The Slott Report

One of the greatest benefits offered under ERISA are the anti-alienation provisions, which provide that benefits under a pension plan cannot be assigned or alienated. While there are some statutory exceptions, ERISA essentially prevents retirement assets from being joined in any legal process to collect a commercial debt. These actions include garnishment, attachments, and other similar legal devices. There are some exceptions to this rule, the most obvious being divorce or legal separation.

An early start on tax planning is always good, but this year it is essential. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act fully rewrites the tax code effective January 1, 2018. To get the most benefit from the changes, while avoiding mistakes under them, update your tax and financial strategies right away.

This week's Slott Report Mailbag answers readers' questions about qualified charitable distributions and required minimum distributions.

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?

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!

This week's Slott Report Mailbag answers readers' questions about changes in QCDs, Roth Recharacterization, Roth conversions, and NUA stemming from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

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.