October 15th marked the official end of the 2017 tax filing season (for extended returns) and now we have turned our attention to 2018 tax returns. We recognize how painful the tax filing process can be and how much work you have to do to gather information for us to prepare your returns. This is why we are always looking for ways to make this process easier for you.
Last year was unusual. The US stock market posted positive returns every single month and other stock markets around the world also posted strong returns. This year has been more “normal” as we’ve seen some months with strong returns and some with losses. Some asset classes, like international stocks, are now down significantly on the year. Unfortunately, these losses feel worse than the gains we previously experienced, a concept called loss aversion first identified by the brilliant Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman.
We are pleased to announce two new staff members at the firm who started in October. As our firm grows and we continue to expand the ways we serve our clients, Joey and Julia will be an important part of the L.K. Benson & Company team!
Last year’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made sweeping changes to many areas of tax law for both individuals and businesses. We’ve spent a lot of time explaining these changes and how they will impact you. However, there was an important piece of the legislation we haven’t discussed yet that created a new type of investment called Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOF) that offer intriguing tax benefits. The IRS recently released further guidance on QOF’s and that has spurred additional awareness and publicity. This is still a new area of tax law and there are open questions on certain aspects of the legislation, but here is what we know now.
The recent doubling of the federal estate tax exemption under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) was just the latest in a series of increases over the past 20 years. The exemption is now over $11 million per person, rising from just $600k back in 1997. With the federal exemption set at such a high level, many people feel they don’t need to worry about “estate planning”. After all, if their “estate” is below that $11.18 million level ($22.36 million for married couples), they don’t have to worry about paying any estate tax, so why worry about planning?
The third quarter was yet another strong one in the markets, particularly for U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 returned close to 8% on the quarter and is now up over 10% for the year. Small cap stocks didn’t fare quite as well this quarter with the Russell 2000 index finishing up 3.5%, but they are up 11.5% year to date. International stocks bounced back a little bit with a positive 1% return and are only down about 1% on the year now, as measured by the MSCI EAFE index. Emerging Markets stocks continued to trail all other stock categories with a 1% decline and they are down over 7% on the year.