Sam Fawaz, CPA, CFP®, Author at FIGuide

IRS Clarifies COVID-19 Relief Measures for Retirement Savers

Aug 04 2020

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed in March 2020 ushered in several measures designed to help IRA and retirement plan account holders cope with financial fallout from the virus. The rules were welcome relief to many people, but left questions about the details unanswered. In late June, the IRS released Notices 2020-50 and 2020-51, which shed light on these outstanding issues.

Required minimum distributions (RMDs)

One CARES Act measure suspends 2020 RMDs from defined contribution plans and IRAs. Account holders who prefer to forgo RMDs from their accounts, or to withdraw a lower amount than required,

Be on the Alert for Coronavirus Scams

Apr 22 2020

The FTC has received over 20,000 COVID-19 related complaints since January 1, 2020.

Fraudsters and scam artists are always looking for new ways to prey on consumers. Now they are using the same tactics to take advantage of consumers’ heightened financial and health concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Federal, state, and local law enforcement have begun issuing warnings on the surge of coronavirus scams and how consumers can protect themselves. Here are some of the more prevalent coronavirus scams that consumers need to watch out for.

Schemes related to economic impact payments

The IRS recently issued a warning about various

What’s Going on in the Markets – March 8, 2020

Mar 08 2020

On Monday, March 9, the market celebrates its 11th anniversary of this long bull market with the bull appearing quite tired, coughing and wheezing into that milestone. Yes, believe it or not, we are still in a bull market.

Despite the wild swings in the markets last week, the major indexes managed to close positive on the week for a change. Unfortunately, it was a somewhat hollow victory given that the worries over the Coronavirus have not subsided and an oil price war was started on Friday (read more below).

Volatility in the major indexes continued last week following the …

Business Tax Provisions of the FCAA

Jan 01 2020

As a year-end holiday gift, Congress included a number of individual and business-friendly tax provisions in its year-end spending package that was signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2019. The “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020” (oddly considered a 2020 Act) brought back to life many deductions and credits that had expired at the end of 2017, as well as a few others that had either expired at the end of 2018 or were scheduled to expire at the end of 2019.

In addition, substantial changes were made to retirement-related tax provisions, some of which may benefit your …

2019 Year-End Tax Planning Tips & Traps

Nov 27 2019

As the end of the year is fast approaching, we should consider any last-minute strategies that might help reduce your 2019 tax bill. Last year was the first year to be impacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). While there was plenty of clarifying guidance on application of the TCJA, there were was no significant new legislation in 2019 affecting individual taxes. But situations do change from year to year, thus requiring a fresh look at how to approach year-end tax planning. The following are strategies that may benefit you and that we should discuss before …

Author - Sam Fawaz, CPA, CFP®

Required minimum distributions (RMDs)

Schemes related to economic impact payments