The Investment Scientist

Archive for the ‘Tax Mitigation’ Category

[Guest Post by Jeremy Bendler, CPA] As we plan our first of many charitable volunteer events of the summer I wanted to remind your which volunteer expenses and items are deductible.

If you are a volunteer worker for a charity, you should be aware that your generosity may entitle you to some tax breaks.

Although no tax deduction is allowed for the value of services you perform for a charitable organization, some deductions are permitted for out-of-pocket costs you incur while performing the services (subject to the deduction limit that generally applies to charitable contributions). This includes items such as:

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As a small business owner, you are caught in a conundrum. On the one hand, you need to offer good health benefits to your employees to attract and keep talent; on the other hand, you can’t afford to lose an arm and a leg doing so.

There is a simple option that enables you to kill two birds with one stone—Section 125 Premium Only Plan (POP).

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Doctor's Tax Saving

Doctor’s Tax Saving

[Adapted from my post for Physicians Practice] Generally speaking, physicians make good money while in practice. Many of them are in the top tax brackets. Upon retirement, however, their earned income often drops to zero. If they can defer some of their compensation to the future, they can effectively move money from the top tax brackets to lower tax brackets.

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[Adapted from my post on Physicians Practice]

“Laws are like sausages …” Otto Von Bismarck, First Chancellor of Germany

Physician Wealth

Doctor and Monday

The last Congress, the one that received a “Shellacking” in November election, was actually very good at making “sausages.” As the result, there are many tax law changes that have come into effect. I asked the tax specialist in my wealth management network to give me a list of tax law changes in 2010. As I went through the list, I identify these seven that are relevant to physicians and their practices.

Don’t take this as legal or tax advice; don’t even take this as complete information. To avoid putting you to sleep before you get to item 7, I simplify much legal minutia. Consult your own tax and legal experts before using any of these:

  1. If you have a practice of less than 25 employees, you maybe qualified for health insurance credit.  Read the rest of this entry »

Most wealthy Americans (those in the top two tax brackets) are not aware that taxes on their investments will get a bump in 2011, and again in 2013. The first one is due to the expiration of Bush tax cuts; the second is due to a 3.8% new “Medicare” tax on investment incomes.

The following table sums up the investment tax increases for the top-bracket taxpayers. Read the rest of this entry »


Author

Michael Zhuang is principal of MZ Capital, a fee-only independent advisory firm based in Washington, DC.

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