Additionally, the CARES Act passed in March 2020 provides individual taxpayers with several hefty tax-saving opportunities, many of which are only available this year. What’s more, President Biden’s new relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which went into effect in March 2021, not only offers additional stimulus payments to most Americans, but it also includes significant tax relief for those taxpayers who lost their job and had to rely on unemployment benefits in 2020.
While there are dozens of potential tax breaks available for 2020, last week in part one of this series, we highlighted the first three of seven ways you can save big money on your 2020 tax return. Here in part two, we’ll discuss the remaining four ways you can save.
2020 was a nightmarish year for many families. But thanks to recent legislation, you could see a silver lining in the form of major tax breaks when filing your income taxes this spring. First up, although it’s technically not a tax break, the IRS announced this week that the deadline for filing your 2020 federal income taxes has been pushed back from April 15 to May 17, 2021, which gives you an extra month to get your tax return handled.
The postponement applies to individual taxpayers, including those who pay self-employment taxes. But the extension does not apply to first-quarter 2021 estimated tax payments that many small business owners file. So if you file quarterly taxes, contact your tax advisor now if you haven’t already done so.
Most lawyers get it wrong here, and I used to be one of them. I used to do exactly what I would absolutely cringe at doing now.
It's really amazing how much my clients have taught me – they've made me ponder every estate planning scenario imaginable, and I've had a chance to help them go on vacation without worrying, or sleep better at night, or go into childbirth or surgery with peace of mind.
Here, in the second part of this series, we’ll first look at the different ways a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust would have benefited Larry’s children. From there, we’ll discuss the complications that are likely to arise given that two of Larry’s children died before he had the chance to update his plan—and the planning lessons we can take away from this mistake.
Legendary TV and radio host, Larry King, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on January 23rd, 2021 at age 87. Larry was hospitalized in December due to COVID-19, but he’d recently been moved from the ICU to a regular hospital room after recovering from the virus. However, the famed broadcaster suffered from a number of other health conditions over the years, including multiple heart attacks, kidney failure, and diabetes, and he passed away from sepsis that was the result of an unrelated infection.
If you use Facebook to share, track, and report on important life events, it can provide an intimate snapshot of your life, and it can also serve as a key part of your legacy—and one you’ll likely want to protect following your death. With this in mind, as with any other digital asset you own, you should include your Facebook profile as part of your estate plan.
Within the past year, a combination of new legislation and the recent change of leadership in the White House and Congress stands to dramatically increase the income taxes your loved ones will have to pay on inherited retirement accounts as well as increasing the income taxes you owe on your taxable investments. However, purchasing life insurance may offer you the opportunity to minimize the effect of these developments.
If you own a business, you almost certainly have intellectual property. However, because your intellectual property is intangible, it can be invisible to you and those who aren’t familiar with the nature of intellectual property and its value, so it often gets overlooked, especially when it comes to estate planning. Yet, if you fail to properly document your intellectual property, your estate plan will likely not protect it—and this could cause your loved ones to miss out on what can be among your most valuable assets.
Although you likely won’t need to have an entirely new estate plan prepared for you, upon relocating to another state, you should definitely have your existing plan reviewed by an estate planning lawyer who is familiar with your new home state’s laws. Each state has its own laws governing estate planning, and those laws can differ significantly from one location to another.
Given this, you’ll want to make sure your planning documents all comply with the new state’s laws, and the terms of those documents still work as intended. Here, we’ll discuss how differing state laws can affect common planning documents and the steps you might want to take to ensure your documents are properly updated.
While the quarantines, shutdowns, and social distancing measures related to the pandemic have been difficult for everyone, the elderly have been particularly hard hit. Since seniors face the most health risks from COVID-19, most of them have been careful to avoid close contact with their family members, and this has left many grandparents unable to visit with their grandchildren for close to a year now.
This loss of in-person connection for such an extended period of time can cause people to feel isolated and lonely, which can eventually lead to mental health issues like depression. At the same time, children who are unable to spend time with their grandparents may experience confusion and anxiety over their lost relationship.
Long term care insurance should be reviewed for correct coverage. Contact our law office in Sudbury, Massachusetts located near Wayland and Framingham. We draft Revocable Living Trusts and Wills. We prepare Wills, Durable Power of Attorney, and Health Care Directives. We are the best law firm in Sudbury, MA!
Last week in part one of this serieswe discussed how Hsieh became an Internet pioneer, starting two wildly successful companies, LinkExchange and Zappos, the latter of which he sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion. It was as CEO of the online shoe brand Zappos where Hsieh developed his vision for life and business: delivering happiness.
Hsieh outlined this mission in the 2010 book, Delivering Happiness: A Path To Profits, Passion and Purpose, which became a New York Times number-one bestseller. Yet while the young entrepreneur was busy bringing joy to his customers, employees, and friends, Hsieh was privately coping with mental health issues and substance abuse. These struggles reportedly intensified in 2020, as the pandemic-related quarantines put an end to the non-stop parties and socializing Hsieh came to crave.
On November 27th, nine days after being pulled unconscious from a house fire in a beachfront home in New London, Connecticut, Tony Hsieh, the former CEO of the online shoe retailer Zappos, died due to complications of smoke inhalation.
Hsieh, who was single and had no children, was just 46. At the time of his death, Hsieh was worth an estimated $840 million, but in spite of his immense wealth, it seems he did not have a will, which is particularly puzzling given his altruistic nature.
Since you’ll be discussing topics like death, incapacity, and other frightening life events, hiring an estate planning lawyer may feel intimidating or morbid. But it definitely doesn’t have to be that way.
Instead, it can be the most empowering decision you ever make for yourself and your loved ones. The key to transforming the experience of hiring a lawyer from one that you dread into one that empowers you is to educate yourself first.
Last week we presented two of five questions to ask to ensure you don’t end up paying for legal services that you don’t need, expect, or want. Here are the remaining three questions.
Since you’ll be discussing topics like death, incapacity, and other frightening life events, hiring an estate planning lawyer may feel intimidating or morbid. But it definitely doesn’t have to be that way.
Instead, it can be the most empowering decision you ever make for yourself and your loved ones. The key to transforming the experience of hiring a lawyer from one that you dread into one that empowers you is to educate yourself first.
To this end, here are the first two of five questions to ask to ensure you don’t end up paying for legal services that you don’t need, expect, or want.
There are specific assets that are not subject to a Last Will and Testament, meaning these assets will not be distributed pursuant to the terms of your Will. Joint ownership and beneficiary designations, for example, fall out of the purview of your Will. These assets should be addressed separately.
Whether you develop smartphone apps, offer consulting services, or brew craft beer, you are no doubt extremely talented and driven when it comes to your core product or service.
Yet, when it comes to the dry, nitty-gritty parts of running a business—crunching numbers, negotiating contracts, dealing with insurance, and managing taxes—you likely don’t have nearly the same passion or surety. You might project an outer facade of confidence about the state of your company, but you may secretly fear that it’s going to fail.
If you’re like most people, you likely think estate planning is just one more task to check off of your life’s endless “to-do” list.
You may shop around and find a lawyer to create planning documents for you, or you might try creating your own DIY plan using online documents. Then, you’ll put those documents into a drawer, mentally check estate planning off your to-do list, and forget about them.
The problem is, estate planning is not a one-and-done type of deal.
