Tax Warrior Chronicles

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been living in a whirlwind the past year, from welcoming their first child, Archie, to starting their transition from their positions in the royal family. With their plans to stop accepting funding from the UK Sovereign Grant and to move part-time to North America including Canada and the U.S., most likely California, there will be hurdles for them - one of which being taxation. Being royal makes it much more complicated, but we can try to do some analysis under some simplified assumptions.

Even though the family will be splitting their time between the UK and North America, Meghan and Archie must pay U.S. income taxes on their worldwide income because

By: Jeremy Gussick, MBA, CFP

As the busy tax season gets into swing, we like to tap friends in the financial planning world to help our clients and subscribers with their planning. Jeremy Gussick of LPL Financial is no stranger to our subscribers.  Today, he talks about taking distributions from various types of retirement accounts in the most tax-efficient manner.

Did you know that the vast majority of assets currently saved for retirement in this country are all in the same tax-structured account type?  And by saving in this fashion, you may be placing some significant limitations on your ability to grow and distribute your assets during retirement in the most tax-efficient manner? 

By: Dan Marques, CPA, MT

If at first you don’t succeed, try again.  That appears to be the moto of the NJ Legislature after passing the Pass-Through Business Alternative Income Tax Act (the Act), signed into law by Governor Murphy on January 13, 2020. This is the state’s second attempt to circumvent the $10,000 federal cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions imposed by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

A trip down memory lane

Some may recall NJ’s first attempt to address the SALT cap in May 2018, which called for towns, counties and school districts to set up charitable funds for taxpayers to make contributions in exchange for property tax credits. Under this program, individuals

By: Irina Moyseyenko, CPA, MT

In our first vlog of 2020, Irina Moyseyenko, CPA, MT, gives three (3) important tax and cash-flow planning tips for newly dubbed law firm partners.  The way you are now paid is different and you need to plan accordingly. Click on the image to view. 

By: Kelly Ha

The W-4 is the IRS form you complete when starting a new job to let your employer know how much federal tax to withhold from your paycheck.  Even though you’ve given your employer a W-4 in the past, with the many changes to the tax code, you should consider revisiting this form. There are specific times when you should consider refiling it to optimize take-home pay, while still fulfilling your tax obligations. Today’s post will look at how you can optimize your W-4 for you and your family—and when you should do it.

As we mentioned, Form W-4 lets your employer know how much money to withhold from each paycheck for federal tax purposes. Accurately completing your W-4 is

By: Keisha Price, CPA, MST

A Long Time Ago in a Tax System Far, Far, Away…Private Foundations were subject to a 2% tax on net investment income generated from the Foundation’s charitable assets. This 2% tax could be reduced to 1% if the foundation’s current year charitable distributions exceeded its average charitable distributions over the prior five years…until now!

Makes Sense Right?

Well yes! It makes sense for a foundation with a clear charitable purpose, effective directorship, and meaningful assets to give more for the greater good of the galaxy each year and that deserves a tax break.

Constructing the Death Star

Let’s say the good and benevolent founder of the foundation

Philadelphia – The Shareholders of Drucker & Scaccetti (D&S), a strategic tax planning and consulting firm based in Center City, announced the promotion of three of its associates to Managing Associates. Effective January 1, 2020, the firm’s new Managing Associates are Mya Lofton, CPA; John Mesko, Jr., JD; and Michael Rock, CPA.

“After another year of significant growth in our firm, we are pleased to promote these bright and talented professionals as they advance in their careers,” says Jane Scaccetti, CEO. “These professionals bring multiple career experiences demonstrating D&S’s commitment to growth and development. Ms. Lofton started as an intern at D&S, Mr. Mesko took a

By: Ashley Menders

On November 6, 2019, the IRS released a process unit to train and educate its agents on partial asset dispositions of a building. The release of this educational material to its employees may indicate IRS intent to target these deductions for examination, which are common in the real estate industry. Before we address this development, we'll first give you a refresher and explain the information your tax preparer needs to determine if you may benefit from the deduction. Finally, we'll address risk mitigation, given the recent IRS pronouncement.

What is a Partial Asset Disposition?

As part of the Tangible Property Regulations (TPR) released in 2013 that overhauled how

By: Eric R. Elmore

There’s a knock at the door. It’s not your Aunt Rosie, it’s not your poker buds and it’s not Junior who forgot his key.  It’s the IRS…unannounced!  Yes, this is now a possibility.  The IRS recently promulgated a policy for visiting certain taxpayers without prior notice. Sound scary? It could be; read on for the details.

First, a visit will occur only if you have an ongoing issue with the IRS, such as unfiled returns or significant taxes owed. Further, the visits will typically occur after the issue(s) has not been resolved through many attempts to contact you via mail. Visits will be focused in communities where there are a limited number of revenue officers

Philadelphia – The Shareholders of Drucker & Scaccetti (D&S), a strategic tax planning and consulting firm based in Center City, announced the promotion of four of its principals to Shareholder. Effective January 1, 2020, joining the Shareholders are Chris Catarino, CPA, MT; Rachel Kieser, CPA, MT; Dottie Leonardi; and Dan Marques, CPA, MT.

We are excited to invite the talent of Chris, Rachel, Dottie and Dan into the equity ownership of the firm. There are many reasons for excitement in addition to their outstanding skills. This group represents home-grown talent,  lateral hires from other firms, and non-client interfacing talent. Having degrees from Moravian College and Villanova and