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Grandma Paid $48,000 of Her Grandson's Tuition and the IRS Called It Tax Free. Medicaid Called It a Gift and Made the Family Pay for Her Nursing Home
2+ hour, 33+ min ago (855+ words) The IRS blessed the check without a second glance, but a completely separate federal program reviewed the same transaction and handed the family a bill they never saw coming. Clearing one agency turns out to mean nothing to the other....
Social Security’s fine print: the income rule that can reduce your monthly benefits payment
5+ hour, 3+ min ago (420+ words) Choosing when to begin claiming Social Security retirement payments can have a significant effect on your monthly benefits. Particularly when it comes to claiming Social Security benefits, retirement is rarely as simple as it sounds. One wrong decision could end…...
She Married Him at 74 With a Prenup Protecting Her $600,000. When He Needed a Nursing Home at 80, Medicaid Told Her a Prenup Doesn't Exist in Its Rules
11+ hour, 33+ min ago (776+ words) She kept her $600,000 in a separate account, had her new husband sign a prenup before the wedding, and felt confident her savings were protected. Then he needed a nursing home, and Medicaid rewrote every assumption she had made. A widow…...
He Kept a $40,000 Whole Life Policy for 30 Years So the Kids Wouldn't Pay for the Funeral. The Nursing Home's Medicaid Office Told Him to Cash It In First
2+ day, 7+ hour ago (741+ words) After thirty years of premiums, a Medicaid coordinator handed him one option: surrender the policy and start over. She had the rule right but the remedy dangerously wrong. He bought the $40,000 whole life policy in his fifties for one reason:…...
He Turned 73 With His Own IRA and the IRA He Inherited From His Wife. One Withdrawal From His Own Was Supposed to Cover Both. The IRS Fined Him on Hers
15+ hour, 54+ min ago (437+ words) A 73-year-old retiree followed a perfectly legal IRS shortcut for combining retirement account withdrawals, then got fined for a distribution he thought he had already taken. The rule he missed is written in plain sight, and it catches surviving spouses…...
He Spent Down the Roth First to 'Save' the IRA for His Kids. He Left Them a $120,000 Tax Bill Instead of a Tax-Free Account
18+ hour, 4+ min ago (540+ words) Saving the Roth for the kids sounds generous, but a rule most retirees missed in 2020 turned that good intention into a six-figure tax burden spread across a decade of their children's peak earning years. Life After Work desk. Editor: David…...
She Inherited Her Mother's $180,000 IRA at 58 and Was Told She Had 10 Years to Empty It. Nobody Told Her the IRS Also Wants a Withdrawal in Each One of Them
20+ hour, 33+ min ago (730+ words) Inheriting an IRA comes with a 10-year deadline most people know about and a year-by-year withdrawal requirement almost nobody sees coming until the IRS penalty notice arrives. Life After Work desk. Editor: David Beren. The stretch IRA that once let…...
For Twenty Years He Made IRA Contributions the IRS Never Let Him Deduct. One Form Filed Every April Is the Only Thing Standing Between Him and Being Taxed on That $150,000 Twice
1+ day, 27+ min ago (505+ words) If you have a traditional IRA and your income was too high to deduct the contribution, you’ve been quietly building a stash of after-tax money inside a pre-tax account. That stash is called basis, and the only thing separating you…...
A Roth Conversion Isn't Investment Income. It Can Still Trigger the 3.8% Surtax on the Dividends You Collect That Year
1+ day, 1+ hour ago (614+ words) Retirees who move a large traditional IRA balance into a Roth in a single year often discover the IRS has quietly attached a 3.8% surtax to dividends and gains they never thought were in play. The mechanism behind it is… A…...
He Moved a $500,000 IRA to a New Broker and Missed the 60-Day Window by Two Days. The IRS Has a Waiver, and Almost Nobody Asks for It
1+ day, 3+ hour ago (959+ words) A single missed deadline turned a half-million-dollar retirement account into a potential six-figure tax bill, but the IRS quietly offers a way out that most taxpayers and even many advisors never think to use. The check for $500,000 sat on the…...