There are choices in setting up a plan, and the plan sponsor should understand the advantages and disadvantages of different plan design choices.
Types & Qualifications
Compensation and benefit deductions when domesticating a CFC
This item briefly discusses some risk areas for newly domesticated CFCs to help advisers spot issues for clients.
Correcting excess contributions to IRAs
Excess contributions to IRAs are generally subject to a 6% excise tax each year until they are eliminated from the account. This article identifies the ways taxpayers can eliminate excess contributions and discusses the pros and cons of using the different
methods in various situations.
SECURE Act changes rules to encourage retirement savings
The act contains changes to existing law, mostly designed to encourage retirement savings and to make it easier for employers to offer retirement plans.
Alert for IRAs holding master limited partnerships
The Forms 990-T prepared by the accountant hired by the broker may be wrong, and not usually in the client’s favor.
Stock-based compensation: Back to basics
This item summarizes some fundamental income tax considerations for employers related to stock-based compensation under U.S. federal income tax laws.
Corporate transactions’ effect on retirement plans
This article discusses several key factors that CPAs and benefit plan advisers should consider to help successfully integrate plans during a merger or acquisition.
5 key benefits of cash balance plans
These plans offer much greater flexibility than traditional defined benefit plans, which have more
rigid requirements.
Why small business owners should have a qualified retirement plan
Increasing contributions can qualify some business owners for additional tax deductions.
If and when to borrow from a qualified retirement plan
This article analyzes how an employee should decide whether to borrow from his or her qualified retirement plan.
Abusive Roth IRA transactions
The IRS identified transactions that improperly avoid limits on contributions to Roth IRAs.
IRS announces 2018 pension contribution limits under tax reform act
The IRS revealed that the recalculated 2018 pension contribution limits are unchanged from the numbers issued before the tax reform bill was enacted.
IRS announces 2018 pension plan contribution limits
The IRS released the inflation-adjusted amounts that apply to pension and 401(k) plans for 2018.
The 60-day rollover rule: Self-certifying waiver eligibility
A recent IRS pronouncement allows self-certification of some permissible reasons for a waiver of the 60-day requirement for rollover contributions.
2018 pension plan contribution limits are announced
The IRS released the inflation-adjusted amounts that apply to pension and 401(k) plans for 2018.
Federal retirement savings plan ended
Due to “extremely low” demand and high costs, the Treasury Department announced that it is ending the myRA retirement savings program.
Self-help stock purchase not IRA distribution
A taxpayer’s end run around an IRA custodian does not result in a taxable IRA distribution.
Treasury ends myRA retirement savings program
Due to “extremely low” demand and high costs, the Treasury Department announced that it is ending the myRA retirement savings program.
IRS cannot recharacterize DISC commissions paid to Roth IRA
The IRS could not recharacterize, under the
substance-over-form doctrine, commissions paid by a DISC to two Roth IRAs as dividends..
Self-Certification Spells Relief for Late IRA Rollovers
The IRS self-certification procedure allows taxpayers who fail to meet the 60-day rollover requirement to claim eligibility for a waiver.
employee benefits & pensions
Profits interests: The most tax-efficient equity grant to employees
By granting them a profits interest, entities taxed as partnerships can reward employees with equity. Mistakes, however, could cause challenges from taxing authorities.