Passport Denial for Unpaid Tax
Congress passed a new law in late 2015 that allows the State Department to deny passports to individuals that owe in excess of $51,000 in federal back taxes. This law, implemented in February, has already resulted in some passports being denied. Roughly 400,000 US citizens are expected to be impacted. [...]
Tax Season Review
As I sit to write this the calendar shows a May date, nearly two week removed from the end of tax filing season. It was a tough year that seemed back-loaded with work in late March through the deadline. But now that my head is clearer and my body is [...]
Tax Season Deadline 2018
It's hard to believe but we are well on our way to the April 17 tax deadline. While some days it seems to us like it will never end, my guess is that it will be here before we know it. As always, if we have all of your tax [...]
Be Careful Out There!
For those as old as me you likely remember this line from the 80's police drama Hill Street Blues. And while the admonishment Sergeant Esterhaus closed every meeting with was intended to keep his fellow officers safe in the fictional Hill Street precinct, the warning equally applies to investors. It [...]
Market “Certainty”
As I read through the financial blogs, tweets and traditional media outlets this weekend one thing that was obvious is that there are no shortage of opinions of why last week's volatility happened. As I detailed last Monday, there are a host of reasons why investors (or traders) sell. And [...]
Market Drawdowns
A couple of the headlines I've seen this afternoon: While neither of these Twitter posts are technically incorrect, they are presented without proper context. On a percentage basis, today's ~4.6% drop in the Dow doesn't even come close to rating in the top 10 days. In fact, todays percentage loss [...]
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act-Part II Business Tax
While not explicitly sold in this way, I believe this round of tax reform was largely driven by the desire to reduce corporate level income tax. The perception is that US corporate tax rates were among the highest in the developed world. This tax bill is intended to remedy that [...]
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act-Individual Tax
After much back and forth between the House and Senate, both houses passed the TCJA on Dec. 20, 2017 and was signed into law by the President two days later. Thanks to social media and the 24 hour news cycle, we actually got to see how the sausage is made. [...]
Happy Holidays!
I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks but will follow with a more in depth review of the tax bill when I return (assuming it passes tonight). There is a lot to chew on with issues affecting a wide range of taxpayers. Happy holidays and [...]
2017 Tax Legislation
I hesitate to write a review of the Senate tax bill that passed last weekend as it is unclear (1) that the House and the Senate can agree to the differences in their respective bills and (2) that both houses of Congress will retain enough votes to approve the final, [...]
Choosing A Financial Adviser
I don't always agree with some of these life coach types and their philosophies but I thought this Marketwatch article on choosing advisers was interesting. Of course, all brokers are NOT inherently biased or unethical (not by a long shot) but I do think the brokerage model is a dying [...]
Woods Advisory Services, LLC-Registered Investment Advisor (RIA)
RIA Announcement I am pleased to announce the formation of Woods Advisory Services, LLC (WAS), a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) effective October 2, 2017. A fee-only RIA is a professional financial advisor offering advice, planning and investment services for a fee rather than some other form of compensation [...]
2017 Tax Warning! Capital Gain Distributions
Most equity markets across the world continue to chug along hitting record highs seemingly multiple times every month. Party time for mutual fund shareholders, right? Well yes, of course it has been. But there is a downside to these continued gains and that comes in the form of unexpected capital [...]
Tax Season 2016
Welcome to Tax Year 2016. Amazingly, this will be Brian’s 20th year in practice. Of course, we couldn’t have done it without you, our valued clients. For that we thank you and strive to make your experience with us as meaningful as possible. While tax law has changed very little [...]
Year End Planning
As 2016 rapidly winds down, I wanted to reach out with some thoughts on the upcoming tax season. Now is the time to review and plan your situation and we are available to assist in this process. In the past several years, year end tax planning has been a fairly [...]
Chasing Yield
Not a week goes by that I don’t get a question from a client, or several, inquiring about the best places to go for yield. We all remember the “good old days” when a 10 year Treasury Bond yielded 4-5% (mid 2000’s) to say nothing of the 10%+ yields of [...]