TaxEsqBlog -by Ronald J. Cappuccio, J.D., LL.M.(Tax)

Small business owners: A SEP may give you one last 2017 tax and retirement saving opportunity Are you a high-income small-business owner who doesn’t currently have a tax-advantaged retirement plan set up for yourself? A Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) may be just what you need, and now may be a great time to establish one. A SEP has high contribution limits and is simple to set up. Best of all, there’s still time to establish a SEP for 2017 and make contributions to it that you can deduct on your 2017 income tax return. 2018 deadlines for 2017 A SEP can be set up as late as the due date (including extensions) of your income tax return for the tax year for which the SEP is to first apply. That means you can establish a SEP for 2017 in 2018 as long as you do it before your 2017 return filing deadline. You have until the same deadline to make 2017 contributions and still claim a potentially hefty deduction on your 2017 return. Generally, other types of retirement plans would hav...

Lawyers call it "succession planning." This simply means what do you need to do to organize your business to transfer it to the next generation, retire, or simply sell the business. Even though more businesses are becoming woman-owned, most of my business owner clients are men. What happens if the business owner gets sick? Is there a plan in place to take over the business? Who will run the business? Suppose the owner suddenly dies? The same issues apply. What if the owner wants to retire? Many times the most significant asset is the business and without selling it a satisfactory retirement is not possible. What are the taxes to be paid and how can we plan to minimize the take of the various State and Federal governments? I know thinking about death, disability and illness, old-age, and retirement can be difficult. Nevertheless, it is so much better to start planning when everything is okay rather than in the midst of a crisis. Ron Cappuccio