18 tagged with "Fiduciary"
Legal and tax responsibilities of trustees, executors, personal representatives, and other fiduciaries managing trust and estate assets
Yacht Broker and Marine Service Yard Bookkeeping: ASC 606 Commissions, Trust Accounts, and Travel Lift Depreciation
Yacht brokerages recognize commissions at closing under ASC 606, segregate deposits in Chapter 326 trust accounts, and depreciate travel lifts with Section 179 — and the service yard runs on technician utilization, parts margin, and slip occupancy KPIs.
Independent Insurance Agency Bookkeeping: ASC 606 Contingent Commissions, Fiduciary Trust Accounts, and Producer 1099 vs W-2
How independent insurance agencies should recognize first-year and renewal commission, accrue contingent and profit-sharing income under ASC 606, segregate premium trust funds, classify producers as 1099 or W-2, and meet state DOI and surplus lines tax obligations.
Title Insurance and Settlement Agent Bookkeeping: ALTA Best Practices, Three-Way Reconciliation, and the Compliance Realities of Closing Other People's Money
How title insurance agencies and settlement firms keep escrow trust books — three-way daily reconciliation, ALTA Best Practices controls, premium remittance liability tracking, RESPA Section 8 compliance, and the wire-fraud controls that survive a state department of insurance audit.
Real Estate Broker Trust Account Reconciliation: The Three-Way Match That Protects a License
A brokerage that commingles a single earnest money deposit can lose its license, even with no theft involved. Here is the three-way reconciliation between bank, general ledger, and client sub-ledgers that brokers use to comply with state escrow rules, document deposit handling, and stay audit-ready.
Section 685 Qualified Funeral Trusts: Making the QFT Election, Form 1041-QFT, and Reconciling State Pre-Need Rules
How funeral homes, cemeteries, and memorial providers use the IRC Section 685 election on Form 1041-QFT to tax pre-need trust income at per-contract individual brackets — and how to reconcile state pre-need rules, deferred revenue, and restricted trust assets on the operator's books.
VEBAs Under Section 501(c)(9): Pre-Funding Employee Benefits Without Tripping Section 419 or 4976
A Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association under Section 501(c)(9) lets small and mid-sized employers pre-fund retiree medical, severance, and other welfare benefits tax-free — but Section 419 deduction caps, the 100% Section 4976 excise tax on disqualified benefits, and listed-transaction rules in Notices 95-34 and 2007-83 punish mistakes. Here is how a single-employer VEBA actually works, what it can fund, and the three IRS exams it has to pass every year.
Crummey Letters and ILITs: How High-Net-Worth Families Keep Life Insurance Out of Their Taxable Estate
A working guide to ILITs and Crummey powers — covering Section 2042 incidents of ownership, the annual gift tax exclusion, the 5-or-5 rule, hanging powers, the Section 2035 three-year lookback, and the administrative discipline that keeps life insurance death benefits estate-tax-free.
Form 1310 Demystified: How Surviving Spouses, Executors, and Heirs Cash a Deceased Taxpayer's Final Refund Without Triggering a Year-Long IRS Delay
Form 1310 is the IRS form survivors use to claim a deceased taxpayer's refund. This guide explains who must file, the three Part I claimant boxes, the documents to attach (and the one to keep), and how to avoid the 6–12 month delays that trap most paper filers.
Section 4975 Prohibited Transactions: How Self-Directed IRA and Solo 401(k) Owners Avoid the Disqualified Person Trap
Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code defines disqualified persons and the six categories of forbidden transactions with self-directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s. Violations trigger a 15 percent annual excise tax — and, for IRAs, deemed distribution of the entire account back to January 1.
IOLTA and Client Trust Accounting: Three-Way Reconciliation, Earned vs. Unearned Fees, and the Mistakes That End Careers
How law firms run IOLTA accounts under ABA Model Rule 1.15 — separating earned from unearned fees, matching the bank statement to the master ledger and per-client sub-ledgers in a three-way reconciliation, and avoiding the four commingling mistakes (firm money in trust, firm expenses from trust, earned fees left in trust, one client's funds covering another's disbursement) that drive most bar discipline cases.
ESBT vs QSST: Choosing the Right Trust to Hold S-Corporation Stock
A side-by-side comparison of Electing Small Business Trusts (ESBT) and Qualified Subchapter S Trusts (QSST) under Section 1361, including who pays the tax, the 2-month-and-16-day election window, and a worked example showing a $118,000 annual tax swing between the two structures on $1M of K-1 income.
ESBT vs QSST: How Trusts Can Hold S-Corporation Stock Without Killing the S Election
A trust holding S-corporation stock must qualify as a QSST or ESBT under Section 1361 or the S election terminates retroactively. A QSST taxes pass-through income at the single beneficiary's personal rate; an ESBT permits multiple beneficiaries but traps S-portion income at the 37% top trust rate. The election deadline is two months and sixteen days from the triggering event.