Tag Archives: Standard Deduction

Year End NON-RMD (Required Minimum Distributions) Donations Reminder …. Check Your Standard Deductions Level …

Posted on December 7, 2022 by | Leave a comment

With year end barreling down on us, and our last post about next years tax rates garnering some really great comments… thank all of you for taking time to read, and especially to comment…. very honored… A Tax Savings Reminder was in order!

The following does not apply to those making charitable donations with their RMD’s (Required Minimum Donations)…

Donations and Standard Deduction Reminder

If you have made a few donations (again Not applicable to RMD Donations) and you are not sure if you are over your standard deduction – take a moment to tally up your donations as they are related to your standard deduction. If you are just shy, consider adding to something you may want to do next year…. If you are way shy of your standard, consider waiting until next year….

Oh the disclaimer, not tax advice see your tax professional!

This is your respective level for 2022:

Standard deduction for married couples filing jointly for tax year 2022 is $25,900

Single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately, the standard deduction is $12,950 for 2022

Per IRS website

Have a Great “Donations and Standard Deduction” Reminder!

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

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Clumping Property Tax and Deductions Reminder – Standard Deduction Maximization Strategy

Posted on November 26, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday’s several family members were surprised to find out that there are still tax law changes – well clarifications, that are going on at this time…

It is possible that there will be changes/clarifications occurring right up and through this first “New” Tax season…

Now is reminder time for taxes — but given the above — we have more of a butter knife than a tax scalpel for our surgical tax techniques — No matter …. Let’s go!

Clumping Property Tax

A joint family will receive a $24k – yes … Twenty Four Thousand Dollar STANDARD deduction – add on to this that the new limited – state and local sales tax (SALT) deduction (read property tax) of $10k annually,  planning is needed to maximize deductions.

The easiest and most common way to POSSIBLY maximize deductions is to clump your property taxes as well as other elective expenses. As you can easily tell, clumping your SALT deductions will get you to $20k so we are still not there…

Mortgages interest up to $1million in loan value prior to 2018 and $750k after is still deductible.

Bad Deduction Planning

All of this fancy acceleration and delayed of tax deductible expenses is to avoid the following –

Every year coming up with just under the standard deduction! I.e. $23k of deductions annually is likely not as tax efficient as possible…

A better solution would look like this:

Clumping Taxes

Skip years = Standard/no itemization/simple tax return

According to this AARP report earlier in 2018 the approximate 30% of tax payers who formerly itemized will drop to about 10% –

Bottom Line do not feel bad if you do not itemize, BUT you may still be able to itemize every other year, under an appropriate standard deduction tax max strategy.

Reach out with questions before year’s end – We can help you calculate what the best strategy may be!

Have a Great “Standard Deduction Maximization” 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

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Posted in Investing/Financial Planning, Tax Related

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Three Key Tax Items from the New Tax Laws – So Far

Posted on June 27, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Recently, in a study group of six long time Professional Financial Planners – including yours truly – someone in the group asked if they had their arms around the new tax code?

None of us were 100%- too many changes and too many possible changes-

That being said, here are three key observations

Three Key Tax Changesirs

  1. The new $12k standard ($24k for couples) will render many itemizers useless and will mandating clumping
  2. Tax Rates are going down- across the board – see our chart here
  3. Largely a loss of deductions – Especially small business owners

The last bullet point may give you pause, but it should not, the net effect (most likely) will be positive for most tax payers —

Have a Great “Less Taxing” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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

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

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Clumping – A must given new tax laws … Friday

Posted on June 15, 2018 by | 1 comment

We are finally digging our teeth into the new tax laws … they are not 100% set in stone yet as there are many unanswered items… and likely IRS statements that will clarify and change items as the year progresses…

There is one item we are pretty confident-

Clumping of Expenses

We are going to speak at length on this over the year, so not to worry about being reminded…

The new standard deduction amount is $12k – Making for a hefty hurdle to itemize for married couples ($24k), especially with a NEW $10k SALT (State and Local Taxes) deduction limit…

Clumping TaxesAre your eyes glazed over yet? It’s ok, we will be digging deeper into this throughout the year ….

Drawing from IRA’s is also in play under the appropriate circumstances … look for more on this shortly as well…

Today is a Friday … and while a little heavier than our normal post for the weekend … it sets us up for what is to come on our tax talks… get out and have some fun … talk to you next week!

Oh… and for those wondering, the 13 year old had 9 matches total and won 6 – in some VERY HOT conditions… All good!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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

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Posted in Investing/Financial Planning, Tax Related

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High points of the Tax Reform Announcement due out today… Our favorite and least favorite

Posted on April 26, 2017 by | Leave a comment

So we finally get through Tax Season, sunset the tax discussions until next year, and along comes an announcement that tax reform plans are due out today.

Keep in mind, no one knows for sure what the final outcome will be even after today’s announcements as approval and compromises will ensue.

Here are the high points from our perch.

Standard Deduction AdjustmentUncle Sam

An announcement for a large increase in the standard deduction is expected. If passed the net result could be tax savings for many especially those that do not itemize. In our view, this change, if approved would likely have the largest total number of filing changes. Needless to say the tax planning possibilities are huge….

Corporate Tax Changes

There is much anticipation of lowered corporate rates. US corporate tax rates according to many , are too high, a proposal for relief from higher corporate tax rates is expected.

There is also a possibility of smaller, flow through entity corporation, think S corporation income i.e. K-1 tax rate relief.

Tax Repatriation

Our favorite, and hopeful agreed upon, tax change would allow stranded income, already taxed in a foreign country, to move more freely back to the US with less tax burden.  International corporations would have greater access to foreign country stranded capital if this were to be approved.

We have heard less of this lately and hope it does not hit the cutting room floor!

Estate Tax Reform

There has been much talk of an Estate Tax reform as well. The gist is a disallowance of a step up in basis but a removal of the $5.49 million Estate tax rate.

If passed as mentioned, and the current tax laws held “as is” on capital gains, this could be a huge nightmare. We think there may be major compromises on this before actually passed. We will keep you posted on this as it develops. This is our least favorite possible reform at this point.

Have a Great “Tax Reform Announcement” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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

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Posted in Investing/Financial Planning, Tax Related, World Political

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Our Most Interested Tax Item in the works

Posted on January 23, 2017 by | Leave a comment

While there is much to be debated, approved, voted and bantered before any final legislation is likely approved, there is one very interesting tax item we are keeping our eye on.

Major Increase in Standard Deduction

So far the GOP and the new president seem very strong proponents of a HUGE increase in the standard deduction. Currently the talk is $30k for joint filers. The current standard deduction is $12,600.

Digging deeper into the facts, a couple of probably outcomes may be seen:4911abd2-4b9c-408a-a953-d805a2ea9c1a-9907-0000085a4bc97ada_tmp

  • A married couple with no kids or dependants and negligible deductions really get a big break
  • Larger families may actually come out worse as there is currently talk of eliminating standard deductions (think dependent kids)
  • Itemization may be much less – this may be a goal of the new plan- with such a higher standard deduction, those on the cusp of deductions may not even be close anymore

We will keep our eyes on this one and update you as clarity occurs…..interesting though !

Have a Great “Less Taxing” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

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

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