Tag Archives: IRS

RMD’s not taken can be taxed at 50% … Nope not kidding … Yikes … More IRS agents hired … And if missed you have to file special tax forms … Yikes X 2 … Many Financial Institutions are Mandating a December 1 Completion … Take them Now Before the Rush!

Posted on November 14, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Many of you may be wondering why we are so firm of completing RMD’s in what may seem like “Early” Calendar Fashion…

This year marks the first year of full force RMD’s since the new age 72 (recall it was 70.5 a couple of years ago)

Let’s not forget the following headline from just a few months ago too!

From the IRS statement on RMD’s here:

Consequence for failing to take required minimum distributions

If you do not take any distributions, or if the distributions are not large enough, you may have to pay a 50% excise tax on the amount not distributed as required.

Financial Institutions are Mandating an Early Completion or Going Best Efforts

In addition to the full force of participants … Many institutions are Mandating a December 1 completion or it will be “A Best Efforts Basis” …

Bottom line, the consequences are too large in delaying your RMD – if you have not, take them NOW before the rush ….

Have a Great “RMD’s taken now” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Reminder, Retirement Planning, Tax Related

Tagged , , ,

New 2023 Contribution Limits, 401k, IRA, Roth, SEP

Posted on October 24, 2022 by | 2 comments

Once again not surprising with the afore mentioned COLA adjustment on Social Security…. Retirement contribution limits were also adjusted by a large amount….

We find ourselves reviewing this amount so frequently and getting confused as the calendar turns as well as being in the next tax year but making contributions for the prior…. we are going to have a special tab here on our blog moving forward that will have two years data. The IRS Release.

So here we go!

Retirement Contribution Limits

  • 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, increased to $22,500 (2023), up from $20,500 (2022)
  • Catch up for those over 50 is increased to $7,500 (2023), up from $6,500 (2022)
  • Total max 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans including catch up is $30,000 (2023) up from $27,000 (2022)
  • limit on annual contributions to an IRA increased to $6,500 (2023), up from $6,000 (2022)
  • IRA catch up for those age 50 and greater remains $1000
  • Annual Gift Exclusion amount increased to $17,000 (2023) from $16,000 (2022)

This takes care of the great majority of retirement plans…but for the record we do not like the formatting and will wait to post the new page once a more comprehensive and better formatted list is completed….

Have a “Fresh of the Presses IRS Retirement Increased Limit” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

2 Comments

Posted in General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Tax Related

Tagged , , , , , ,

IRS Tax Return Backlog Update… Interesting Productive Technology for Home Internet Repair … Brrrr a Cold Friday Here in the South …

Posted on February 25, 2022 by | Leave a comment

During last year’s extended Tax Return season it was discovered that for various reasons the IRS was greatly backlogged in completing returns. Given that some 2/3 or more tax returns have refunds one can imagine the disappointment in a delayed return of one’s hard earned work.

At the time it was believed there were about 26 million tax returns that were behind … we even wrote about it here, this recent Washington Post article gave updated numbers just as of late that the IRS is some 24 million tax returns behind STILL ! Yikes…

Given this fact with a small sample size of folks that have filed their returns already it has been about a two week turn around for electronically filed returns to get their refund.

We will keep you posted on this but for those of us that are getting a refund we will watch closely on the corrected 1099’s and may error in allowing everyone to file their returns sooner rather than later so as not to get into the great delay!

Interesting Technology Discovered During Internet Repair

Those of you with good memories may recall that last week before the long weekend the Casa was without Internet.

Similar Technology

Upon return to the home from being out of town over the weekend the Internet was still absent. An hour and a half later the repair was complete and the most interesting discovery of technology occurred. During the call the technician rather than scheduling someone to come out to the house in a day, a week, or two weeks, he asked me to download a quick app on my cell phone click on a text that he sent … turn on my camera and my phone became a live lens back to the technician.

Yes 90 minutes is a long time to be on the phone with a technician … not unexpectedly, but what a terrific quick repair was made especially given the nasty weather we have had here in the South this week!

Sure love that technology when it works, not so much when it doesn’t!

Ahhhhhh today is a Friday, and you guessed it, the wireless Mic was in action again and a failure of keeping this post short was again the result!

Will try to do better, enjoy your weekend, talk next week!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Investing/Financial Planning, John Kvale, Personal, Tax Related

Tagged , , ,

401k Plans Year 2022 Limits ($20,500 + $6,500 Catch Up), IRA Stay Same ($6,000 + $1,000 Catch Up) … Hmmm?

Posted on November 15, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Great News for corporate and similar retirement plans as we get a 5% (actually 5.13%) bump in contribution limits…yay

Not sure what happened to the cost of living adjustments (COLA) for regular IRA’s, Roth’s and our catch up provisions as they are stuck once again at the same levels? Maybe they are only going to increase them every four years which puts an increase next year? Maybe they (IRS) does not want to confuse us? Either way, here are the updated rules from the IRS latest release for year 2022 !

The following from this IRS.GOV announcement and hot links are live back to the IRS website if you have deeper questions on each subject!

Deferral limits for 401(k) plans 

The limit on employee elective deferrals (for traditional and safe harbor plans) is:

  • $20,500 in 2022 ($19,500 in 2021 and 2020; and $19,000 in 2019), subject to cost-of-living adjustments

Catch-up contributions for those age 50 and over

If permitted by the 401(k) plan, participants age 50 or over at the end of the calendar year can also make catch-up contributions. You may contribute additional elective salary deferrals of:

  • $6,500 in 2022, 2021 and 2020 and $6,000 in 2019 – 2015 to traditional and safe harbor 401(k) plans

Deferral limits for IRA Roth 

For 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019, the total contributions you make each year to all of your traditional IRAs  and Roth IRAs can’t be more than:

  • $6,000 ($7,000 if you’re age 50 or older), or
  • If less, your taxable compensation for the year

Traditional IRAs

  • Retirement plan at work: Your deduction may be limited if you (or your spouse, if you are married) are covered by a retirement plan at work and your income exceeds certain levels.
  • No retirement plan at work: Your deduction is allowed in full if you (and your spouse, if you are married) aren’t covered by a retirement plan at work.

These charts show the income range in which your deduction may be disallowed if you or your spouse participates in a retirement plan at work:

2022

2021

Roth IRAs

This table shows whether your contribution to a Roth IRA is affected by the amount of your modified AGI as computed for Roth IRA purpose.

If your filing status is…And your modified AGI is…Then you can contribute…
married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er)< $204,000up to the limit
single, head of household, or married filing separately and you did not live with your spouse at any time during the year< $129,000up to the limit

Have a Great “Year 2022 Retirement Limits Update” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Tax Related

Tagged , , , , , , ,

August 2021 Financial Planning and Capital Market Review – By John Kvale

Posted on September 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Hello and Welcome to our August 2021 Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast audio format as well as Video!

Newbies –

We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets and current events!

Hope you enjoy!

August 2021 Video

YouTube

Financial Planning Tip(s)

Unemployment Fraud Alert

Multiple frauds occurring in continuous weeks, led us to write this post, reminding those that the fraudsters are still at it.

Their latest game…using stolen Socials and Employment information to gain unsuspecting employers Unemployment compensation.

While likely some accidentally fall through the cracks, we have yet to experience anything other than a mild inconvenience….

But do not let your guards down and if a victim, keep your eyes peeled for other items for the near term!

Child Tax Credit Confusion

After repeated confusion, here in this post we outline the new ADVANCED child tax credit payments than sneakily commenced several months ago…

Also a warning of an overworked IRS to keep line of sight to the funds in case we need to pay them back in the form of a higher tax bill when completing our 2021 Form 1040 Personal income tax return in April of 2022!

Capital Market Comments

Kyle Bass Forecasts

In this podcast derived post, we re-visit Kyle Bass again after a few year hiatus…

Here are his latest forecasts…. hopefully they come true

  • The Federal Reserve will continue to support the markets with continued purchases.
  • Federal Reserve feels responsible for Capital Markets … i.e. Every Federal Reserve member has a Bloomberg Investment terminal on their desk and post public talks, Fed members go back to their office to check the markets reactions to their comments.
  • Much more inflation than actually as printed by CPI – (Consumer Price Index) Example of car price increases up 300% over last thirty years, but CPI auto costs increased 5% over that period.
  • Cost of Food increases may cause social inequity problems.
  • Oil hits $100 per barrel this year … due to mal investment over the last 7 years.
  • Short term interest rates not to go higher than 1.5% and long term (10 year) rates will not go higher than 2.5%. i.e. Bernanke Helicopter speech outlines the difficulty in raising rates a lot once they are at a lowered level for some time.
  • We push through the Delta Variant and there is a REAL re-opening effect that works its way through the economy (Hope this is correct!)

Have a Great Day, Talk to You at the End of September!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Audio, Clients/Clients Only, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Retirement Planning, Tax Related, Video

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

July (YIKES GOING FAST) 2021 Financial Planning and Capital Market Review – By John Kvale

Posted on August 2, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Hello and Welcome to our July 2021 Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast audio format as well as Video!

Newbies –

We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets and current events!

Hope you enjoy!

July 2021 Video

YouTube

Financial Planning Tip(s)

IRS Refunds and Tax Return Processing Very Delayed

In this Break In Post, after having discussions with several of you, and then touching our CPA contacts we came to the conclusion that the IRS is delayed in processing returns and more importantly REFUNDS!!!

Before we could get the news to you, this Yahoo Finance Article nicely summarizes that the IRS is behind on a whopping 20% of returns or over 30 million !

With a September 1, 2021 IRS stimulus check lookback (those who did not get the last round of stimulus will be reviewed by the IRS to see if they qualify) the IRS has their hands very full….

All together…. PATIENCE! They will eventually get to us!

Fingers Crossed For a Hot (Large) COLA Increase

Catching wind through our contacts of a possible HOT (read Large!) COLA adjustment this year for Social Security and possibly those lucky ones that have a COLA adjuster on their Pension or other retirement plan we dug in here in this post and outlined the methodology used by the SSA. The line in the sand for adjustment is later in the year but as can be seen by the latest CPI-W running at 6.1%, with a little luck, we may have a very nice adjustment on our hands!

Capital Market Comments

Valuations are Getting Better but Expectations are WAY out of Line!

In this post and with the help of our Friends at JPMorgan we happily reviewed the far right hand smartly turning graph, that is headed in the correct direction for better valuations… YAY

A bit later in the month we ran across a wonderful but somewhat worrisome poll done by Natixis of over 8000 investors and their expected return over the next 10 years…. Way off base in our minds….

Likely to see this last poll make its way into the Newsletter as these numbers are likely so exaggerated, we want more air time!

Ok…that’s a wrap for the July review….

Have a Great Day, Talk to You at the End of August!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Audio, Clients/Clients Only, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Retirement Planning, Social Security, Tax Related, Video

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

BREAK IN- DELAYED IRS REFUNDS (35 million to be exact) … Branson Makes History … Survey Results Preview … Trials of Server Cut Over … British Open Friday …

Posted on July 16, 2021 by | Leave a comment

BREAK IN – After multiple inqueries this week regarding missing or delayed refunds, then a field touch of Tax Professionals and other expected refunders we came to the comfortable conclusion there are delays.

Before we could get this to you, this yahoo finance story breaks, saying as many as 20% of all returns (35 million- yikes) may be delayed… wow- but good detective instincts by us!

So if you have a refund due, and it is late, don’t worry, the IRS is behind but will get to us eventually!

Branson Hits the Skies

Ya ya, a bunch of Billionaires racing to the skies… we get the negative, but you cannot take away the fact that Branson (Musk and Bezos in line too) took to the skies and was the first outer space self funded and self manned traveling vessel.

These things crash and explode… frequently… heck Branson did not even wear a helmet… cavalier, maybe…. ego driven…. maybe, accomplishment, for sure!

Crazy Billionaire…. Maybe!

Survey Results Preview

We have run into a terrific survey that we cannot believe. Over 8000 folks were surveyed across the globe with some startling results….

Planned on having it mid-week this week, but did not get Copyright clearing until later….

Look out next week, we cannot wait to review…. it may even be good enough for a Two Part Series… will see…

Trials and Tribulation of the Summer Tech Update

Literally the day we posted our initial announcement of our summer technology update on Friday…. Our WIFI at the office went out…

“Nothing to do with the update, we assure you!”

Ok, fine … Monday of the week found several of us no access to our contact information and email….

Luckily the cell and Ipad were working great UNTIL – Thursday.. Boom, down ….but fixed with a call to said IT folks…

If you happen to send an email to us and not receive a response, please resend, we MAY have not received it!

Next week fingers crossed for a smooth “Cut Over” (Techie term for new services)

Ahhhhhh…. but today is a Friday…. you guys know how much I like the summer sun, yep its hot, but that’s ok, enjoy your day, your weekend, and be sure to spend time with those special in your life if possible – talk next week!

Ohhh, and one more thing… it is a British Open Golf Weekend, where Golf will be available first thing in the AM for those who fancy such!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Tax Related

Tagged , , , ,

Another Good Experience with IRS.Gov Payments … Friday

Posted on April 16, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Hey… we do not like clients having to pay taxes, BUT there is not much worse than making a payment and not getting confirmation of that payment for months and even in one case two quarters…. Yikes…

IRS.Gov Filing Site Working Well

This week we had an unusually large number of Q1 ES 2021 Filings as reminded here….

They all went off without a hitch… no kidding…

We could make a joke about that Uncle Sam has figured out how to take our money, but that would be a little bit of salt in the would…. so we will pass…

We will remind again next month and continue to encourage all to forget the checks and mailing system, for the safety and timely credit, the IRS.gov payment system is the way to go…

Speaking of Taxes, we are finding some interesting things to talk about shortly, specifically on the Returns….

We of course closely watched the Capital Markets against our better wishes stretch and stretch some more … more on this too soon!

Ahhh… today is a Friday, heading into a early spring Weekend… Wet here, but that’s ok, grow grass grow!

Enjoy your day and your weekend !

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Investing/Financial Planning, Tax Related

Tagged , ,

New Tax Filing/Payment Date … Scammer Alert – Be Careful

Posted on March 23, 2020 by | Leave a comment

On Saturday, the normal Mid-April tax day was extended to July 15 and would also include regular ES Payment extensions as well.

Extension to Regular Filing DateIRS logo

This from the IRS Announcement:

“Taxpayers can also defer federal income tax payments due on April 15, 2020, to July 15, 2020, without penalties and interest, regardless of the amount owed. This deferment applies to all taxpayers, including individuals, trusts and estates, corporations and other non-corporate tax filers as well as those who pay self-employment tax.

Taxpayers do not need to file any additional forms or call the IRS to qualify for this automatic federal tax filing and payment relief. Individual taxpayers who need additional time to file beyond the July 15 deadline, can request a filing extension by filing Form 4868 through their tax professional, tax software or using the Free File link on IRS.gov. Businesses who need additional time must file Form 7004.

The IRS urges taxpayers who are due a refund to file as soon as possible. Most tax refunds are still being issued within 21 days.”

Updated Scam Alert

The bad guys are taking advantage of the current situation by sending emails related to the Virus… I have personally received over a half a dozen so far, some very clever.

We have also been warned by our security advisers to be on the watch….

We wanted to give you a heads up…

  • Take a quick moment to slow down and double check your emails and texts for the time being (hurried answers or clicks are just what they are looking for!)
  • Be EXTRA careful on any email you may receive
  • Do not open any unusual Zip or hot-linked texts
  • Double check the from email address on ANY unusual email – read carefully, they again are, clever

Have a Great “Tax Extended, Scammer Watch” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
jkfinancialinc
street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Cyber, Investing/Financial Planning, Tax Related

Tagged , , , ,

All About Taxes – We know … Most Really Want to Know About ENFORCEMENT ! Great Source Sites

Posted on January 29, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Here are great source sites used for our research and possibly useful as you enter tax season:

As promised last Friday we wanted to share some neat stats and information concerning taxes and the collection of, and the IRS in general.

This is a brief review of the subject matter from our pending 2020 Q2 Newsletter which will hit your mailbox right around tax filing date, and we thought it a good time to share some stats.

We know that when you think of the IRS and taxes you’re mostly concerned with one thing … ENFORCEMENT!

With brevity a concern in this venue, we will drill directly to the enforcement portions of our much deeper and more comprehensive article … again in our Pending Q2 Newsletter.

Enforcement of Tax Collections and IRS Statistics

In dealing with the IRS and tax situations over the past 31 years the one thing that we have found most important is to always respond to the IRS in a timely fashion.

TaxAudit 2018 stats

 

Our general IRS/Client experience over the past three decades has been a very good one. We have found the IRS to almost always be very receptive to information, understanding of mistakes, and even frequently waving penalties and interest …however this last point is not always in stone given certain situations

Amazingly nearly 2/3 of audits, which are almost all done by paper due to the cost of a field audit are not answered, resulting in a claim on the taxpayer. Bottom line, make sure you show the IRS that you’re answering their questions in a timely fashion and expect a paper computer driven notice.

09-18 number of returns audited IRS advocacy

The majority of audits and notifications (AKA CP2000) are created or driven by an income mismatch – said another way, if you earn some income, wages, interest, investments, or some type of capital gains, and you do not get it on your tax return, it’s easy for the IRS to catch, and you WILL get a notification. (CP2000)

Sir Learned Hand, Famous Quote440px-LearnedHand1910a

“Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”

While you hear us talk about tax reducing strategies frequently, (here, here, here ) as we are big believers in not paying any extra taxes, we are also very big believers of being fair and honest with the IRS. Over the years we have been presented with many gray area tax strategies that have almost inevitably not held up against the IRS.

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is in the end … don’t even think about going there – the IRS will eventually find you, and it will most always be at the most inconvenient time!

Having respect, and mutual admiration for the IRS and its’ enforcers,  but not fearful or conspiracy, is a healthy way to go about your tax responsibility as a United States Taxpayer!

Have a Great “Tax Stats” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
jkfinancialinc
street-cents

Leave a comment

Posted in Education, Investing/Financial Planning, Tax Related

Tagged , , , , ,