10 Things That Could Give You Peace of Mind on Your Next Vacation

Given the recent horrendous acts of terrorism in Nice, Brussels, Paris, Orlando and elsewhere, many travelers are concerned about becoming victims themselves. Although the chances are extraordinarily slim that it could happen to you, the truth is that thousands of people are injured and die every year while on vacation.


Therefore, here are some travel-planning steps to consider taking that could increase your peace of mind when you leave on your next vacation.

1. Write a Will or Establish a Living Trust

A large majority of Americans have no will. This estate planning document allows you to determine what will happen to your assets should you die because you get hit by a cab in London or fall overboard during your cruise around the Greek Islands. Without a will, your state of residence decides “who gets what” according to its intestate law. And as a result, the individuals who inherit your assets may not be the people you would have chosen if you had written a will. Dying without a will may also result in higher legal fees and taxes for your estate.

For some of you, setting up a living trust may be a better option than a will because a trust not only allows you to decide what happens to your property when you die, it also allows your estate to avoid probate, among other advantages.

Whether you write a will or set up a living trust, be sure to prepare a Durable Power of Attorney as well. This document is essential in case you become incapacitated and need someone to manage your affairs.

A good estate-planning lawyer can explain the differences between a will and a living trust and help you decide which one is best for you. (Full disclosure: I am one.) Also, if you already have an estate plan, make sure it is up to date – reflects your current wishes, for example – and double-check that the right people are in place to make decisions for you if you become incapacitated or for any minor children you may have.

2. Prepare Health Care Documents

Most accidents don’t result in death, but you may need to be hospitalized while you are on vacation, and if you can’t make your own medical decisions, you will need someone with legal authority to make them for you. A Medical Power of Attorney and a Living Will (sometimes both are called Advanced Health Care Directives) allow you to legally appoint the person you most trust to make medical decisions on your behalf, and to terminate life support according to your wishes. Should you become incapacitated without these documents in place, a court will determine which of your family members can make these decisions on your behalf and it’s possible that the court will appoint someone you would not want in control of your medical care.

It’s also critically important that you have a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Release form. By completing it, you give your health care providers permission to talk with your family. Without it, the details of your medical condition remain “private” and those providers cannot share any information about it with anyone.

3. Purchase a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan

I know, this sounds morbid, but dying overseas will create extremely complex and expensive problems for your loved ones. They include following the specific rules of the airline that will fly your remains back home, obtaining a foreign death certificate and sometimes a statement from a physician that the death was not caused by a communicable disease. Your local funeral director can help you purchase insurance that will make the process easier for them. Also, the Neptune Society, a paid cremation service provider, will cremate your body anywhere in the world and return the ashes to your family.

4. Draft an Itinerary

Give your family peace of mind when you are traveling by providing them with a written itinerary for your trip. The itinerary should list the name, address and phone numbers of the hotels where you’ll be staying so that it will be easier for them to locate you if you’re out of cell phone range or if your phone gets lost or stolen. Include your airline and flight numbers too so they can track your travels. You can share your itinerary with everyone who might need to find you, in case of a terrorist attack or should there be an emergency back home that you need to know about.

5. Prepare a List of Your Important Financial Information

More than likely, you (and your spouse) are the only ones who know where you bank, who your financial adviser is and what your usernames and passwords are. Creating a way for a trusted friend or family member to access this critical information may mean the difference in someone being able or not able to pay your bills and other expenses if you can’t. Be sure to share the location of this information with the people designated to act for you in your Medical and Financial Powers of Attorney. Refrain, of course, from sharing it casually with a less-than-trustworthy person.



6. Have an Emergency Call List

Most of us don’t live next door to our extended family members. Therefore, having a list of who should be notified if worse-comes-to-worst, will make it much easier to contact everyone who needs to help handle your affairs because you are involved in a serious accident or even die while you are traveling. At a minimum, you should include on this list the members of your family, your significant friends, your doctor, lawyer and financial adviser together with their phone numbers, mailing and email addresses. Entrust this to at least two people who are not going on the trip with you.

7. Consider Buying Travel Life Insurance

This kind of insurance is very inexpensive because it only covers you for a limited time. Even so, research your options before you purchase a policy so you know what is covered and what is excluded.

8. Purchase an Overseas Emergency Evacuation Plan

Several companies sell plans that will cover you as well as any family members who are traveling with you if the need arises for more than basic health care while you are abroad. Some of these companies, like AirMed will fly you back to the U.S. if you are seriously hurt or become very ill while on your trip. Buying such a plan could be a wise investment.

9. Consider Buying Supplemental Health Insurance

Health insurance in the U.S. rarely covers illnesses and injuries incurred outside of the country. Even Medicare generally only pays claims incurred in the U.S. Health insurance is available for foreign travel and it is typically low cost due to the short duration of most vacations. Medicare recipients may be able to purchase a MediGap policy that would provide at least basic coverage while they are out of the country

10. Have Fun, But Be Smart

Traveling outside of the U.S. can be lots of fun, but you want to be smart about it and remember the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. Being ready for any sort of emergency will allow you to embark on your travels with greater peace of mind, which means of course that your vacation can be all the more enjoyable and care-free.

Is it Time to Move Your Accounting Software to the Cloud?

Up until a few years ago, most business owners were not all that impressed with QuickBooks Online (QBO) and, frankly, neither was our accounting firm.  18 months ago, we only had 1 client using QBO. Today, we support many more clients on QBO and the number grows weekly.


Intuit has invested millions of dollars in the QBO product, and the investment is paying off.  Any limitations on functionality are more than offset by the following benefits:



* QBO gives you 24/7 access to real-time financial information from anywhere and any device with an internet connection.



* You can sleep better at night knowing your sensitive financial data is always secure and backed-up automatically.



* No system downtime because all software upgrades are automatically installed.  This worry-free maintenance saves you time and hassle.



* It reduces your accounting fees because it makes it easier for your accountant to organize year-end accounts, and



* You can provide your accountant with access to your data 24/7.  For our accounting firm, this access and insight allows us to partner with our business clients to help them run and grow their business in real time, rather than just adding up the numbers after the fact.



We have helped dozens of clients move from the desktop version of QuickBooks to QBO.  We can provide full setup, data migration, feeds to your bank and credit card accounts and integration with third-party applications such as inventory, POS and payroll.

If you are ready to stop dreaming of clouds, and start moving to the Cloud, QuickBooks is ready for you.

How to Vet a Financial Advisor

You’ll make a handful of major decisions in life. One of those is selecting the professional who will manage your savings and handle your investments. This choice will impact everything in your life, including sending your child to college, buying a house and living comfortably in retirement. Here are seven criteria for vetting a financial or investment professional:


Type of Professional


Determine what you need. Generally, a planner handles your overall financial picture, including estate planning, tax planning, investment planning and retirement. A certified financial planner is licensed and regulated, and required to pass a test on personal finance by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. A financial adviser (or full-service broker) typically focuses on investment decisions. Ask an adviser what licenses and additional designations or education trainings he or she has obtained or undergone. Money managers generally hold the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and focus on managing investment portfolios on behalf of their clients according to an agreed-upon strategy.


Objectivity


Ask upfront if any conflicts of interest exist. An investment adviser should be objective while providing solutions for your financial planning needs, says Rashida Lilani, a CFP and principal of Lilani Wealth Management in Roseville: “Will that professional be working for you, or for someone else?”


Transparency


Ensure the professional is completely transparent. For instance, ask the adviser to disclose the manner in which she is compensated — is there an hourly charge or fee for services? “If an adviser cannot clearly and articulately explain their background, educational credentials, experience, compensation and why they’re making recommendations — those are absolutely red flags,” says Jason Bell, a CFA for Wells Fargo Private Bank in Roseville.


Integrity


Use BrokerCheck on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s website (www.finra.org) to check whether your adviser has any disciplinary actions in her professional background.

Communication


Expect your adviser to be accessible and responsive, says Lilani: “Whether it’s email, phone call or in-person meetings, you should be able to communicate with her in an ongoing manner, usually every three to six months, depending on the depth of services you need.” A client should feel empowered to ask tough questions. “What would be their recommendation — their plan to get you from point A to point B?” Bell says. “They should be able to articulate that and lay that plan out.”

Objective review


Request periodic reviews. As life changes, so do our objectives. “A diligent adviser will make sure that your investments and financial plan reflect your current goals and risk tolerance,” Lilani says. Clients should be able to answer one question: What do I want this person to do for me? “You should be able to articulate what you want out of the relationship,” Bell says.


Gut Check


Ask yourself if you feel comfortable with this person. “These are typically long-term relationships where you build trust with someone over time, and you want to know they are making decisions in your best interest,” Bell says. Trust your instincts.

When does it make sense to add a trust to your estate plan?

When thinking of the hierarchy of estate planning documents, the two that are likely to be on top are wills and trusts. A will is a more basic document that outlines who will receive your assets when you die and may name guardians if you have young children.

Trusts are more sophisticated legal documents that hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. How do you know when it makes sense to add a trust to your estate plan? The following four considerations will help you determine whether one is advantageous for you.

Privacy

If you only have a will, a portion of your estate is likely to go through probate. Probate is the process of distributing your assets after you pass, and it can be both expensive and time-consuming. Additionally, probate is a public process, meaning that anyone can go to the courthouse and look at the assets that you had.

If you have a lot of assets that would be subject to probate (assets with payable on death/transfer on death designations, jointly owned assets and assets with beneficiary designations are usually exempt from probate), putting them inside of a trust can preserve your privacy.

Owning Property in Multiple States

Let's say you own a home in Minnesota, have a cabin in Wisconsin and own hunting land in South Dakota. Situations like these can become complex when your estate is administered. Without a trust, you'll likely have to go through probate in each state where the real estate is held, which isn't ideal.

Greater Control

Implementing a trust can allow you to set rules regarding how and when your heirs receive their inheritance. These rules can take a couple of different forms. One option may be to designate specific purposes that trustees can use assets (e.g., for college or for a home). You can also make age-based rules (e.g., a trustee will receive 25 percent of their inheritance at age 30, 25 percent at age 40 and the remaining 50 percent at age 50). This helps you to better ensure that your legacy is utilized in a way that reflects your vision for it.

Philanthropic Wishes

Many people would like to leave a portion of their estate to a charity or charities. Trusts can help you give to charity in a more efficient manner. One option, the charitable remainder trust (CRT), is funded while you are still alive. During your lifetime, the CRT provides you or a specified beneficiary with an annual income stream. After a fixed amount of time or once you pass, the remainder of the trust goes to a charity of your choice. This allows you to get an immediate tax deduction today, receive a stream of income from the trust during your lifetime and ensure you'll leave behind a philanthropic legacy.

Trusts are more expensive than wills to set up, and they can be an administrative hassle. But if you found yourself desiring any of the four considerations we laid out, then you'll probably find those costs to be a small price to pay for the ultimate value the trust will provide you and your loved ones.

New FAFSA Rules Give New Options

Let’s take a look at some recent changes to Federal Student Financial Aid and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the upcoming academic year, and how those changes may impact our planning process.

First, the rates have changed. Federal Direct Student Loans (subsidized and unsubsidized) to undergraduates with a first disbursement date between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, carry a 3.76 percent interest rate, down from 4.29 percent last year. Direct unsubsidized loans for graduate students issued during the same time frame are fixed at 5.31 percent, down from 5.84 percent; and interest rates on Direct PLUS loans for parents of undergraduate or graduate students, have also dropped, down to 6.31 percent.

Secondly, you can now file your FAFSA in October, prior to the next school year. The FAFSA collects information relative to a student’s assets and income and the student’s parents’ assets and income. A percentage of “countable” assets and income is used to calculate the student’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and to put it simply, a higher EFC usually means less financial aid. If your child will attend college starting in the fall of 2017, you can now file as early as October 1 of this year. Also, you will be required to use your 2015 income information. Going forward, students and parents, as appropriate, will be required to use the income information/tax return from the tax year two years prior to the first disbursement of financial aid. Anyone who filed for a child attending school this fall, knows that 2015 tax returns were used for this year as well, so the same information will be used again during this transition year to the new system.

Previously, families used to file the FAFSA on January 1, or close thereto, simply estimating their tax returns, and then would need to update it when they had their real numbers, after their tax returns were filed. The new system allows for faster and more accurate figures for families to plan accordingly.

You might think that your student won’t qualify for federal student aid, but it’s wise to file anyway, as this filing is often a requirement before a student can receive any aid from their chosen institution.

So, with this in mind, how do these changes affect strategies commonly used to reduce the financial stress of paying for college?

Well, one major consideration when planning for financial aid is the timing of income. Remember that a percentage of parental income is “counted” in determining that EFC. Since parents will now be using the tax returns from a year earlier, they need only wait to raise cash (if need be), whether it be by selling appreciated securities or taking a distribution from a tax-deferred retirement account, until the tax year that the student is starting his or her junior year. Previously, it was advised to wait until the tax year that the student was starting his or her senior year before doing anything that would result in increased taxable income. If parents wait until the tax year of the student’s start of their junior year, those earnings will not “hit” their parents’ tax returns until the student’s senior year and won’t be accounted for in any FAFSA filing.

When FAFSA is calculated, the parents’ assets are given much less weight, just 5.64 percent, compared to any assets belonging to the student, 20 percent of which are considered in the calculation of the EFC. This comes into play with 529 plans, since plans belonging to the student or the parent are calculated using the parent’s weight of 5.64 percent. On the other hand, if a 529 plan is owned by a grandparent, it is not a “countable” asset. However, it is important to know that if that 529 plan is owned by a grandparent, any distributions from the plan to the student can be included in the student’s income, which can be counted up to 50 percent. Knowing that there is a two-year delay in countable income for purposes of FAFSA, it can be better to use 529 distributions from parents or student-owned accounts in the first two years, and distributions from 529 plans owned by grandparents in the junior and senior years, to keep the “student” income as low as possible until it is no longer used in the calculation of the EFC.

One last thing to consider is using gift opportunities in a way that won’t factor into the FAFSA equation. As discussed above, grandparents have some options in the last two years of the student’s schooling (again, in the years that income won’t be counted on the FAFSA). Additionally, federal tax law allows unlimited gifts to pay for tuition (even if the gift exceeds the annual gift tax exclusion) if the money is paid directly to the college (other education-related expenses do not qualify for this treatment). However, such a gift may affect a financial aid package offered by the school, so it is important to check on any potential impact before making a gift directly to the school. This strategy can help a student without affecting the EFC calculation and can also be an effective way to transfer wealth by reducing the overall taxable estate without triggering a gift tax.

Another way that grandparents can help, more often with graduate students than undergraduate students, is to gift an appreciated asset, rather than proceeds from the sale of an appreciated asset, to a student who is 24 years old or older. If that student is in a low enough tax bracket (which we expect from students), he or she will not need to pay capital gains taxes on any gains recognized by the sale of such assets. By gifting the appreciated asset, rather than cash, more funds will be available to help the student than if the grandparent sold the asset and had to pay capital gains tax on the proceeds. If the student is under 24, however, the “kiddie tax” will cause those assets to be taxed, based on his or her parents’ tax rates.

Look, college is expensive, and it’s not getting any cheaper, but having a financial plan that incorporates college funding can help minimize the impact of that expense on your future and your kids’ futures. Make sure that your money is working smarter, not harder.

Midyear Tax Planning: Miscellaneous

School vacations are tough on working parents. Especially finding affordable alternative childcare. The Child and Dependent Care Credit is available for expenses incurred during these lazy days of summer as well as throughout the rest of the year.

The cost of day camp can count as an expense towards the child and dependent care credit
A sitter in your home qualifies
Expenses for overnight camps do not qualify
Summer school tutoring does not qualify


Medical Deductions

To qualify for a medical deduction this year your unreimbursed medical expenses must exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income. For taxpayers 65 and older, the threshold will at remain at 7.5% through 2016. This deduction can only be used for expenses that exceed those thresholds.

If you are a senior, in addition to items such as hearing aids and eyeglasses, you can deduct a portion of premiums for long-term-care insurance. Make sure you keep track of all qualifying expenses in your tax file. And don’t forget to keep track of the mileage and travel costs for medical services.

Check Your Withholding

High earning taxpayers will owe an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on earned income of more than $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for married couples who file jointly.

For example, if you’re single and earn $230,000 this year, your employer will be required to withhold 1.45% on the first $200,000 and 2.35% on the next $30,000. A total of $3,605 in Medicare taxes.

These income limits will not be adjusted for inflation so they will include more taxpayers every year.

Tax Brackets

The highest tax bracket for individuals is 39.6%. It will affect single taxpayers with a taxable income over $415,051 and taxpayers filing jointly with taxable income over $466,951.

Taxpayers in this bracket are also hit with a higher tax rate of 20% on dividends and long-term capital gains.

Adoption Credit

For this year, the maximum adoption credit is $13,460. The credit will begin to phase out for families with modified adjusted gross incomes above $201,920, and the credit will go away completely for those with incomes above $241,920.

If you adopt a child with special needs, you are entitled to claim the full amount of the adoption credit, even if your out-of-pocket expenses are less than the tax credit amount. For example, you incur no expenses to adopt a special needs child, you are still entitled to the full credit.

Immediate and Long-Term Tax Strategies for Windfalls

FROM LAW.COM

Individuals may have financial windfalls because of a variety of occurrences. Some windfalls result from good fortune, such as winning the lottery or selling a business, while others result from bad fortune, such as medical malpractice or an inheritance. Either way, there are tax consequences to consider. Some consequences are immediate, while others have a long-term impact.

Immediate Tax Consequences

The receipt of a windfall may be taxable or tax-free. The general rule is that income from whatever source derived is includible in gross income (Code Sec. 61). However, there are various exclusions that transform some recoveries into tax-free income.

Damages. Damages from lawsuits, settlements, and awards are taxable unless they are payable for a personal physical injury or sickness (Code Sec. 104(a)(2)). Thus, damages received for a non-physical personal injury, such as defamation or discrimination, are taxable. So too are punitive damages and damages for back pay and other taxable compensation. Interest paid on a judgment usually is taxable.

When an attorney agrees to represent an individual on a contingency basis and there is a recovery, the individual is taxed on the entire award (Banks II, S.Ct., 543 U.S. 426 (2005)). This is so even though the individual does not actually receive the entire award because one-third (or whatever portion was agreed upon) is disbursed directly to the attorney.

Damages for a wrongful death claim typically are comprised of compensatory damages for physical and mental injury as well as punitive damages for reckless, malicious, or reprehensible conduct by the wrongdoer. The portion for compensatory damages is tax-free while the portion for punitive damages is taxable. However, if a wrongful death claim is made under a state statute that treats all of the recovery as punitive damages (i.e., precludes compensatory damages), the recovery is fully excludable for federal income tax purposes (Code Sec. 104(c)).

Damages for emotional distress resulting from a nonphysical personal injury, such as job discrimination, are excludible only to the extent used for medical costs. “Soft injuries,” such as headaches, insomnia, and weight loss, usually are treated as emotional distress, and allocable damages are not tax-free. For example, in one recent case a postal worker could not exclude damages for these soft injuries arising from her discrimination action; the discrimination did not cause any physical injuries (Barbato, TC Memo 2016-23).

Damages received to compensate for property losses may be tax-free if the recovery does not exceed the individual’s basis in the property. The recovery is treated as a tax-free return of capital (Code Sec. 1001).

As a general rule, legal fees to recover tax-free damages are not deductible while legal fees to recover taxable damages are deductible. Deductible legal fees related to personal injury usually are treated as miscellaneous itemized deductions, which can be written off only to the extent total miscellaneous itemized deductions exceed two percent of adjusted gross income (Code Sec. 67(a)). Miscellaneous itemized deductions are not deductible for purposes of the alternative minimum tax (Code Sec. 56(b)(1)(A)(i)). However, legal fees for certain discrimination actions can be deducted as an adjustment to gross income (Code Sec. 62(a)(20)).

Gifts and Inheritances. The receipt of gifts and inheritances are tax-free, regardless of amount (Code Sec. 102). However, recipients of income in respect of a decedent must include it in their gross income when received (Code Sec. 691(a)). Thus, a person who inherits a $1 million IRA is not taxed on the inheritance of the IRA. However, when distributions are taken from the IRA, they are taxed to this beneficiary.

A person reporting income in respect of a decedent can take a deduction for federal estate tax allocable to income when the income is includible (Code Sec. 691(c)).

Lotteries, Gambling, and Prizes. Good luck can translate into millions of dollars. In January 2016, three winners split a Powerball jackpot of $1.6 billion, and in May 2016, one lucky winner hit the $429.6 million Powerball jackpot. These measures of good luck are fully taxable. In the case of lottery winnings, the only question is when the winnings are taken into income.

If a lottery winner opts for the lump sum, it is fully taxable in the year of the drawing (Code Sec. 451(a)). If the winner opts for the payment in installments, the winner is taxed only when installments are received (Code Sec. 451(h)).

Business IPO and Buyouts. Entrepreneurs may make it very big, taking their companies public or selling to new owners. While not necessarily thought of as a windfall because it may be years in the making, the resulting money from the deal presents similar challenges to these individuals.

Going public does not result in any immediate tax consequences for the owner. His or her holdings merely become more valuable. The sale of a business usually results in capital gains for the owner. However, asset sales (as opposed to stock sales) may trigger some ordinary income; ordinary income results from the sale of ordinary income property (e.g., inventory).

Whistleblower Awards. The government pays for information that leads to recoveries for fraud in Medicaid, government contracting, banking, taxes, public securities, and more. For example, there are two types of whistleblower awards from the IRS (Some of these are whistleblower awards where the government pursues information provided by individuals and then shares the recovery. Others are qui tam awards for private persons who bring an action on behalf of the government.

These awards can be in the millions of dollars. For example, an SEC award to an individual in June 2016 was more than $17 million (http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e5a08c17-1bfe-42d8-8ed0-b70b7f2caa8a). Individuals receiving these awards have argued that they are capital gains, but the courts have routinely treated them as ordinary income (see, e.g.,Patrick, 142 TC 142 (2014), aff’d 2015-2 USTC ¶50,454 (7th Cir.)), where the courts rejected the taxpayer’s argument that he sold information and that his recovery was a capital gain).

Attorney fees relating to whistleblower awards are deductible from gross income (Code Sec. 62(a)(21)).

Offsetting Windfall Income

If a windfall is taxable, there are steps that can be taken to minimize taxes.

Income-Splitting. Income-splitting is a strategy in which income is shared so that it is taxed among several people. For example, if there is a winning lottery ticket, reporting multiple owners of the ticket spreads the resulting income accordingly. However, when trying to spread income in the family, the person holding the winning ticket must be able to show there was an agreement or arrangement in place to share the prize before the winning number was picked; otherwise, it is only an attempt by the winner to shift some of the tax burden to others.

In the spirit of shifting income, an individual may give cash or property to a family member so that resulting income is taxed to the recipient. For example, an individual who is providing support to a parent may give dividend-paying stock to the parent so the parent collects the dividends and then uses them for his/her support. There are two considerations here: (1) federal gift tax rules that may influence the size of the gift and (2) the tax situation of the recipient. Income-shifting, for example, will not work well for a child who is subject to the kiddie tax because such income is effectively taxed to the child at the parent’s marginal rate (i.e., no tax savings for the family).

Charitable Contributions. Someone receiving a windfall is in a position to give generously and take a charitable contribution deduction (Code Sec. 170). With large windfalls, setting up a charitable foundation may make sense to enable the person to obtain sizable tax deductions up front and oversee the disbursement of the funds for favored charitable purposes.

Withholding and Estimated Taxes. Some windfalls (e.g., gambling winnings, lotteries) are subject to automatic withholding. Most others are not. It is up to the individual to ensure that sufficient estimated taxes are paid on a taxable windfall to avoid estimated tax penalties.

Long-Term Impact

When an individual receives a windfall, likely there is a need for comprehensive financial and estate planning. Here are some tax-wise considerations:

• What investments should be made with the windfall? Some windfalls may need to be invested safely in liquid assets (e.g., a windfall needed for future medical costs). In other cases, an individual may want to invest for growth or tax-free income. For example, municipal bond holdings may be more attractive than taxable investments because the windfall recipient has been pushed into a higher tax bracket.

• Is there a concern about death taxes? For example a windfall can mean that the person’s gross estate will be larger than the federal exemption amount ($5.45 million in 2016) and subject to estate tax; the tax can be minimized or avoided with estate tax planning. State death tax exemptions must also be factored into estate planning.

Conclusion

Practitioners who have clients that receive windfalls can provide valued advice on handling the new-found wealth. Consider not only federal income tax implications, but also state and local taxes.