Tuesday, June 2, 2015

WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENNIN’ – TUESDAY EDITION


* Tax pros – have you seen the new post at THE TAX PROFESSIONAL yet?   And please tell your fellow tax preparers about THE TAX PROFESSIONAL.

* And check out this week’s post at BOB’S BABBLINGS for some I LOVE LUCY trivia.    

* Kay Bell celebrated May 29th (5/29) with “Five 529 Plan Facts to Celebrate 529 Day” at DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS.

* Howard Gleckman explains the truth behind why we have “The Perpetual, Immortal, Eternal, Never-Ending Tax Extenders” at TAX VOX, the blog of the Tax Policy Center (highlight is mine)    

An indelible image: It is pre-dawn in September, 1986. House and Senate tax writers have just completed their work on the Tax Reform Act.  A lobbyist friend sits forlornly in the corner of the majestic Ways & Means Committee hearing room. “What’s wrong,” I naively ask, “Did you lose some stuff?” Oh no, he replies, he got three client amendments in the bill. And that was the problem. After years of billable hours, his gravy train had abruptly derailed. The client got what it wanted. Permanently. And it no longer needed him.

Few make that mistake now. Lawmakers, staffs, and lobbyists have figured out how to keep milking the cash cow. There are now five dozen temporary provisions, all of which need to be renewed every few years. To add to the drama, Congress often lets them expire so it can step in at the last minute to retroactively resurrect the seemingly lifeless subsidies.”

It would be operatic, if it wasn’t so stupid.”

* Jim Blankenship of GETTING YOUR FINANCIAL DUCKS IN A ROW agrees with me (click here) in a blast from the past that it is a good idea to open a “Roth IRA for Youngsters”.  However he correctly points out one important fact –

The rules for making contributions to Roth IRAs (actually, any IRA) include the fact that the person who owns the account must have earned income.  This means that the individual whose account is being contributed to must have earned at least the amount that is being contributed from some sort of job – which could include self-employment or any sort of employment.”

Another area of concern for parents.  You may intend the ROTH IRA to provide retirement income for your kid – but the money in the ROTH IRA belongs to the kid, and once he/she reaches the “age of majority” he/she can “take the money and run”.


Can you guess the answer?  What else – it depends.  Jim explains in this post.

TTFN

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