The South Bay Tax Report
July 31, 2011
The Daily Breeze,
(what we now believe is one of the great newspapers),
JUST named
Wayland & Vukadinovich LLP as
South Bay's Best Tax Preparer
The selection was made based on the results of their
20th Annual Reader's Poll.
We are truly stunned by this honor and haven't had the chance to write our speech...maybe next month.
Thanks to all who voted for us!
The 25 Documents You Need Before You Die!
The Wall Street Journal recently listed the 25 documents they believe you need to retain to assist your heirs -
- Marriage license
- Divorce papers
- Personal and family medical history
- Durable health-care power of attorney
- Authorization to real health-care information
- Your living will
- Do-Not-Resuscitate order
- Housing, land and cemetery deeds
- Escrow mortgage accounts
- Proof of loans made and debts owed
- Vehicle titles
- Stock certifcates,savings bonds and brokerage accounts
- Partnership and corporate operating agreements
- Tax returns
- Life insurance policies
- Individual retirement accounts
- 401(k) accounts
- Pension documents
- Annuity contracts
- List of bank accounts
- List of all user names and passwords
- List of safe-deposit boxes
- Will
- Letter of instruction and
- Trust documents
Three Ways to Save for College
There are three main college savings tools today - 529 College Savings Plans, Uniform Transfer to Minors Accounts (UTMAs) and Trusts.
529 College Savings plans are known as "qualified tuition plans." States or state agencies sponsor these accounts and the accounts allow for tax-free savings as long as the funds are used for college. A college saver establishes an account for a student to pay for eligible college expenses; generally, a parent or grandparent is the account owner.
UTMAs are established by a parent, grandparent or other to transfer ownership of cash or other assets to a minor. This type of account is also known as a custodial account. The child owns the assets immediately and, upon reaching the age of majority (usually 18 or 21 depending on upon the state of residence) the child gains control of the assets to do with them whatever he or she desires.
A trust can be set up specifically to fund a college education. It's expensive (an attorney usually drafts the trust and annual tax returns must be filed to report investment income and sales). Given the expense, a trust should only be used to save for college if an UTMA or 529 plan is not appropriate. Use a trust as an UTMA alternative when you want to limit the child from controlling the assets.
Property Tax Appeals
The real estate market has likely played havoc with many of our property tax assessments. Remember, if you believe your assessment is in excess of the fair market value of your property, you can file an assessment appeal.
For assessment appeals, most counties have a filing period that begins July 2nd and ends either September 15th or November 30th depending on whether the county assessor mails notices by August 1st.
For a less formal request for decline in value reassessment (which is a great way to go...), the filing periods begin once new assessed values are made public which is usually around the first week of July.
Note that the assessment appeal application is submitted to the County's Assessment Appeals Board, which is made up of hearing officers typically appointed by the County's Board of Supervisors. The decline-in-value reviews are submitted directly to the County's assessor's office.
Audits of Upper-Income Individuals
Keeping with a trend we've seen during the last eighteen months, the IRS has indicated that audits of upper income individuals continue to increase. Recently,
18.38% of those of you making more than $10 million per year were subject to audit,
11.55% of those of you who make between $5 million and $10 million per year were subject to audit,
6.67% of you who make $1 million to $5 million per year were subject to audit and
1.11% of ALL of you were subject to audit.
Many of you request that we provide copies of tax returns we file for you to banks, loan brokers or other financial organizations. Please note that, due to Federal privacy guidelines, we are not allowed to provide information to 3rd parties without a formal authorization with AN ORIGINAL signature. Therefore, we usually honor your requests by providing the tax return copies to you directly so that you can forward the information on to the 3rd party directly. Note also that we do not charge a fee for providing electronic copies of your tax returns, but it often takes at least one business day before you will receive a link to a secure portal which will provide you with the information you have requested.
Beware of Phony E-mail from "IRS"
The Internal Revenue Service indicates that they have received numerous reports of emails sent to individuals, telling them that they are due a refund. The message directs people to a fake IRS web site that asks for personal data.
Note that the IRS will NEVER contact you via e-mail and you should ignore these emails.
| 
Contact Us