Plans

Tax Law Updates to 529 Educational Plans

Now that the dust has settled and the tax code has been “reformed,” it’s time to unpack those changes and analyze how best they can help you and your clients. One of the changes was the expansion of 529 Educational Plans.

Are You and Your Retirement Plan Ready for the New Year?

2018 is right around the corner. We will be dealing with massive changes to the tax code due to the enactment into law of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Some of those changes are going to apply to you and some of those changes will affect your retirement and assets that you hope will go to your heirs. Are you ready?

Happy Holidays

We at the Slott Report would like to wish all our readers and their families a very happy holiday season! We thank all of you for taking your valuable time to read the Slott Report over the past year. We have heard from many of you and welcome your comments and feedback. Keep it coming!

What is a Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan?

Now that it looks like they’ve been spared from elimination in the most recent version of tax reform, it’s worth taking a look at nonqualified deferred compensation plans (“NQDC plans”). NQDC plans take different forms, including salary reduction arrangements, bonus deferral plans, excess benefit plans, and supplemental executive retirement plans. For some clients, this may be a way to defer a greater percentage of income than under traditional qualified plans. It is also a way to attract and retain key employees. These types of plans will be paired with traditional qualified plans to maximize tax savings.

The Rule of 55 – An Exception to the Early Withdrawal Rules

If you have a 401(k) account or other employer sponsored retirement plan, you probably already know that a distribution before you reach age 59½ is going to be subject to a 10% penalty. One exception to the 10% early withdrawal penalty allows participants in a qualified plan to take a distribution from the plan after leaving the job as long as they are age 55 or older. This rule, sometimes called “The Rule of 55,” is an exception to the early withdrawal rules that generally levy a 10% penalty on amounts withdrawn before age 59 ½. This exception does not apply to IRA distributions.

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