The Slott Report

It now appears that the new fiduciary rules proposed by the Department of Labor (DOL) back in June of 2016 are all but dead. Late last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a last-minute appeal of its March 15th decision to toss the DOL rules. The appeal was filed by the AARP and three states (New York, California, and Oregon), not the DOL.

Let's say you wish to contribute to an IRA in 2018 but have too much income to make a either a deductible contribution to a traditional IRA or a contribution to a Roth IRA. You still have the option to make a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA. Might this make sense for you?

This week's Slott Report Mailbag answers readers' questions about leaving money to charities and Roth conversion penalties.

If you have a Health Savings Account (HSA) with family coverage, determining your 2018 contribution limit has been an adventure. This in one of the many unintended consequences of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

This week's Slott Report Mailbag answers readers' questions about QCDs and RMDs.

Beware of these 3 investing mistakes with your IRA: late investments, illegal investments, and prohibited transactions. They can cost you or your clients big bucks.

With the tax deadline having just passed, now is the perfect opportunity to start planning for next year. Last year’s return should be readily available, and you may even have many important items committed to memory. Additionally, four months into the year is the perfect time to begin making current year projections. Of course, this year is different. That’s because 2018 will be the first that we file under the changes created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

This week's Slott Report Mailbag answers readers' questions about Roth conversions, the pro-rata rule, and rollovers.

One of the greatest benefits of an IRA is its ability to provide tax-favored wealth for heirs. An IRA left to a beneficiary can be "stretched" to provide pre-tax compound investment returns for the rest of the beneficiary's life -- or even longer. And these can be distributed totally tax free if it is a Roth IRA.

The countdown to the 2017 tax filing deadline is on. The deadline is April 17, 2018, which is really only hours away. Time is running out. Is your IRA ready?