MBO CPAs Venice, FL

10/27/2026

📊 A surviving spouse can owe more federal tax on less income, and it usually starts the year after the death.

Here is the example on the card. A couple, both 73, has $50,000 of Social Security and takes $90,000 a year from their IRAs. Filing jointly in 2026, they owe about $9,704 in federal tax, and none of their income reaches the 22% bracket.

Then one spouse dies. The survivor keeps the larger of the two Social Security checks, so household Social Security drops from $50,000 to $30,000. In the example, the same $90,000 keeps coming out of the IRAs. Income falls by $20,000.

The tax goes the other way. Starting the year after the death, the survivor files single, unless a dependent child still lives at home. The standard deduction is roughly cut in half. The senior deduction starts phasing out at $75,000 of income instead of $150,000. And the 22% bracket starts at $50,400 instead of $100,800. The survivor owes about $15,344, which is $5,640 more on $20,000 less income.

This is the piece my Roth post last month couldn't fit, and several of you raised it. When you compare today's tax rate with your retirement rate, the retirement rate that matters may be a single filer's rate, for the years one of you lives alone. For a couple in the 22% bracket today, that tips the toss-up a little toward putting some savings in a Roth, since Roth withdrawals don't count as taxable income on either return.

The two numbers to remember are $50,400 and $100,800. In 2026, that's where 22% starts for single filers and for joint filers.

The exception: if the survivor will have little income besides Social Security, filing single may change very little.

P.S. Once a week, I email the best money article I read, with my take on this week's top Facebook posts and what's new on the Ways to Wealth blog. It's free, and you can sign up on the Ways to Wealth home page.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®



The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

10/26/2026

💍 Picture someone married 14 years, divorced at 52, and now 63. She may be owed a monthly check on her ex-husband's Social Security record, and she doesn't need a single thing from him to get it.

Divorced-spouse benefits turn on four facts. The marriage lasted at least 10 years before the divorce was final. You are unmarried today. You are 62 or older. Your ex is 62 or older, or on disability.

Your ex remarrying has no effect on your claim. A new spouse collecting on that same record has no effect either. Social Security pays you separately, and their checks stay exactly where they were.

If your ex hasn't filed yet, you can still claim once you've been divorced for at least two continuous years.

The most it pays is half of your ex's full retirement age benefit, and only if you wait until your own full retirement age. Claim at 62 and the cut is permanent.

If your own retirement benefit is larger, Social Security pays you the larger one. You don't get both stacked together.

Your own remarriage is the one that matters. While you're married, this benefit isn't payable. If that later marriage ends, you can claim on the 10-year ex again.

To apply, call Social Security or set up an appointment at your local office. Bring your marriage certificate, your final divorce decree, and your ex's Social Security number if you have it.

P.S. Once a week, I email the best money article I read, with my take on this week's top Facebook posts and what's new on the Ways to Wealth blog. It's free, and you can sign up on the Ways to Wealth home page.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®



The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

10/16/2026

📋 Most families will never owe federal estate tax. The tax they do owe shows up the first year an adult child has to take money out of a parent's traditional IRA.

Since 2020, most non-spouse heirs must empty an inherited traditional IRA within 10 years. If the parent was already past the required start date for distributions, the heir also owes one every year in between. Every dollar is ordinary income, stacked on the heir's own salary. A $1 million IRA left to a child in the 32% bracket can produce $320,000 or more in federal tax over the decade, before state tax.

The five moves on the card attack that bill from different directions.

A Roth conversion moves the tax from your heirs to you, at your rate, which works when your rate is lower than theirs will be. The conversion counts as income in the year you do it, so it can raise your Medicare premiums two years later through IRMAA and push more of your Social Security into the taxable column. An inherited Roth is fully tax-free only if the account has been open 5 years, so starting early matters.

Shrinking the traditional IRA is the same idea in smaller pieces: spending from it first in retirement, converting in low-income years, or, after 70 and a half, giving directly from it to charity through qualified charitable distributions, which never hit your return.

Appreciated assets are the opposite case. A house or a stock you still own at death gets a new cost basis, and the gain disappears. Give the same asset to a child while you are alive and the child inherits your original basis and the entire gain. The exception is charity: give appreciated stock to a charity and you deduct the full value while nobody pays the gain. And an asset sitting at a loss is the reverse; sell it before death, because the basis steps down too.

Leaving the IRA to charity and everything else to the kids is the one most people have not heard. A charity pays no income tax on an inherited IRA, so a $200,000 IRA to a charity and a $200,000 brokerage account to a child is worth more to the child than the reverse. One rule: put the charity on its own IRA rather than splitting one account between a charity and your kids. A charity sharing the form can cost your kids the 10-year window unless its share is paid out by September 30 of the year after you die.

The beneficiary form on each account overrides the will. That is where second marriages, divorces, and deceased beneficiaries go wrong.

Two things are not on the list. The $19,000 annual gift exclusion avoids a gift tax return, not a tax; larger gifts simply count against the $15 million lifetime exemption. It does reduce the bill in the 12 states with their own estate tax, where the line can be as low as $1 million. Life insurance proceeds are income-tax-free to heirs, so the issue is not tax; it is that term premiums rise steeply after 60, and the same dollars invested and held to death often leave more.

State taxes are a separate layer. Twelve states and D.C. have their own estate tax, and five states tax certain heirs on what they inherit. The state estate tax map on this page covers which ones.



P.S. Once a week, I email the best money article I read, with my take on this week's top Facebook posts and what's new on the Ways to Wealth blog. It's free, and you can sign up on the Ways to Wealth home page.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®

The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

10/13/2026

📅 For most people retiring now, the IRS sets a date when money in traditional IRAs and 401(k)s has to start coming out: 73 if you were born 1951 through 1959, 75 if you were born 1960 or later.

Each year after that, the IRS divides your December 31 balance by a factor for your age. Take a hypothetical retiree, Linda, 74 and single, with $650,000 in a traditional IRA. Her factor is 25.5, so she has to withdraw about $25,500, roughly 3.9% of the balance. The share climbs every year, to about 5% at 80 and 8.2% at 90.

That money hits your return as ordinary income whether you need it or not, and for retirees already receiving Social Security, it can push combined income past $34,000 single or $44,000 married filing jointly, making up to 85% of benefits taxable.

If it pushes modified adjusted gross income past $109,000 single or $218,000 joint, the Medicare surcharge known as IRMAA raises premiums two years later, starting around $1,148 a year per person. Those are the 2026 lines, and they move each year.

The money you control is the money outside those rules. Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s have no required withdrawals during your lifetime, and qualified Roth withdrawals don't count toward the income that decides Social Security tax or Medicare premiums.

Still working at 73? The 401(k) at your current job can usually wait until you retire, as long as you don't own 5% or more of the company. IRAs don't get that pass.

If you give to charity and you're 70½ or older, sending money straight from the IRA to the charity counts toward the required withdrawal and keeps up to $111,000 off your 2026 return.

Roth conversions in the years before your start age can shrink the balance the IRS will later force out, but they only pay off when the tax you pay now is worth the flexibility later.

Is your required withdrawal money you'd spend anyway, or money you'd rather leave alone?

P.S. Once a week, I email the best money article I read, with my take on this week's top Facebook posts and what's new on the Ways to Wealth blog. It's free, and you can sign up on the Ways to Wealth home page.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®



The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

09/15/2026

If you are on Medicare and make over $100k, you need to read this.

💸 A small income change can create a surprisingly large Medicare bill.

The extra charge is called IRMAA, Medicare's income-related premium adjustment. Cross a threshold and the monthly surcharge jumps.

The example shows a married couple with Part B and Part D for all 12 months. One spouse with that coverage would face half the added cost.

The timing matters: 2026 premiums generally use 2024 income. Under the usual two-year lookback, income you receive in 2026 affects your 2028 premiums. The figures shown here are for 2026, so don't treat $218,000 as a guaranteed limit for this year's planning.

Before a large income decision, ask your tax professional to include future Medicare premiums in the calculation. Paying a surcharge can still make sense when the overall financial benefit is greater.

Already paying IRMAA after retiring or reducing your work hours? If your income fell because of a qualifying life event, you may be able to request a reduction using Social Security's Form SSA-44.

P.S. Once a week, I email the best money article I read, with my take on this week's top Facebook posts and what's new on the Ways to Wealth blog. It's free, and you can sign up on the Ways to Wealth home page.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®



The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

09/15/2026

🏥 Here's an HSA rule that's easy to miss once you reach Medicare age.

Suppose your Medicare Part B premium is deducted automatically from your monthly Social Security benefit. Once you're 65 or older, you can generally reimburse yourself from your HSA for that premium, tax-free.

The IRS allows HSA money to cover Medicare and certain other health coverage premiums after age 65. That includes Part B, Part D, and Medicare Advantage. The big exception is Medicare supplement insurance, commonly called Medigap, which is specifically excluded.

The fact that Social Security collected the premium doesn't change the rule. You need records showing the qualified expense and that it wasn't reimbursed from another source or claimed as an itemized medical deduction. Your Social Security benefit statement shows the premium amount.

There's another useful feature: you don't have to take the reimbursement in the same year. You can leave the HSA invested, pay premiums with other money, and reimburse yourself later for expenses incurred after the HSA was established, as long as you keep the documentation. That's why some people treat an HSA as a long-term retirement asset rather than a spending account.

One distinction matters: Medicare stops new HSA contributions, not HSA withdrawals. Beginning with the first month you're enrolled in Medicare, your contribution limit is generally zero, including months covered by retroactive enrollment. The balance you already built remains yours, and qualified withdrawals stay tax-free.

If you saved in an HSA before retirement, Medicare premiums are one of the most predictable ways to use it.

P.S. Once a week, I email the best money article I read, with my take on this week's top Facebook posts and what's new on the Ways to Wealth blog. It's free, and you can sign up on the Ways to Wealth home page.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®



The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

07/24/2026

Marriage changes your taxes in real ways, but not every change comes from the joint-filing box you check on your return.

The Roth IRA phase-out for joint filers is $242,000 to $252,000 in 2026, well above the $153,000 to $168,000 range for single filers, though the joint range isn't quite double, which can mean a modest marriage penalty for two high earners.

The spousal IRA is a genuine joint-filing rule: a non-working or lower-earning spouse can fully fund their own IRA based on the couple's combined earned income, as long as the return is filed jointly.

When one spouse earns far more than the other, the lower earner's income fills the bottom of the joint tax brackets instead of stacking on top, which is where a real marriage bonus shows up. Two similar high earners can see the opposite: the 35% joint bracket ceiling isn't double the single ceiling, which is the classic marriage penalty.

Filing separately blocks several credits outright, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits, and the Child and Dependent Care Credit, so choosing joint is often less a bonus than avoiding an MFS penalty.

The Child Tax Credit is up to $2,200 per qualifying child under 17, phasing out at $400,000 of joint income versus $200,000 for other statuses, though the full amount still depends on eligibility and tax liability.

A family HSA holds $8,750 in 2026, but that comes from HSA-eligible family coverage, not from filing status.

Transfers between spouses who are both U.S. citizens are unlimited and never a taxable gift, and each spouse's $15,000,000 estate tax exemption can pass to a surviving spouse if the estate elects portability.

Which of these did you already know applied to you?



*The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.*

07/23/2026

Maybe a Roth conversion is not the best

A $300,000 IRA taxed at 37% costs $111,000 to convert to a Roth.

Drop the portfolio 25% first and the same conversion costs $83,250, a $27,750 difference for converting the exact same account, assuming it recovers inside the Roth.

One way to lower the tax cost is converting after a temporary market decline, which is available to almost anyone with a tax-deferred account.

The second technique is genuinely niche. It only applies if you already hold a privately valued asset, like a business interest or real estate, inside a self-directed IRA.

A qualified independent appraisal can apply discounts for illiquidity, lack of control, and minority interest, each commonly running 10% to 40%, before you convert the asset.

Those discounts can stack, which is how a $100,000 private investment can sometimes convert at a fraction of that value on paper.

Neither method is free of risk. A market decline can keep falling, or recover before you act, and the money set aside to pay the conversion tax may have dropped too.

A private asset also needs documentation an appraiser will stand behind, not a number that just sounds convenient. The IRS scrutinizes these.

Would you time a Roth conversion to a down market, or does the uncertainty cancel out the appeal?



*The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.*

07/16/2026

For you business owners

The midyear change follows an increase in gasoline prices, according to the IRS. It is the first such midyear adjustment since 2022.

07/14/2026

⚖️ Medicaid, not Medicare, is the primary payer for about 6 in 10 nursing facility residents in the U.S.

To qualify, most states cap countable assets at roughly $2,000 for a single applicant, which is why families consider spending down.

Spending down legally means using money on things Medicaid allows, like purchasing a qualifying prepaid funeral arrangement, repairing the home, paying off debt, or paying for care itself.

Gifting is different. Most states use a 60-month lookback when an institutionalized person applies for long-term-care Medicaid, but state rules, exceptions, and lookback periods can differ.

The IRS annual gift exclusion of $19,000 does not apply, so a gift the IRS ignores can still draw a Medicaid penalty.

Married couples generally keep more, because a community spouse allowance lets the at-home spouse retain a protected share of assets.

Asset limits, allowances, and penalty math all vary by state, so an elder law attorney is usually worth the fee before any money moves.

Has your family faced the nursing home funding question, and what did you decide?



*The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.*