My partner, John Braswell, passed away last week. He had been practicing tax, real estate and estate planning law in Alexandria for 30 years. His conservative tax strategies coupled with his creative abilities served his clients well. He was a great friend to me and a great sounding board when there was a particularly tough tax issue facing me. My prayers go out to his wife and daughter.
Author Archives: John
IRS Leaks Social Security Numbers
You may be at risk if you donated to a 527 Organization. For example a PAC which can make independent expenditures in Federal Elections. The most famous one was the Swift Boat Veterans. Another may be some Tea Party Groups. If you donated to a political organization (other than a candidates campaign or a National political party) you should check with the IRS to see if your social security number was leaked.
IRS puts Social Security Numbers On-Line
This is a potential budget buster. Those are deemed disclosures. According to the Code, there is a $1,000 fine that the Government has to pay to the Taxpayer for illegal disclosures. Tens of Thousands of Social Security Numbers disclosed at $1,000 per number equals about $100,000,000 per ten thousand. And if its proved that the disclosure was intentional the fine is $5,000. And if a taxpayer suffers an identity theft, the Government is liable for those damages. Now that would be a class action worth filing.
When we last talked
We were discussing the dangers of the fiscal cliff. Well that has been averted. Apparently the Estate Tax exemption will remain at $5 Million per person/10 Million per couple for the foreseeable future. Those who made preemptive gifts in 2012 will need to file those gift tax returns on April 15. And given the rising real estate values (for now) those gifts were probably a good thing. The Medicare tax holiday is gone. So everyone will see a little less in their paychecks from now on. Most of the other Bush Era tax cuts were left intact including alternative minimum tax relief. We would be happy to review your individual situation to discuss these matters.
Sorry, we’re back in business
We got hacked and had to shut down, rebuild and are back here with new cautionary tales about taxes. Since we last met, we’ve had some interesting developments in the law. For example, you have until the end of January for your retirement plan or IRA to make a tax deductible contribution to a charity retroactive to 2012 taxes. So, if you have money in your IRA and are looking at a big tax bill for 2012, you can still save some money. This is a great deal.