Bracing for Biden:  2021 Year End Tax Planning

This final Tax Briefing for 2021 was first conceived, with the helpful input of Julie Barron of CIBC, last August over a glass of wine (well, maybe two) at the BC Club. The weather outside was still so stiflingly hot that wearing even a tee-shirt made you feel overdressed. 

At that time, the specter of Biden tax increases dominated the news cycle, and the press reporting was rife with lugubrious and unnerving predictions of “Taxageddon.”  All tax rates were going up, all tax deductions and the unified credit were going down, and everyone was pretty much destined to go broke. John Maynard Keynes once said, “The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.” 

Back in August at the BC Club, over wine, we were resolutely determined to be or become sturdy Keynesian intellectuals. Now hit the Fast Forward button to December 2021:  The Biden tax proposals have turned into the legislative equivalent of the Walking Dead, still wandering through the halls of Congress with a subdued and increasingly unmenacing mien.   

Are taxes still destined to go up?  Well, probably.  Will the tax act be a Taxageddon or something closer to a big nothingburger?  Well, probably somewhere in the middle. It’s December and we still need to do our year-end tax planning before we dip into the Yuletide nog.

Ready for some year-end fun?  Please join our bright, informed, deeply experienced and wickedly funny panel as they offer an ensemble performance, combining The Year in Review with The Rest of Our Lives in a sharp, insightful analysis of how best to structure your tax matters in 2021 and beyond.

Joining Jay Darby for this program will be:

• Cody D. Belland, CPA, JD, Tax Manager, Wolf & Company, P.C.
• Jere Doyle, Esq., Estate Planning Strategist and Senior Vice President at BNY Mellon
• Judith A. Saxe, AEP®, CAP®, Managing Director, Director of research and education for wealth strategies and a senior wealth strategist at CIBC Private Wealth

Topics will include how to:

• Take advantage of conventional year-end tax strategies, from qualified plans to annual gifting of $15,000 per donee to funding Roth IRAs (including “back door” Roths).
• Accelerate income into 2021 to avoid proposed tax rate increases in 2022.
• Defer net investment income or reduce modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) to minimize or avoid the 3.8% surtax on net investment income, which applies to MAGI over $200,000 (single taxpayers), $250,000 (married filing jointly) and $125,000 (married filing separately).
• Combine multiple years of charitable contributions into a single year in order to exceed the standard deduction threshold required to fully deduct contributions.
• Learn why leaving IRAs to children can be almost a prank on the kids.
• If over 70 1/2 years old, consider making a direct transfer from an IRA to a public charity. The distribution is excludable from gross income if certain requirements are met.
• Maximize contributions to retirement accounts, such as 401(k), traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP and Simple. Keep in mind that proposed legislation may limit the size of these accounts in future years. If age 50 or older, make “catch-up” (up to $6,500) contributions to eligible retirement accounts.  And so much more!

PROGRAM SCHEDULE 

4:00 p.m. – 5:40 p.m.  Seminar 

5:40 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.  Q&A 

CPE Credits Available