There is a piece of legislation hanging around in the Senate that makes a good deal of sense, and really shouldn’t cause too much grief to implement in the long run. This particular bill, introduced by Senators Bingaman (D-New Mexico), Isakson (R-Georgia), and Kohl (D-Wisconsin), is called the Lifetime Income Disclosure Act, and it proposes that the administrators of ERISA-approved retirement plans provide for their participants a disclosure of the “annuity equivalent” of the total benefits that each participant or beneficiary has accrued within the retirement plan. What this means is that, for likely the first time for most folks, an estimate would be provided to them with their statement that outlines what that lump sum means in terms of real, annualized income replacement in retirement. Specifically, the government would establish certain assumptions about the annuity value of a lump sum, given the participant’s age, and from those assumptions a […]
January, 2011:
Over-The-Counter Drugs via Your Flex-Spending Account
In case you missed it when I wrote about Guidance from the IRS on Flex Spending Plans – one of the changes you’ll have to deal with beginning with 2011 is that you can no longer use your Flex-Spending Account (FSA) to reimburse yourself for over-the-counter drugs like you’ve been able to do in the past. However, there is a way to get the over-the-counter (OTC) drugs that your physician recommends and use your FSA funds to pay for it… if your physician gives you a prescription for it. Even though the IRS has disallowed the use of FSA funds for OTC drugs, if your physician gives you a prescription for the OTC drug, your FSA can be used to pay for the drug. There are some rules though: first, the prescription has to provided to the pharmacist prior to the purchase, and the pharmacist must dispense the drug just […]
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Date Set for Processing Delayed Returns
The IRS announced on January 20, 2011, that the delayed returns – those that have itemized deductions on Schedule A, include higher education tuition and fees deductions on Form 8917, and/or that include the educator expenses deduction, can begin processing on February 14. Many processors (commercial software) will accept these returns now and send them to the IRS beginning on February 14, so there is no reason to delay. And if your processor (or tax guy or gal) doesn’t allow for the early acceptance, you can still get your information in to them and they’ll submit it when the time is right. This delay was explained in the article that I wrote earlier about how some returns would be delayed this year due to the late passage of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Photo by hillary h
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Credit for Energy Saving Home Improvements for 2011
This tax credit has undergone a change from previous years. In 2010, for example, you could achieve a credit for as much as 30% of the cost of your energy-saving home improvements, with a ceiling of $1,500. Beginning January 1, 2011, the credit rate is now just 10%, and the ceiling has been lowered to $500. Something important to keep in mind about this credit: any credit claimed in prior years (2009 and/or 2010) will be used to reduce your ceiling. In other words, if you claimed the full credit (or any amount up to $500) on a previous year’s tax return, you have no energy-saving home improvement credit available to you. In addition to the changes above, there are specific item caps in place as well. For example, if you are putting in a new furnace or water heater, the credit for those units is capped at $150. If […]
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Book Review: Small Business Taxes Made Easy
This book was a surprise to me – I did not expect to find such a thorough guidebook on the process of starting up a small business, but that’s what Small Business Taxes Made Easy is. Author Eva Rosenberg, (“TaxMama” to her devotees) has not only the experience, but also the in-depth understanding of both the small business and the small business-person to lead you through this process and help you to succeed, quite possibly in spite of yourself. The title of the book is misleading, as the first several chapters of the book have little to do with taxes and much to do with all of the administrivia that you need to go through when setting up a small business. In fact, you really don’t get to tax matters at all until about page 70 (of 261) in the book. The first few chapters take you through the concepts […]
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Earned Income Tax Credit 2011 Style
There have been a few changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for 2011 and years beyond. Some of these changes are pretty significant, others are more of the common variety. No More Advance Payments In the past, if a taxpayer was likely to be eligible to receive the EITC on filing his or her return, the law allowed the taxpayer to apply for and receive advance payment of a portion of the credit. This is because the credit is refundable – even if you don’t owe any tax on your tax return, you’ll get something back with the EITC. With the passage of the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act of 2010 signed into law August 10, 2010, the Advance payment of EITC was repealed, effective after December 31, 2010. Third-Child EITC The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased the EITC by 5% for families with three […]
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Baby Boomers Start Medicare
As of 12:01am EST on January 1, 2011, the very first Baby Boomer reached age 65… and that means that the era of Baby Boomers receiving Medicare has officially commenced. It is estimated that, during the period when Boomers are reaching age 65, between now and roughly 2030, the number of folks on the Medicare rolls will double. Presently there are approximately 40 million Medicare recipients, and that number is expected to be around 80 million in 20 years. These incredible numbers will cause major challenges in funding the system – along with serious challenges in controlling the overall costs of healthcare during this period. The rate of increase in the over-65 population will cause dramatic changes in the healthcare system in terms of capacity, costs, and controls. The new healthcare law passed earlier this year created an Independent Payment Advisory Board, which is supposed to provide guidance on how […]
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2011 IRA MAGI Limits – Married Filing Separately
Note: for the purposes of IRA MAGI qualification, a person filing as Married Filing Separately, who did not live with his or her spouse during the tax year, is considered Single and will use the information on that page to determine eligibility. For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Married Filing Separately): If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job and your spouse is not covered by a retirement plan, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions. If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is less than $10,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 50% for every dollar (or 60% if over age 50), and rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200. If you are covered by a retirement […]
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2011 MAGI Limits for IRAs – Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)
Note: for the purposes of IRA MAGI qualification, a person filing as Married Filing Separately, who did not live with his or her spouse during the tax year, is considered Single and will use the information on that page to determine eligibility. For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)): If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job and your spouse is not covered by a retirement plan, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions. If you are covered by a retirement plan at work, and your MAGI is $90,000 or less, there is also no limitation on your deductible contributions to a traditional IRA. If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $90,000 but less than $110,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 25% for every dollar […]
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2011 MAGI Limits – Single or Head of Household
Note: for the purposes of IRA MAGI qualification, a person filing as Married Filing Separately, who did not live with his or her spouse during the tax year, is considered Single and will use the information on this page to determine eligibility. For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Single or Head of Household): If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions. If you are covered by a retirement plan at work, if your MAGI is $56,000 or less, there is also no limitation on your deductible contributions to a traditional IRA. If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $56,000 but less than $66,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 50% for every dollar over the lower limit (or 60% if over age 50), and […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on 
A Medicare Owner’s Manual, is updated with 2020 facts and figures. This manual is available on 
Social Security for the Suddenly Single can be found on Amazon at 
Sterling’s first book, Lose Weight Save Money, can be 
An IRA Owner’s Manual, 2nd Edition is available for purchase on Amazon. Click the link to choose the 
Jim’s book – A Social Security Owner’s Manual, is now available on Amazon. Click this link for the 
And if you’ve come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed “advisor’s advisor”.