It's tax season, which is always an anxious time for the many people who have not filed a tax return in a number of years. STLTaxLawyer Mark Milton's advice is regardless of what has happened in the past, get yourself committed to filing your taxes this year. ...
Continue readingIt's tax time! The tax filing season officially begins on Monday, January 24, 2022. We hope you will consider our firm for your 2021 tax return preparation needs. We have streamlined the tax return preparation process to provide more convenience to our clients and ensure a smooth and efficient experience. Our secure client portal is encrypted with bank-level security so we can securely share files and information. Using the survey tool, you will answer some questions regarding your 2021 income/deductions and be able to upload your relevant tax documents. There is also an app that allows you to take photos of your tax...
Continue readingSTLTaxLawyer Mark C. Milton was selected for the third consecutive year as a Missouri & Kansas Rising Star by Super Lawyers®, a Thomson Reuters rating service of distinguished attorneys....
Continue readingThe "Infrastructure Financing and Community Development" bill making its way through Congress seeks to reduce the lifetime Estate and Gift tax exclusionary amount from $11.7 million to $5 million and to attack the grantor trust type of arrangements. That’s the bad. The good news is that some other provisions thought to be included in the Infrastructure Financing and Community Development bill were excluded, including: Capital gains tax on death: earlier proposals suggested that to receive a step up in basis on appreciated assets, the donor would have had to pay the capital gains tax on the appreciation of the assets held by the donor at death. Capital gains tax on transfers to trusts: taxing the built-in...
Continue readingGrantor trusts have been a key tool for estate planning attorneys to reduce the taxable estate of high net worth individuals, but a new bill could drastically change this existing wealth transfer strategy. On Sept. 15, 2021, the House Ways and Means Committee introduced a new "Infrastructure Financing and Community Development" bill that proposes to include assets transferred to grantor trusts (trusts that are not treated as separate from the donor/grantor for income tax purposes because the donor/grantor pays the income tax owed by the trust, but are separate entities for estate tax purposes) in the estate of the grantor/donor. This bill attacks estate freezing and estate reduction techniques that estate planning attorneys have utilized in the past, such as gifts...
Continue readingA new bill working its way through Congress could change current estate planning rules and dramatically shift estate planning standards as early as Jan. 1, 2022. On Sept. 15, 2021, the House Ways and Means Committee introduced a new bill titled "Infrastructure Financing and Community Development" that would, among many other changes, reduce the increased Estate Tax and Gift Tax Exemption to half of the exemption allowed in the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act ("TCJA"). The proposed bill would decrease the existing Estate and Gift Tax exemption amount from $10 million to approximately $5 million effective Jan. 1, 2022, rather than Jan. 1, 2026, which was the existing date the TCJA exemption was set to sunset. The change in date to four years earlier than the previously planned reduction of the Estate and...
Continue readingSmall business owners and sole proprietorships frequently – but often unintentionally – run into IRS tax problems because the focus on running the day-to-day operations of the business can cause a business owner to neglect the entity’s tax obligations. STLTaxLawyer Mark Milton has a few small business owner tax tips to help ensure a successful and IRS-compliant operation. ...
Continue readingCollege athletes profiting from the new Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) opportunities should beware of the tax consequences. The biggest collegiate stars could earn millions of dollars annually using their NIL, and as such, should plan for and be mindful of the potential tax ramifications, especially with the IRS and DOJ closely monitoring the developing situation....
Continue readingSTLTaxLawyer Mark Milton appeared on “The Press Box with Frank Cusumano” and “The Bernie Show with Bernie Miklasz” on KFNS 590 AM to discuss how the new website STLRefund.com provides guidance to nonresidents of the City of St. Louis on how to protest and seek refunds of their city earnings taxes for days spent teleworking during the pandemic....
Continue readingAttorneys for plaintiffs in a proposed class-action lawsuit against the City of St. Louis and Gregory F.X. Daly, the City’s Collector of Revenue, have launched a new website (stlrefund.com) providing guidance to nonresidents on how to protest and seek refunds of their earnings taxes for days spent teleworking during the pandemic. ...
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