Hurricane Sandy: Tax Deductions For Casualty Losses

My last post talked about when we can trash tax and other important records. Well, Hurricane Sandy brought a whole new meaning to the concept of trashing records and a whole lot more.  

Experts estimate that Hurricane Sandy has caused $50 billion of damage.  Eqecat Inc., a financial advisory firm out of Oakland, California predicts that insurance will cover $10 to $20 billion of such losses.  Storm victims will be on the hook for the other $30 billion of losses. 

A couple of points to keep in mind before talking about the casualty loss tax implications:

• If your house is damaged from this disaster, contact local building authorities to see if the home is inhabitable,
• Establish an insurance claim, but don’t settle immediately,
• Make temporary repairs and take other remedial action to prevent further damage to homes and belongings, and
• Take photos of the damages.

With so many lives in complete turmoil, many of us on the East coast  crushed by Sandy’s wrath are not thinking of  claiming a casualty loss for tax purposes. However, knowing about how taxpayers can claim tax deductions under casualty loss provisions of the Internal Revenue Code is essential in dealing with insurance companies.  While memories are fresh and evidence is still available, now is the time to develop, document and support such casualty losses.

To aid those affected by this devastation readers should look at my article entitled Casualty Losses For Hurricane Sandy.  This article details  the tax qualification rules for being eligible for casualty losses.  It is a must read for anyone devastated by Sandy.

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Helping Elderly Parents with Their Finances and Estate Plan

As our older parents age it is harder for them to deal with the financial details of their lives. With the complicated financial products out there and the low-interest rate environment it becomes very difficult for them to make sound financial decisions. In addition, dealing with one’s own mortality can prevent parents from focusing on their estate plan. As many know, if they fail to have a will, trust or overall estate plan, the state will decide who gets their wealth via the laws of intestate succession.

The situation becomes even more acute in those many cases where there are second and sometimes third or more marriages. Most of these couples do not appreciate the problems that can occur for the surviving family members. A Russian Roulette situation can arise for the families depending on who dies first. Planning and careful drafting is almost certainly necessary in these situations to avoid family warfare and large and usually inevitable litigation costs. Couple this with the emotional toll that these situations engender, you can readily see why estate planning is so vital.  (For more on the estate planning process readers should explore Estate Planning Mistakes: 5 Not So Easy Pieces)

The point here is that children need to help their parents in getting their financial and estate plan in order. However, they must tread very carefully to avoid having their parents think they are acting in a self-serving way. Additionally, children should carefully deal with and tell their siblings of such involvement to avoid any later challenges of overreaching, duress, fraud and undue influence.

So how does one talk with their elder parents about these important issues? To get some ideas about how to approach parents on these vital issues please read my article entitled Estate Planning for Elderly Parents: Discussing Finances and Estate Planning with Your Aging Parents

Copyright © 2012 – Steven J. Fromm & Associates, P.C., 1420 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA 19102. All rights reserved.

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Failing To Update Retirement Plans: How to Avoid IRS Plan Disqualification & Penalties by Using VCP

In our fast paced world, many retirement plans are drafted and then often neglected.  In extreme cases, plans are put aside without ever being updated.  Some plan sponsors have failed to restate their plans for years or even decades.  For many individuals, retirement plan accounts represent the largest portion of their wealth.  As the following discussion will illustrate, the failure to protect this most valuable and important asset by keeping the retirement plan in full compliance with applicable retirement plan laws could result in some very nasty, costly and unforeseen financial repercussions.

The retirement plan laws have always required that plans be updated for tax law changes.  Before 2003, the IRS allowed plans to be periodically restated for tax law changes that occurred over many years.  This resulted in large, periodic major plan restatements.  However, since 2003 the IRS has required amendments to retirement plans for each new tax law resulting in more frequent “interim amendments.”  [For those of you interested in a more detailed discussion of these required interim amendments since 2003, please go to my questions answered at my Linked-In profile.]  For many plans, the deadlines for many of these plan restatements or interim amendments have now expired.  Current rules provide that plans that have not been redrafted to comply with required prior restatements or interim amendments cease to be qualified as of their applicable deadlines.

In the worst case scenario, the IRS may demand that the plan be retroactively disqualified.  If the IRS is successful in disqualifying the plan, the plan sponsor’s tax deductions for contributions taken in the year of disqualification and in later years would be disallowed.  The taxes owed by the plan sponsor due to the disallowance of previously claimed retirement plan deductions plus applicable interest and penalties could be enormous.  In addition, participants of the plan would have to treat as taxable income the value of their plan account as of the date of such disqualification.  The taxes, interest and penalties to the participants from the date of plan disqualification could be equally exorbitant. This would be a truly disastrous and harsh result for both the employer plan sponsor and participants in the disqualified plan.

However, in most cases, the current policy of the IRS is to impose monetary penalties instead of the more severe penalty of plan disqualification.  Even so, when the IRS raises these failures as the result of an audit the penalties can be quite severe.   Penalties can range from $2,500 to $80,000 depending on the failures involved and the size of the plan.  It is worth noting that in recent years, the IRS has increased its auditing of retirement plans.

 Here is Good News: How to Solve This Looming Problem 

The IRS has a voluntary remedial program called the VCP (voluntary compliance program) to correct these plan document deficiencies.  The IRS position is that retirement plans may be re-qualified only by having the plan sponsor voluntarily come forward before an IRS audit by submitting the newly drafted delinquent restatements and/or interim amendments to the IRS in accordance with some very detailed procedures and documentation pursuant to Revenue Procedure 2008-50.  Once the IRS reviews and hopefully approves the application and the newly drafted required documentation, the plan is deemed to be in full compliance with applicable law and such plan is retroactively tax qualified.

Instead of paying a steep monetary penalty, the VCP submission results in the paying of a filing fee to the IRS.  Sometimes, if the violation is quite limited the filing fee can be as low as $375.  (Remember, you will still need to pay for documentation services associated with plan restatements and interim amendments.  However, these costs would have been incurred in any event to keep your plan in full compliance with the law.)  The important point here is that the use of the VCP program avoids the risk of plan disqualification or the imposition of a large monetary penalty.

 How We Can Help:

Numerous VCP program applications under the applicable Revenue Procedure 2008-50 have been submitted by this office.  This application along with the needed plan restatements and interim amendments must be carefully drafted to ensure efficient negotiations and a successful outcome with the IRS.

The Bottom Line:

Plan sponsors should immediately and voluntarily move to correct plan deficiencies pursuant to the more taxpayer friendly and cheaper VCP program before the IRS audits your plan.  Once the IRS commences an audit, the VCP submission strategy is no longer an option and your plan is exposed to disqualification and/or severe monetary penalties.

Looking forward, you must establish a program with your plan adviser to ensure that your plan is kept in compliance with the laws concerning plan restatements, interim amendments and the changing IRS submission requirements and deadlines.  This will avoid having to deal with all of these problems again in the future.  In fact, the Revenue Procedure requires a disclosure in the VCP application as to what new procedures the plan sponsors will use to avoid this problem in the future.

 Do Not Wait

Do not wait for the IRS to audit your retirement plan as it then will be too late to get the cheaper and less painful VCP deal.  For a free initial consult to assess your retirement plan situation, please do not hesitate to call me, Steven J. Fromm, Esquire at 215-735-2336.  All consultations are confidential and covered by attorney-client privilege.

Copyright © 2009, Steven J. Fromm

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Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett: Estate Plan Wake Up Call

In the wake of the sad and tragic deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, we are all reminded how fragile our lives can be and how quickly things can change. The death of these two iconic figures should be a call to many to put their estate plan in order. It should be noted that the reality is that most people die without wills in our country. Some really smart and famous people, Abraham Lincoln, Howard Hughes, and Pablo Picasso, die without taking the time to draft a will.

Many of us procrastinate, minimize our personal need or the legal importance of drafting wills, trusts, living wills, and durable powers of attorney. The complexities of combining and coordinating diverse assets such as individual assets, jointly held assets, retirement plans, life insurance, annuities and business interests seem just too daunting for some. For others, they do not realize the importance of looking at all of their assets from an overall perspective; namely, when all is said and done who ends up with what.  Is the division of assets fair and equitable to all concerned after the payment of taxes, debts and estate administration costs?

For many, Michael Jackson’s untimely death has raised these and many other estate planning issues. At this point, no one knows whether he had a will and/or trust for his kids, or whether his estate plan was up to date. But by looking at his situation (and speculating a bit), some important estate planning considerations for the rest of us can be explored:

Guardianship: It is unclear what provisions Mr. Jackson had in his will (assuming there is a valid will) for his children. The early word from the media is that this will be a messy battle in the courts over the issue of guardianship of his children, even if his will indicated his preference for guardian.  Even if  challenged, the designation of guardian in a will would still be a very significant factor in any court challenge and laying out your wishes is always a prudent thing to do in any event.  The object lesson is clear: Parents with young children clearly should see the need for a will that indicates their choice of guardian for their children.

Trusts: No one knows whether Mr. Jackson had set up trusts for his children. Although it appears that his estate is now insolvent, this situation will probably change with post-mortem sales of his music someday providing assets and wealth for his children (think after-death income of the Elvis Presley estate).  Hopefully, he set up trusts that will protect and manage his assets.  To increase the possibilities of becoming competent adults, perhaps he drafted provisions in his trust in a way that develops their sense of personal initiative and responsibility yet still provides for their basic needs.  Experienced estate planning attorneys explore this type of forward looking planning when it comes to dealing with children and their anticipated needs if parents die prematurely.

Specific Bequests: The media has speculated that a very large asset of his estate (his Beatles song rights) was gifted to Paul McCartney. This generosity may be commendable, but from an estate planning perspective this bequest may raise problems. First, if his estate is in fact insolvent, this bequeathed asset would not be available to his estate to be sold and the proceeds used to pay down estate debts and/or benefit his children. Secondly, generally, bequests like these are often times given in a way that they bear no estate taxes. This could distort how the assets are divided between beneficiaries. The point here is that this bequest may have made sense when the will was originally drafted when Mr. Jackson was wealthy, but this bequest could be quite problematic in the current situation. The lesson here is that an estate plan needs to be looked at periodically as the family needs and financial situations change over time.

Special Needs Trusts: Farrah Fawcett died leaving a son who is in jail with addiction problems. The issues for people with children with special needs is often minimized, overlooked or not fully considered. As her only child, did she leave all of her wealth to her son? Did her will provide that he was to get his inheritance at her death or did she provide for a trust for his benefit? If she established a trust, what kind of provisions and conditions did she make in providing benefits to him? These tough questions arise not only for children with addiction issues, but for children with cognitive impairments, physical disabilities and emotional issues.  In addition, special needs trusts may be required where children are receiving public assistance from state and local governments.

The Bottom Line: Protect your family and protect your hard earned wealth. Spend the time to plan your affairs with an experienced estate planning attorney.  Remember, if you die without a will and trust, your state intestacy laws will control who will get your assets and how they get your assets. When young children are involved, courts generally place the children’s inheritances in trust in accordance with what a judge deems appropriate.  In addition, the judge will determine who will be the trustee of any trust they impose on your children and they will determine who should be the guardian of your children. These and other important considerations should be determined by you and not by a court of law, so do it and do it now so you do not leave problems like the ones Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett may have left behind.

© Steven J. Fromm, 2009

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THE SILVER LINING OF A BAD ECONOMY: GIFTING OF SHARES OF STOCK IN A CLOSELY HELD BUSINESS

As with most things in life, when things are bad, there usually is something good that can come out of it.  Our current economic troubles have resulted in many closely held or small businesses being worth far less then they used to be.  This is not a good situation for businesses that are hanging on to survive or have to be sold for various reasons.  However, for people wanting to minimize estate and gift taxes and have been putting off taking a cold hard look at their estate plan, now may be the perfect time to explore the gifting of shares in their businesses.

For example, some businesses have senior family members who own all or most of the shares of the outstanding stock of their corporation.  With the value of the business being down right now, more shares could be gifted to younger family members involved in the business.

Example:  Mr. Senior owns 80% of Deflated, Inc., while his two sons who work in the business own 10% each.  Deflated was worth $3,000,000 in 2007.  By the end of 2008, it was worth $2,500,000.  Mr. Senior talks to tax counsel and after exploring the tax strategies and planning tools discussed below decides to gift 20% of his shares worth $500,000 to each of his sons, leaving him with a 40% stock interest.

The tax advantages are as follows:

1.  The stock gifted to each son was previously worth $600,000. The current market value of such stock to each son is now only $500,000.  If Deflated, Inc. goes back to its value once the economy recovers, then Mr. Senior has just transferred $200,000 ($100,000 to each son) to his sons estate and gift tax free.  At a current marginal estate tax rate of 45%, Mr. Senior’s family can save $90,000 (45%*$200,000).

2.  The gifts to each son are gifts of a minority interest in Deflated, Inc. and such gifts lack marketability due to the limited market for such shares.  Estate and gift tax rules allow discounts for these factors that reduce the value of assets transferred.  (Caveat: There are some legislative proposals being floated in Washington seeking to limit this tax strategy. Stay tuned.) These discounts for minority interests and lack of marketability conservatively can be 25%, sometimes more.   With such discounts the gift of each $500,000 is reduced by $125,000. At a current marginal estate tax rate of 45%, Mr. Senior’s family can save another $112,500 (45%*$250,000).

3.  Outright gifts of stock are eligible for the annual donee exclusion of $13,000.  In addition, Mr. Senior has a spouse who will join in this gift, which will allow for a second $13,000 exclusion.  So the taxable gift to each son is now reduced by $26,000 (Mr. Senior’s annual exclusion of  $13,000 and his spousal joinder of another $13,000).  Additional savings to the family is $23,400 (45%*26,000*2 sons).

4.  If Mr. Senior makes no further gifts and dies with his reduced ownership interest of 40%,  his estate can claim the minority interest and lack of marketability discounts against his remaining shares.  If Mr. Senior dies in 2014, when deflated is worth $4,000,000, his family can take a 25% lack of marketability/minority interest discount, saving his family another $180,000 (45%*$400,000 marketability/minority interest discount[$1,600,000 forty-percent interest*25%]).

Bottom Line:  Mr. Senior can take advantage of the lousy economy, the lack of marketability and minority interest discounts and the annual donee exclusions with a spousal joinder to save his family a tremendous amount of future estate and inheritance taxes.

Caveat:  Remember that this type of planning depends on the particular factual setting of each client.  One difference in the facts can change the outcome.  Also, be aware that state inheritance taxes have not been considered in the above example.  Finally, the above should not be considered as legal advice.  Please consult with tax counsel to discuss your particular factual situation.

Copyright © 2009, Steven J. Fromm.

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