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Weekly Digests

Weekly Digest – July 15th 2022

What a difference a day or week makes, especially in the “world of rehab”.  As my new hip turned 2 weeks old and I followed the PT schedule I was thrilled to make it back to the beach.

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Photo from the top of the berm

I am not sure it was cheating as I stayed on the handicap entrance walkway, and I did hold the handrail, but I did it!

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Love the Handrails

Next week maybe I can ditch the cane and walk on the firm sand (not alone of course).

Hoping the weather holds for another beautiful summer weekend.

Again I am keeping these weekly newsletters “shorter & sweet” as I continue to condition and enjoy the summer.

WEEKLY TAKE-AWAY

I have attended seminars over the years and tried to implement the “Disney Method” which relies on  delivery of services to our clients emphasizing their experience. Disney is the “Happy Place”.  I was excited but nervous about my post-opp orthopedic appointment this Tuesday.  I would need to manipulate entering and exiting the car and walking to the hospital entrance in Union Square, Manhattan  and then to the orthopedic office with the assistance of my walker or cane.  I was immediately put at ease I was met at the passenger side car door by a parking lot assistant who opened and held the door and offered assistance  getting out and setting up my cane.  He stood by me as he directed me to the interior entrance to the hospital lower lobby.  I felt so comfortable that I ditched the walker and proceeded all the way to the doctor’s office walking with just my cane, something that I was reluctant to do just the day before.  They could have charged me $100 for the 2 hours of parking and I wouldn’t have cared; it was lower Manhattan after all and I made it to my appointment feeling really good about my progress.  Our goal should always be Great Customer  Experience.

TAX ISSUES/TAX PLANNING

Estates Can Now Request Late Portability Election Relief

The due date of an estate tax return required to elect portability is nine months after the decedent’s date of death or the last day of the period covered by an extension (if an extension of time for filing has been obtained).

In Rev. Proc. 2017-34, the IRS provided a simplified method for obtaining an extension of time to make a portability election if that estate was not required to file an estate tax return.  Even through this simplified method  is available for two years after the decedent’s date of death many estates are missing this deadline.  The extension to a 5 year window should help save many families quite a bit of money and give them extra time to work with their attorney and accountant on settling the estates of their loved ones.

Great News for NYS Vacation Home Owners Who Live Out-of-State

We Love NY, but sometimes the tax law does not lover out of state owners of NYS vacation homes.  This changed last week with new case law Nelson Obus et al., v New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal.  It seems that the court has taken more than just the day count and unfettered access into account, it has included logic!

A New York appeals court ruled that a seldom-used vacation home in New York cannot be considered a “permanent place of abode” for statutory residency purposes.  The taxpayer lived in New Jersey but worked in New York City, so he spent more than 183 days in NY. He and his spouse maintained a vacation home upstate which they only used for 3 weeks a year and did not keep their personal things there.  As the vacation home was four hours from his work location and and even though the home was large and definitely suitable for year-round use, the court discarded any sort of objective test to determine whether the place was a “permanent place of abode” for the taxpayer. Instead, since the case involved something so fact-specific as residency, an inquiry into the subjective aspects of the taxpayer’s use of the abode was required. This is a huge development in the New York residency area and will have an significant impact on how statutory residency cases are handled in the future.

You can read a very detailed article on this by Tim Noonan of Hodgson Russ LLP and may consider some tax planning related to this new development.

FOR OUR GRADUATES  Graduation

We know that student loan repayments have been put on hold since the beginning of the pandemic, but that is expected to end, possibly in September.  This article provides some useful ideas to put in place now:

  • Start saving the monthly amount in a separate account by pretending that payments have already begun
  • Review different student loan payment plans to find the one that best fits your current situation.
  • Double-check that your servicer has your current contact information, so you receive all the notices about potential changes to your  loan servicing.  Three companies that serviced federal student loans — Navient, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency,  and Granite State — all have announced they’ll be ending their relationship with the Education Department, so you want to make sure your servicing agent will be able to easily contact you.

ECONOMY

Americans Feel That Inflation Will Surge Higher Than Ever

On Monday, a survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that consumer expectations for where inflation will be one year from now climbed to another record high in June.

So the big question is how can we prepare:

  • Keep spending in line by cutting back on luxury items and create and stick to a budget.
  • Pay down debt as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates.
  • Manage current debt by transferring credit card balances to a 0% or lower percent card or by contacting your card issuer to negotiate a lower rate.

Canceled Home Sales in June

About 60,000 home-sale agreements fell through nationwide in June, according to Seattle-based Redfin. In some cases, interest rates rose as purchases were in progress, causing deals to fall through.

World’s Largest Asset Manager Cuts its Stock Market Outlook

On Monday, strategists at BlackRock’s Investment Institute said they were cutting their exposure to developed market equities. They cite aggressive intervention by the Fed to tame rising prices across the global economy as the reason.

The Dollar and the Euro are Almost at Par

For the first time in 20 years, the exchange rate between the euro and the US dollar was nearly the same on Monday, less than one cent away from parity.  The last time the euro was worth the same as the dollar was in December 2002, not long after the currency was introduced in 1999.

Texans Asked to Reduce Power Usage to Avoid Rolling Blackouts

In what was labeled as a “conservation appeal,” the Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced on Sunday that it would be asking Texans to voluntarily conserve energy during peak usage hours, between 2 and 8 p.m.

Where Can You Invest in Times of Inflation?

US News & World Report has rounded up 7 stocks that are good inflation investments. It can be found here.

GENERAL RESOURCES

We sincerely hope that you and your family are well and remain well. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are all in this together!

If you need help with your accounting, want to create a tax minimization plan, want to discuss your business growth plan or your finances, are concerned about retirement goals or need to be held accountable for your 90 day action plan, contact us for a complimentary discovery session or an appointment to just get started.

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