Charitable Tax Deductions What You Need To Know And Fed Policy And Market Expectations

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, The IRS charitable contribution rules are complex. The rules differ depending on the type of property donated (cash, check, credit card, or in-kind), the amount donated, the taxpayer’s income or other tax deductions, whether the taxpayer receives goods or services in return for the donation, and how the donations are made. Therefore, taxpayers need to plan their charitable contributions if they are seeking a tax benefit. Also, The Federal Reserve is sending mixed messages to investors and some Fed Governors advocate a proactive approach to lowering short-term interest rates in anticipation of lower inflation rates. While others warn investors that interest rate cuts may not come as soon as they expect and may not be as aggressive as the financial markets are predicting And, Many employers offer retirement plan matching funds as an employee benefit and to encourage employees to save for their retirement. However, employees who cannot afford to fund their retirement plans do not benefit from these matching funds. So, starting in 2024, the law was expanded to allow employers to pay employees matching funds on student loan payments made by the employee during the tax year. Plus a look at the Planned Solutions Incorporated Office Bulletin Board - On January 31st the US House of Representatives passed a new tax bill that will make retroactive changes to the tax code that would apply to the 2023 tax year. Even though the IRS pleads with Congress not to make any last-minute tax law changes, which the IRS defines as tax law changes after December 1st of the tax year, Congress may be ignoring them and making changes to the prior year tax laws after tax season has already started. So, what does this mean for taxpayers? Currently, we don’t know. Any changes in the tax law will need to pass the Senate and be signed into law by the President, so we still don’t know if these tax law changes will be implemented. In addition, should the changes become law they will only impact certain taxpayers. Specifically, the biggest changes will be to the Child Tax Credit and the ability for businesses to expense Research and Development (R&D) costs. Therefore, taxpayers who may be impacted by these changes may benefit from delaying their tax filing to see what, if any, changes are made to the law. Chase Armer's book- Financial Planning Insights is now available at: https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Planning-Insights-Decades-Planner/dp/1098306279?ref_=ast_author_mpb To subscribe to the Personal Finance Review (the written form of all the content we discuss on the podcast) please e-mail Katie@PlannedSolutions.com The Personal Finance Review is published and distributed biweekly by Planned Solutions, Inc. for informational purposes only. Please seek the advice of a qualified financial planner before taking any action. Planned Solutions, Inc.