Latest news with #taxlaw
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IBFD Appoints Three New Members to Board of Trustees
The International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) is pleased to announce the appointment of three distinguished experts to its Board of Trustees (BOT). IBFD Appoints Three New Members to Board of Trustees Amsterdam, May 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) is pleased to announce the appointment of three distinguished experts to its Board of Trustees (BOT), strengthening its position as the 'Home of International Taxation'. Effective 17 May 2025, Juliane Kokott, Alexia Scott and Paolo Valerio Barbantini have joined the IBFD BOT, bringing a wealth of expertise in international taxation, law and policy. Their diverse backgrounds and esteemed careers will enhance IBFD's mission of providing independent, high-quality research, analysis and data in the field of international taxation. Juliane Kokott Juliane Kokott is Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union since 2003. With a distinguished career in European and international law, she is a respected authority in tax regulation and compliance. Ms Kokott has published numerous scholarly articles and books on tax law and has been a keynote speaker at many international conferences. Her deep legal expertise and insights into the evolving landscape of tax law will provide valuable guidance to IBFD's initiatives. Alexia Scott Alexia Scott is the Global Head of Tax at L'Oréal, the French cosmetics group, since 2013. She is a senior international tax executive with over 30 years of leadership in tax strategy, planning and compliance across globally recognized groups in different sectors (beauty, transport, automotive and civil work). Ms Scott is a specialist in cross-border taxation and policy, dedicated to advancing sustainable fiscal strategies and promoting transparency. She has worked with various governments and international organizations to develop ESG-focused tax initiatives. IBFD will greatly benefit from her leadership in international corporate taxation. Paolo Valerio Barbantini Paolo Valerio Barbantini is Head of Tax of Fincantieri Group, a leading Italian multinational in shipbuilding, as from March 2024. Between 2018 and February 2024, he served the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle entrate) as Deputy Director General. From 2015 until January 2018, Mr Barbantini worked at the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration as coordinator of BEPS and developing countries, then as responsible for their engagement and launch of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS. Mr Barbantini's extensive experience in tax administration and tax policy development, as well as in international cooperation, will be invaluable to IBFD's ongoing efforts in fostering innovative solutions for fiscal challenges. 'We are honoured to welcome these prominent members of our community to our Board of Trustees,' said IBFD CEO Jan Maarten Slagter. 'Their expertise and leadership will be instrumental as IBFD continues to provide valuable and trusted insights and help to shape the future of international taxation.' IBFD's Board of Trustees oversees the overall management of the organization. It consists of highly experienced tax professionals, (former) government officials and professionals with relevant non-tax backgrounds from all corners of the world. For more information about IBFD and its initiatives, visit the IBFD website. About IBFD IBFD is a leading independent foundation specializing in international tax research, education and knowledge dissemination. With a global network of experts and institutions, IBFD provides unparalleled resources in cross-border taxation, policy and compliance. Attachment IBFD Appoints Three New Members to Board of Trustees CONTACT: Emer Cronin IBFD in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
25-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How To Make Charitable Gifts More Effective And Reap More Benefits
Most people wait until late in the year to plan their charitable gifts with the goal of making the gifts by December 31. That traditional approach often leaves a lot of money and other benefits on the table. Often, gifts are made simply by writing a check or donating some assets. The first step to more effective charitable giving is to establish a charitable giving plan. Determine how much wealth you want to donate to charity over time, how much you want to make in lifetime gifts, and how much you want to leave in estate bequests. Also, determine the goals of your giving, especially the causes or charities you want to support. The next step in effective giving is to evaluate the different ways to give, other than writing a check. Charitable giving can provide more than an income tax deduction. Additional benefits might be sheltering capital gains and receiving lifetime income, among others. You gain significant value by starting early in the year and integrating charitable giving with the rest of your retirement and estate plans. Remember that to receive a tax deduction for charitable gifts you must itemize expenses on Schedule A. A minority of taxpayers have itemized expenses since the 2017 tax law doubled the standard deduction, because you only use Schedule A when the total of your itemized expenses exceeds the standard deduction. One way around that problem is to bunch several years of planned charitable contributions into one year. An increasingly-popular way to bunch donations is to contribute a significant amount of money or property to a donor-advised fund. You qualify to deduct the value of the gift (or gifts) you made to the DAF during the calendar year. After funding a DAF account, you recommend contributions from the DAF to charities over time in any pattern you want. There's no minimum annual charitable contribution requirement. You might want to use a DAF to bunch deductions when your other itemized expenses plus the DAF contributions bring your total itemized expenses well above the standard deduction amount. You maintain some control over the DAF account, including choosing how it is invested. The investment returns compound tax-free in the account. Some of the best ways to make charitable contributions don't involve cash. Donating appreciated investments from taxable accounts reaps significant tax benefits in addition to bunching charitable contributions in one year. Most DAFs and other charities accept contributions of a wide range of assets, such as stocks, mutual funds, real estate, digital currencies, and more. Your tax deduction is the fair market value of the property on the date of the gift. There are no capital gains taxes due on the appreciation that occurred while you owned the property. So, you sheltered the capital gains from taxes, qualified for a deduction of the property's value, and the charity will benefit from the property's full value. That's more beneficial than selling the investment and paying taxes on the gain while separately writing a check to charity. Several charitable giving strategies generate an additional benefit: regular income. One strategy is to make a contribution to the charity in return for a charitable gift annuity. The charity pays income to you for either life or a period of years, whichever you select. You can schedule the income to begin immediately or at a later age. The CGA pays less income than a comparable commercial annuity. The difference in income is your gift to the charity and qualifies as an itemized expense deduction in the year of the gift. The amount of the deduction is determined using current interest rates and a formula issued by the IRS. Suppose a married couple ages 65 and one 66, donate $100,000 worth of property with a $50,000 basis to a charity in return for a charitable gift annuity with monthly lifetime payments to begin immediately. At recent interest rates, they would qualify for a charitable contribution deduction of $33,248 in the year of the gift. They'd receive $4,800 annually, paid in monthly installments, no matter how long they live. For 24.6 years, 56.5% or $2,712 of the annual payments would be tax free. The rest would be divided between long-term capital gains and ordinary income. After that, the entirety of each payment would be taxed as ordinary income. The details depend on the donors' age and interest rates in the month the gift is made. Another gift that generates regular income is the charitable remainder trust. You donate cash or appreciated property to the trust. The trust sells any property tax free and reinvests the proceeds. You receive annual income from the trust for either life or a period of years, whichever you select. The payments can be either a fixed amount (known as a charitable remainder annuity trust, or CRAT) or a fixed percentage of the annual trust value (known as a charitable remainder unitrust, or CRUT). After you pass away or the income period ends, the charity receives whatever is left in the trust, called the remainder interest. In either case, you qualify for a charitable contribution deduction in the year of the gift equal to the present value of the charity's remainder interest. You don't owe capital gains taxes immediately on the gain you had in the property. Instead, part of each income payment will be taxed as a long-term capital gain over your life expectancy. The tax code puts minimum and maximum limits on the annual income that can be paid by a charitable remainder trust. Another strategy that should be considered by anyone who is charitably inclined and older than age 70½ is making qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from a traditional IRA. In a QCD, you tell the retirement account custodian to distribute part of the account to a charity. You receive no deduction, but the distribution isn't included in your gross income. Plus, if you're taking required minimum distributions (RMDs), the contribution counts toward your RMD for the year. I've discussed QCDs in detail in the past. Donating a permanent life insurance policy you no longer need can generate tax benefits. When you transfer a policy with a paid-up cash value to charity, you qualify for a charitable contribution deduction equal to the paid-up value. The charity will name itself the beneficiary. The life insurance benefits won't be included in your estate and will benefit the charity. When the life insurance isn't fully paid up, you can transfer ownership to the charity. You make contributions to the charity to pay the future premiums, which qualify as deductible charitable contributions.
Forbes
18-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
As Taxes Are Debated, Here Are Thirteen Clever Quips About Paying Them
Official Portrait of President Ronald Reagan, 1981. Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 - June 5, ... More 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981-1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967-1975). (Photo by Universal) The present and future of the tax law is currently being debated in Congress, and it seems all but certain that big changes will be made before the end of 2025 when the so-called Trump tax cuts are scheduled to expire. We all have to pay taxes, and that will remain a constant, though very few of us enjoy the annual drudgery associated with tax return filings, much less the constant record-keeping and the nagging fear of audit. Most of us don't especially like parting with some of our hard-earned dollars either. It doesn't help that our tax system is enormously complicated, and can seem arbitrary and unfair. Some people say that its byzantine nature practically encourages taxpayers to be creative and aggressive. In some circles, maneuvering to legally pay lower taxes can seem like a national pastime. It's okay to legally try to delay or avoid paying taxes. (Evading taxes is different and is not something you want to do.) As Judge Learned Hand of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals famously observed in 1934: As you fret about minimizing your taxes, it might provide a modicum of relief to know that you are not alone. More than a few public figures, great minds, and clever observers have made their views about taxes clear. Here are a few:
