Taxes get complicated. Retirement plans. Medicare. Social security. Estate and gift taxes. Health savings rates. Tax rate schedules. Mileage rates. This tax reference guide contains all the information you need to keep at your fingertips while planning with your clients.

Taxes get complicated. Retirement plans. Medicare. Social security. Estate and gift taxes. Health savings rates. Tax rate schedules. This tax reference pocket guide is easy to keep with you, with the information you need to keep at your fingertips while planning with your clients.

Consider this your 101 on the role and basic components of a buy-sell agreement. This overview discusses forms of arrangements including a cross purchase plan, entity purchase plan and wait and see plan. You'll also learn about valuation, restrictions, transfers and more.

For high-net-worth clients who want to provide for their children and grandchildren, there's a better option than cash gifts. Clients should consider allocating the cash into a life insurance premium that can accumulate cash value as a potential retirement supplement and more.

Due to contribution limits, successful, high-income business owners are disadvantaged under the rules imposed on qualified plans. A cash value life insurance policy insuring the business owner can serve as a business-funded retirement account to provide tax-deferred growth.

A Restricted Bonus Plan is a combination of three planning tools: a Section 162 bonus plan, a restricted endorsement and an employment contract. The combination of these elements creates an attractive benefit for key employees while providing the employer with control.

When a pass-through business owner asks about nonqualified retirement plans for owner and non-owner key employees, it’s usually best to treat groups separately. This document explains how the tax consequences of any nonqualified plan are very different for owner vs key employees.

Just because an estate is too small to get taxed doesn’t mean it is too small to cause problems with heirs ill-equipped to handle wealth, sibling rivalries, divorce, lawsuits and more. Using a trust, clients can give heirs the benefit of wealth without direct ownership of wealth.

If you are uncertain whether or not IRC Sections 101(j) and 6039I apply to a particular life insurance policy, or if you are uncertain what must be done to assure the death benefits are received tax-free, fill out this worksheet and let us help you get the facts.

Business-owner clients seek your advice on a wide range of issues including buy-sell, key person protection, employee retention, and exit/succession planning. If these issues lie outside your core areas of expertise, this worksheet will help you spark meaningful conversations.

It's possible to avoid the taxation of employer-owned life insurance. The general rule is that death benefits paid from a life insurance policy subject to IRC Sec. 101(j) are taxable when received. In order to avoid taxation, clients must qualify for one of several exceptions.

There's no "one size fits all" answer for deciding who should own a life insurance policy that is being used for estate planning purposes. But, these considerations can help you compare beneficiary-owned and trust-owned policies to get the discussion started.