policy Center and other tax policy commentators on both sides of the aisle think that this estimate is too low or too high, and many do not believe that this bill will provide the economic growth or tax-relief promised to the middle class.

If you want to read an excellent 82-page summary of the bill, check out The Fiscal Times online:

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2017/11/02/Read-House-GOPs-Tax-Bill-or-Summary-Key-Points

If you are looking for more of a brief overview summary, these are excellent resources:

https://taxfoundation.org/details-tax-cuts-jobs-act/

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/house-gop-tax-bill-mostly-business-tax-cut-will-create-new-winners-and-losers

As I mentioned above, this bill is simply the first iteration of what the final bill might look like, and it isn’t clear that anything in it is going to become law.  But it bears some scrutiny since some of the main points are likely to provoke debates.  We will continue to watch as the process evolves.  We might even have to interrupt our series on Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan once again!  If that happens, I hope you will bear with us.  But unless there is major news, we will see you next week as we continue exploring the advantages of the LCBP

Disclaimer: Please note that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 removed the ability for taxpayers to do any “recharacterizations” of Roth IRA conversions after 12/31/2017. The material below was created and published prior the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. 

Structuring Your Estate Plan Around President Trump’s Proposed Tax Reform

Posted on by in Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Stretch IRA, Tax Law, Video Resources and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

What will the impact of President Trump’s tax reform mean for you?

President Trumps Tax Reform Proposal and How it Might Affect You James Lange

You can hardly open a newspaper these days without seeing commentary about President Trump and the Republican Congress.  Whatever political side you’re on is irrelevant; the important thing is to stay on top of what the government is doing with respects to tax reform.  Ultimately, it just might mean more money for your family.

Will President Trump Cut Taxes?

What do we know is going to happen?  Since they were part of President Trump’s campaign platform, decreases in personal income tax rates are likely to be a part of a tax reform proposal. Readers who are old enough to remember President Reagan might recall that, during his first term, he implemented new economic policies that were referred to as Reaganomics.  One of the largest cornerstones of Reaganomics was the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981.  This Act lowered the top marginal personal income tax bracket by a whopping 20 percent, from 70 percent to 50 percent, and the lowest tax bracket from 14 percent to 11 percent.  Sounds good, right?  To the unsuspecting citizen, perhaps, but here’s the catch:  after the Act was passed and personal income tax rates decreased, the Treasury Department’s annual tax revenues did not suffer at all, as one might expect they would.  Tax revenues actually increased during Reagan’s two-term presidency – from 18.1 percent to 18.2 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)!  And the reason that those revenues increased was because the Republican Congress quietly passed other laws that raised other types of taxes!  Uh, oh!

The Effect of the Trump Tax Plan

The non-partisan Tax Policy Center expects that there will be $7 trillion added to the federal deficit over the next decade if President Trump’s plan to restructure the personal income tax brackets is made in to law.  With the country’s debt amounting to over 104 percent of our Gross Domestic Product in 2015, a reduction in the personal income tax rates could have a far-reaching and devastating effect unless they get money from somewhere else.  I’ve been talking a lot about the Death of the Stretch IRA, and this is exactly why I believe that it is imminent.  If the President’s promise to change the personal income tax brackets is made into law and the unsuspecting voters are appeased, he and Congress will be looking for new ways to minimize its effects on the country’s cash flow.  With an estimated $25 trillion being held in previously untaxed retirement plans, it seems likely to me that one of the first things they will consider is accelerating the tax bill that will be owed by individuals who inherit that money.  After all, they still have more money than they did before they received their inheritance, right?  Why complain, even if it is less than they could have had?

Tax Reform and the Death of the Stretch IRA

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I believe that the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation will be included as part of a major tax reform bill because it provides a way to pay for the personal income tax cuts that our politicians have promised.  And while any personal income tax reform will receive intense coverage by the media, any included legislation that spells the Death of the Stretch IRA will probably be completely overshadowed by news of the latest celebrity wedding in Hollywood.    If you subscribe to this blog, though, you’ll be notified as soon as it happens, so that you can take whatever steps are appropriate for your own situation.

Impact of Tax Reform

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that those personal income tax decreases will be permanent.  Historically, when one administration reduces taxes, the next administration does the reverse.  President Reagan’s eventual successor, George W. Bush, famously promised Americans “Read my lips, no new taxes!”, but was unable to keep his word because the Democratic-controlled Congress voted to raise them.  So what will the impact of a major tax reform mean for you?  Even if President Trump is successful in pushing a tax reform bill through Congress, they’re not likely to stay as low as what he has proposed.  Could this mean that Roth IRA conversions might suddenly make sense to far more people than in the past?  We’ll have to wait and see just how low these new tax brackets might go!  Stop back soon for more ramblings!

-Jim

For more information on this topic, please visit our Death of the Stretch IRA resource.

 

P.S. Did you miss a video blog post? Here are the past video blog posts in this video series.

Will New Rules for Inherited IRAs Mean the Death of the Stretch IRA?

Are There Any Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

How will your Required Minimum Distributions Work After the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Can a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

What Should You Be Doing Now to Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

How Does The New DOL Fiduciary Rule Affect You?

Why is the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation likely to pass?

The Exclusions for the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Gifting and Life Insurance as a Solution to the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Roth Conversions as a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

How Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

How Flexible Estate Planning Can be a Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

President Trump’s Tax Reform Proposal and How it Might Affect You

Using Roth IRA Conversions as a Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

Posted on by in Retirement Plan Options, Retirement Planning, Roth IRA, Roth IRA Conversions, Stretch IRA, Tax Law and tagged , , , , .

Concerning the Death of the Stretch IRA, are Roth IRA conversions right for you? 

Roth IRA Conversions are a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA, James Lange

This post is the tenth in a series about the Death of the Stretch IRA.  It discusses how Roth IRA conversions work, and how they might be able to benefit your family under the current law.  It also explains how Roth IRA conversions might be beneficial to your family if the Stretch IRA is eliminated.

How Roth IRA Conversions Work

Before we get into the benefits, I want to explain the process of how Roth IRA conversions work.  In order to do a Roth IRA conversion, you take money that you have in a traditional tax-deferred IRA account and transfer it to a tax-free Roth IRA account.  There’s paperwork that your IRA custodian has to file so that the IRS knows to expect some tax money from you.

When you contributed to that traditional IRA, you probably received a tax deduction for it.  The IRS obviously won’t let you take a tax deduction for the contribution that you made to your traditional IRA and then get your future earnings tax-free too.  So when you do a conversion, you have to pay tax on the amount that you transfer out of your traditional IRA.  The benefit to converting, rather than simply withdrawing the money and putting it in a standard brokerage account, is that the future gains on the earnings will be tax-free.  But is it worth it to convert?

Roth IRA Conversions and Purchasing Power

In my opinion, the key to understanding the benefits of Roth conversions is to understand the concept of purchasing power.  So let’s look at an example.  You have $100,000 traditional IRA plus $25,000 non-IRA money – for a total of $125,000.  I have $100,000 in a Roth IRA.  Even though I have less money than you, I will argue that we have the same amount of purchasing power.  Here’s why.

Let’s say you want to buy a boat – better yet, a really big boat.  In order to get the money to pay for it, you have to cash in your $100,000 IRA.  Since it’s a traditional IRA, you’ll be required to pay taxes on your withdrawal.  If you’re in a 25% tax bracket, you’ll also be required to liquidate your $25,000 non-IRA account to pay the tax due. Now let’s say that I want to buy the same boat.   I cash in my $100,000 Roth IRA, but I don’t have to have to send money to the IRS for a tax payment like you did.  So even though your account balances were higher than mine when we started, you had to spend more money than I did to buy the same boat.  Because my money was in a tax-free account and yours wasn’t, I had the exact same amount of purchasing power that you did, from the very start.

Is it Worth it to Convert Your Traditional IRA to a Roth?

But is it worth it to pay taxes that you don’t owe right now, just to end up in a tie?  It’s a great question.  For many people, it IS worth it.  I cover Roth conversions in great detail in Chapter 7 of my book, Retire Secure!  One point that I make in the book is that it is very important to actually “run the numbers” to see if it will be advantageous for you to go through the process yourself.  And while there are several online calculators that claim to demonstrate the value of Roth conversions, the truth is that the process is just not as simple as they make it out to be.   The reasons for this are too complicated to get into on this blog, but you can read about them in my book.  The book demonstrates several scenarios where Roth conversions can save families a significant amount of money, and also somewhere it was a bad idea.

Roth Conversions and the Death of the Stretch IRA

Roth conversions can be a very effective solution for many individuals who have large IRAs.  When the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation is finalized, they may become even more important.  Stop back soon to learn why.

-Jim

For more information on this topic, please visit our Death of the Stretch IRA resource.

 

P.S. Did you miss a video blog post?  Here are the past video blog posts in this video series.

Will New Rules for Inherited IRAs Mean the Death of the Stretch IRA?

Are There Any Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

How will your Required Minimum Distributions Work After the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Can a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

What Should You Be Doing Now to Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

How Does The New DOL Fiduciary Rule Affect You?

Why is the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation likely to pass?

The Exclusions for the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Gifting and Life Insurance as a Solution to the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Roth Conversions as a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

How Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

How Flexible Estate Planning Can be a Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

 

How Does the Exclusion Amount to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation Work?

Posted on by in IRAs, Retirement Planning, Stretch IRA, Tax Law, Video Resources and tagged , , , .

The Proposed Exclusion Amount to the Death of the Stretch IRA Complicates Planning.

The Exclusions for the Death of the Stretch IRA

This post is the eighth in a series about the Death of the Stretch IRA.  If you’re a new visitor to my blog, this post might not make much sense to you unless you back up and read the preceding posts related this one.  Those posts spell out the details of the proposed legislation that will cost your family a lot of money.  This post discusses the proposed exclusion amount to the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation and explains how it will be applied to each IRA owner.

When I wrote my book, The Ultimate Retirement and Estate Plan for Your Million-Dollar IRA, I accurately predicted most of what the Senate Finance Committee is proposing to make law.  The one point that I did not predict, though, was that each IRA owner would be permitted to exclude a portion of their retirement plans from the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation.  I don’t know if it was the Committee’s attempt to make the legislation seem not as bad as it is, but it certainly makes things more complicated for individuals who are trying to design an effective estate plan.  So I want to explain how the exclusion amount works.

The Exclusion Amount Applies to All Retirement Accounts

The whole idea behind the exclusion is that a certain portion of your IRAs and retirement plans would be protected from the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation.  Most people would think, “That’s great!  I’m going to apply my exclusion to my Roth IRA so that my beneficiaries can continue to enjoy the tax-free growth for the rest of their lifetimes.”  Well, that’s not how the exclusion amount works.  It has to be prorated between all of your retirement accounts.  Let’s say that you die with $2 million in retirement plans – $1.5 million in your 401(k), $400,000 in a Roth IRA, and $100,000 in a Traditional IRA.  Here’s how the exclusion amount would work.  Your 401(k) accounts are 75 percent of your retirement plans, so 75 percent of the exclusion amount (or $337,500) of that would apply to that account.  Your Roth IRA accounts are 20 percent, so  20 percent of the exclusion amount (or $90,000) would apply to that account.  Your Traditional IRA accounts are 5 percent of your retirement plans, so 5 percent of the exclusion amount (or $22,500) would apply to it.  The bottom line is that the exclusion amount has to be applied to all of your retirement accounts, both Traditional and Roth.

The Exclusion Amount Applies to All Non-Exempt Beneficiaries

I’m going to emphasize one subtle but very important point about the Death of the Stretch IRA and your beneficiaries.  The legislation did provide that some beneficiaries are completely exempt from the new tax rules.  For most of you, the most important exempt beneficiary is your spouse.  You can leave $10 million in retirement plans to your spouse (although I’d prefer that you’d add disclaimer provisions for your children!), and he/she can still stretch them over the rest of his/her life.  Disabled and chronically ill beneficiaries are exempt, as are minor children.   Charities and charitable trusts are also considered exempt beneficiaries.  Now that you know who is considered an exempt beneficiary, I want to talk about the beneficiaries who aren’t exempt.  For most of you, it’s your adult children.  If you have adult children who aren’t disabled or chronically ill, and you name them as beneficiaries on your retirement plans, the exclusion also has to be prorated between them.  You may have preferred to leave the amount that was excluded from your Roth account – in the above example, $90,000 – to the child who would receive the most tax benefit from it, but that’s not how the exclusion amount works.  If you have two children and they are named as equal beneficiaries, then each will receive (and can continue to stretch) 50 percent of the excluded amount– or $45,000.  Both children would also receive $155,000 from the Roth that can’t be stretched, and the account would have to be withdrawn within five years.  Granted, qualified withdrawals from Roth accounts aren’t taxed, but the greater cost is that the bulk of their Roth inheritance will no longer be permitted to grow tax-free.

Planning Opportunities Created by the Exclusion Amount

Oddly enough, there are certain planning opportunities created by the exclusion amount that is proposed in the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation.  If you have a beneficiary who is exempt, then you should remember how the exclusion works.  Suppose that you die with retirement plans that are worth $500,000 and you left 10 percent (or $50,000) to charity and the remainder to your child.  In that case, none of your retirement plans would be subject to the Death of the Stretch IRA rules.  That’s because the charity is an exempt beneficiary, so the $50,000 it received is exempt from the rules.  And the remaining $450,000 that went to your child is within the permitted exclusion amount, so her inheritance can be stretched over her lifetime.

I predict that the proposed exclusion amount will create headaches for financial advisors across the country.  Just imagine the chaos!  Where your beneficiary might have inherited one IRA, now they’ll inherit two – and each will be subject to a different set of rules.  How can they call this “simplified”?

Please stop back soon for my next post on this important legislation!

-Jim

For more information on this topic, please visit our Death of the Stretch IRA resource.

 

P.S. Did you miss a video blog post?  Here are the past video blog posts in this video series.

Will New Rules for Inherited IRAs Mean the Death of the Stretch IRA?

Are There Any Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

How will your Required Minimum Distributions Work After the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Can a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

What Should You Be Doing Now to Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

How Does The New DOL Fiduciary Rule Affect You?

Why is the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation likely to pass?

The Exclusions for the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Gifting and Life Insurance as a Solution to the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Roth Conversions as a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

How Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

How Flexible Estate Planning Can be a Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

likely to pass?

Why is the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation likely to pass?

Posted on by in Inherited IRAs, IRAs, Stretch IRA, Tax Law, Video Resources and tagged , , , .

What is the likelihood that the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation will pass?

Why is The Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation Likely to Pass by James Lange

This post is the seventh in a series about the Death of the Stretch IRA. If you’re a new visitor to my blog, this post might not make much sense to you unless you back up and read the preceding posts related this one. Those posts spell out the details of the proposed legislation that will cost your family a lot of money. This post discusses the reasons I believe it is very likely that this legislation will pass.

To be fair, my critics point out that this idea has been brought up many times before, but hasn’t yet passed. I can’t argue with them on that point. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was the first major proponent of the idea, proposing the elimination of the Stretch IRA as part of the Highway Investment Job Creation and Economic Growth Act of 2012. The American Bar Association followed suit in 2013, recommending their elimination as part of a tax simplification proposal to the Senate and House tax-writing committees. And President Obama was very much behind the idea, including it in every one of his budget proposals since 2013. Even though it’s been proposed over and over again, it’s never passed. So why am I saying it is likely to pass, and soon?

The Politics of the Death of the Stretch IRA

When the idea was first proposed to the Senate by Max Baucus in 2012, it was defeated by an uncomfortably close margin of only 51-49. That vote, interestingly, was mostly along political party lines. President Obama presented the idea in every one of his budget proposals since 2013, but couldn’t get it past a House of Representatives that was controlled by the Republican Party. But on September 21, 2016, the Senate Committee on Finance voted 26-0 to effectively kill the Stretch IRA. And what was especially interesting about that vote was that it had unanimous bipartisan support.

So why isn’t it the law now? Well, think back to what it was going on in the fall of 2016. The nation was locked in a tumultuous political battle over who would be our next President, and Congress was busy dealing with allegations of malfeasance by both candidates. And before we knew it, the election came and went, and then the 114th United States Congress quietly adjourned without ever having time to consider the Finance Committee’s recommendation.

Is the Stretch IRA safe?

Does this mean, then, that the possibility of the Death of the Stretch IRA is overblown? I don’t think so, and here’s why. With the exception of Senators Schumer and Coats, all of the veteran members Finance Committee of the 114th Congress received the same Committee assignment after the election last fall. That means that 24 out of the 26 individuals who voted to recommend this legislation to the 114th session of Congress are in a position to make the same recommendation to the new Congress. And do you really believe that, considering the current political climate, it’s likely that they’re going to change their minds?

Trump and the Death of the Stretch IRA

What about the fact that we’ve got a new (and very rich) President? Won’t he protect his own ass(ets) by fighting the Death of the Stretch IRA? With the exception of an Executive Order, the President doesn’t create laws. He signs (or vetoes) legislation that has been voted on by Congress. However, President Trump has made several campaign promises that, if he has any hope of making good on them, will require a lot of money. The nation is already dangerously in debt, so borrowing to finance them could mean political suicide for him. However, the President has also promised to simplify the nation’s overly complicated tax code. It seems quite possible to me that, in exchange for getting Congress’ support on a major tax reform issue, he might have to compromise and allow the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation to be a part of the overhaul. It’s all in the art of the deal!

Please stop back soon for my next post on this important legislation!

Jim

For more information on this topic, please visit our Death of the Stretch IRA resource.

 

P.S. Did you miss a video blog post? Here are the past video blog posts in this video series.

Will New Rules for Inherited IRAs Mean the Death of the Stretch IRA?

Are There Any Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

How will your Required Minimum Distributions Work After the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Can a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

What Should You Be Doing Now to Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

How Does The New DOL Fiduciary Rule Affect You?

Why is the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation likely to pass?

The Exclusions for the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Gifting and Life Insurance as a Solution to the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Roth Conversions as a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

How Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

How Flexible Estate Planning Can be a Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

 

Are There Any Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Posted on by in Inherited IRAs, IRAs, Stretch IRA, Tax Law, The Ultimate Retirement and Estate Plan for Your Milllion Dollar IRA, Video Resources and tagged , , , .

What Are the Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Death of the Stretch IRA Who is Excluded From the Five Year Rule James Lange IRA Expert

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that the Senate Finance committee has voted 26 0 to eliminate the Stretch IRA. The idea makes sense – the billions of dollars they’d make in tax revenue would help the new administration pay for promises made on the campaign trail. I believe that it will pass, and so I wanted to spend a little bit of time today and discuss the exceptions to the proposed new Inherited IRA rules.

If there is any good news in this mess that Congress has dumped on us, it is the fact that they have protected your spouse from the new rules affecting Inherited IRAs. So everything that you read in Retire Secure! about taking minimum distributions from your spouse’s retirement plans still holds true. If you die and leave all of your IRA money to your spouse, she can still stretch it over the course of her lifetime. But don’t get too comfortable, because the new rules have a catch. Even though she can still stretch your IRA, it might not be the best idea to leave your spouse all of your money – a concept that is so complicated that I’ll have to devote an entire future post to it.

Some beneficiaries can still benefit from Stretch IRAs

Disabled and chronically ill individuals are excluded from the new rules, as are beneficiaries who are not more than ten years younger than you – such as siblings or an unmarried partner. The privilege isn’t extended to their beneficiaries. Once they die, their own beneficiaries will have to pay taxes according to the new rules. Minors are also excluded from the five year rule, but only while they are minors. Once they reach the age of majority – which varies depending on which state they live in – they have to pay accelerated taxes according to the new rules. This could open up a Pandora’s Box of problems during their college years, because the distributions they’d have to take from the inherited IRA could make them ineligible for any type of financial aid!

Charities and Charitable Remainder Unitrusts (CRUTS) are also excluded from the five year rule. This exception can provide some planning opportunities for the right individuals, but it’s also a topic so complicated that I’m going to devote an entire future blog post to it as well.

Current proposal about Stretch IRAs offers some protection with an exclusion

The other interesting news is that the proposed new rules give each IRA owner a $450,000 exclusion – meaning that their beneficiaries can exclude (and therefore, continue to stretch) a certain portion of the account. Granted, they may change this amount, but as it stands now, you have nothing to worry about if the total IRA balance in your family is less than $450,000. If you have a $1 million IRA, your beneficiaries will be able to stretch $450,000 but will have to pay accelerated taxes on $550,000. The exclusion has to be prorated between all of your retirement accounts – including Roths. And while distributions from Roth accounts aren’t taxable, the greater damage is that your beneficiaries will lose the benefit of the future tax free growth. You can’t even choose which of your beneficiaries gets to use the exclusion – it’s prorated between your beneficiaries!

These new rules for Inherited IRAs will be an administrative headache for all of your beneficiaries. The exceptions to the rules, however, provide planning opportunities that if possible, you should take advantage of while both you and your spouse are alive. I encourage you to watch the short video attached to this post, and stop back soon to learn more about the things you can do now to minimize the effects of this devastating legislation.

Jim

For more information on this topic, please visit our Death of the Stretch IRA resource.

 

P.S. Did you miss a video blog post? Here are the past video blog posts in this video series.

Will New Rules for Inherited IRAs Mean the Death of the Stretch IRA?

Are There Any Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

How will your Required Minimum Distributions Work After the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Can a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

What Should You Be Doing Now to Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

How Does The New DOL Fiduciary Rule Affect You?

Why is the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation likely to pass?

The Exclusions for the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Gifting and Life Insurance as a Solution to the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Roth Conversions as a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

How Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

How Flexible Estate Planning Can be a Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

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Will New Rules for Inherited IRAs Mean the Death of the Stretch IRA?

Posted on by in Inherited IRAs, IRAs, Stretch IRA, Tax Law and tagged , , , .

New Rules for Inherited IRAs and the Death of the Stretch IRA

Death of the Stretch IRA

Now that the dust has settled from the election and President Trump has taken over the reins of the White House, voters are asking the question, “Just how does he plan to pay for his tax cuts?” At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m going to ask readers to refer to my latest book, The Ultimate Retirement and Estate Plan for Your Million-Dollar IRA. In that book, I warned readers about the legislation that proposed the Death of the Stretch IRA and offered solutions that you can implement to minimize its devastating effects.

Shortly after the book went to press, the Senate Finance Committee proved to me that I am on the right track. In September of 2016, in a stunning bipartisan show of support, they voted 26-0 to eliminate the stretch IRA. The Senate, however, adjourned for the year before they could vote on the Finance Committee’s proposal, so the legislation will have to be reintroduced on their 2017 legislative calendar.

What is a stretch IRA?

What is a stretch IRA, and why should you care if it goes by the wayside? The stretch IRA refers to the ability of your heirs to continue the tax-deferred status of your retirement plans long after your death. The current inherited IRA rules permit your beneficiaries to take very small minimum distributions over the course of their lifetimes, allowing more of their inheritance to remain in the protected tax-deferred account for a longer period. The new rules for inherited IRAs, on the other hand, will require that your children and grandchildren remove the money from the account within five years and pay income taxes on the withdrawals. Depending on the size of your IRA and other factors, these harsh new rules could throw your beneficiary into a higher tax bracket. Ultimately, they may even make the difference between your child being financially secure for the rest of their lives, and going broke.

I think that the election of President Trump will spell the end of the stretch IRA as we know it. The idea was introduced every year since as part of Obama’s budget but never had quite enough support to become law. Our new president wants to cut taxes for the majority of Americans and needs to find a way to pay for his plan. Since most people don’t think about taxes unless they’re associated with money they’ve earned themselves, eliminating the stretch IRA could be an easy way for the government to force billions in previously untaxed retirement accounts into their coffers. I believe that the Finance Committee’s proposal will reappear in 2017, but as part of a much larger tax reform bill – which is precisely what our new president has promised. In previous years, a bipartisan and unanimous recommendation by a Senate Committee would almost guarantee passage by Congress, but whether that still holds true after one of the most bitter and contentious elections in history remains to be seen. In any event, I will be offering a series of short video clips over the upcoming months that keep you up to date on the status of the legislation and provide insights as to what a change to the inherited IRA rules will mean to your beneficiaries. Remember, the key to smart planning is not trying to avoid estate tax, but income tax.

Please stop back soon! Jim

For more information on this topic, please visit our Death of the Stretch IRA resource.

 

P.S. Did you miss a video blog post? Here are the past video blog posts in this video series.

Will New Rules for Inherited IRAs Mean the Death of the Stretch IRA?

Are There Any Exceptions to the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

How will your Required Minimum Distributions Work After the Death of the Stretch IRA Legislation?

Can a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

What Should You Be Doing Now to Protect your Heirs from the Death of the Stretch IRA?

How Does The New DOL Fiduciary Rule Affect You?

Why is the Death of the Stretch IRA legislation likely to pass?

The Exclusions for the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Gifting and Life Insurance as a Solution to the Death of the Stretch IRA

Using Roth Conversions as a Possible Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

How Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan can help protect your family against the Death of the Stretch IRA

How Flexible Estate Planning Can be a Solution for Death of the Stretch IRA

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Roth IRA Conversions Early in 2016 Present Potential Advantages

Posted on by in 401(k), Estate Planning, Retirement Planning, Roth IRA, Roth IRA Conversions, Tax Law, Traditional IRA and tagged , , , .

Disclaimer: Please note that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 removed the ability for taxpayers to do any “recharacterizations” of Roth IRA conversions after 12/31/2017. The material below was created and published prior the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. 

Let’s face it. The stock market has declined a lot in the past few months.

Many people wonder if they should move to cash and do nothing with their investments. While we do not recommend trying to time the future moves in the stock market, the reality is that it is better to buy low and let it grow more in the future. This is especially true for Roth IRA conversions which result in long-term advantages when the account grows after the conversion. So maybe the time to convert is now.

Lange Roth IRA Money Nest Egg

But, what if the market continues to decline after you convert? One good thing about the current tax law is that you can undo a 2016 conversion as late as April 15, 2017 and perhaps even to October 15, 2017. This gives you a long time, over a year, to see if it grows. If it really dives after you convert, you can even do another conversion at a lower price and undo the first conversion later. The technical term for the undoing of a conversion is a recharacterization, because the Roth IRA is recharacterized as a traditional IRA by moving it back to the original or a different traditional IRA account. Converting early in the year is often recommended as it gives the account more time to grow before a decision must be made on a potential recharacterization.

We have written many articles about Roth IRAs and Roth conversions and included discussions of the extensive advantages they provide. We discuss conversions in our book Retire Secure! and we have written an entire book on Roth IRAs called The Roth Revolution. Both of these books can be purchased on Amazon, but we would be happy to send you a copy for free. To receive a free copy, call us at 412-521-2732, or email admin@paytaxeslater.com and ask for one. Just reference this newsletter offer! These articles and discussions go into much deeper detail on the many strategic ways to do Roth conversions to your advantage, depending on your current situation.

The Roth conversion amount will add to your taxable income, so there are many tax traps to consider when deciding how much to convert, such as …

  • Higher tax rates and related tax surcharges and phaseouts of deductions first implemented for 2013 could result in extra tax if you convert too much.
  • For people who are covered by Medicare parts B and/or D, and pay Medicare premiums, converting too much in 2016 can raise the Medicare premiums in 2018.
  • Also, for medium- or lower-income people who get Social Security income, a conversion can make more of the Social Security subject to tax and also can turn tax-free long-term capital gains and qualified dividends into taxable amounts.

However, paying extra tax can sometimes be worth it in the long run if the Roth IRA account grows a lot after the conversion. These are just some of the things that should be considered in determining the best conversion amount.

Other considerations include the current and future financial and income tax situations of you and your beneficiaries. As we move further into an election year, the possibility of tax law changes looms ahead. Since future tax laws can affect the long-term success of a conversion early in 2016, they should also be considered.

Due to all these considerations and more, we stress the importance of “running the numbers” to be certain that the decisions you are making about Roth IRA conversions are absolutely right for your situation. In general, we like Roth IRA conversions for taxpayers who can make a conversion and stay in the same tax bracket they are currently in, and have the funds to pay for the Roth conversion from outside of the IRA. It is best to run the numbers to determine the most appropriate time and amount for your situation. This is a service that we have provided for hundreds of clients and currently offer free for our assets under management clients. We like to do these number running sessions with the clients in the room. This allows them the opportunity to bring up questions, adjust the scenarios, and feel extremely comfortable with the final decisions.

We usually find many people hesitant to make any changes in their investments when they decline in value. However, you should not pass up the opportunity to do a Roth conversion in a troubled market, as it could provide you and your family more financial security in the long run. Because of the many things to be considered when doing a Roth conversion, we suggest you discuss how much to convert in 2016 with your qualified advisor.

If you are interested about learning about whether a Roth IRA conversion is right for you, please click here and fill out our pre-qualification form. If you qualify, we will contact you to schedule an appointment with either James Lange or one of his tax experts.

Unfortunately, this Free Second Opinion is for qualified Western Pennsylvania residents only.

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