The American Rescue Plan Act Of 2021: What Advisors Need To Know

 Explanation & Analysis Of Tax And Relief Provisions In The American Rescue Plan Act Of 2021 

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) gives working families a $1,400 per-person check. It extends unemployment insurance benefits and eligibility to September 6 – saving 11 million Americans from a loss of benefits. The $1.9 trillion relief and stimulus followed nearly $4 trillion of previous transfer payments since the February 2020 COVID outbreak in the United States.

This class briefly covers ARP’s benefits to unemployed and low-income earners, but its main objective is a detailed analysis and explanation of ARP’s business and tax provisions, including:

• Paycheck Protection Program rule adjustments
• Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loans advances
• support for restaurants owners
• additional aid to shuttered venue operators
• the third round of recovery rebates for individuals
• changes to tax credits on earned-income, child-, and dependent-care
• expansion of paid sick and family leave tax credits
• extension of the employee retention credit

With 9.5 million jobs lost since the economic peak in March 2019, and financial pain widespread, tax and financial planning professionals need to know about ARP's aid provisions. Although financial professionals do not usually advise individuals qualifying for government relief, the pandemic has caused widespread financial damage and affects families advised by tax and financial planning professionals. Moreover, professionals need to know how to help members of their local community hard hit financially. The objective of this class is to give advisors a detailed analysis and explanation of ARP’s tax provisions affecting individuals and business owners and, secondarily, to help tax and planning professionals assist the broad swath of individuals in their local community who have suffered financially.

 
This webinar is eligible for one hour of IRS EA CE credit.
 

Financial Professional Full Employment Act of 2021

Real financial professionals are about to become much more important. Tax hikes that will be enacted in 2021 make technical proficiency more valuable. Taxes are about to grow more complicated and are urgent. 

Bob Keebler, in last month's CE class, said in a typical swath of 250,000 Americans, three or four professionals dominate the estate tax planning field. This is not hard data and carefully crafted forecast, but it is an estimate by one of the nation's leading educators of tax planning. It's something he knows from experience.  

He says the three of four top tax professionals in your community will be swamped in late 2021. By Bob's calculus, the demand for estate planning advice advice is about to increase six-fold! To be clear, the number of families that will be affected by the coming estate tax changes will mean the estate tax will affect millions more families and expand the target market of tax planners.    

A tax guide was just published for consumers by The Wall Street Journal about 2020 tax rules. Meanwhile, A4A members for many months have learned what to tell clients about 2021!   

Robert S. Keebler, CPA/PFS, MST, AEP (Distinguished), CGMA, is a partner at Keebler & Associates. Bob has been named by CPA Magazine as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Practitioners and one of the Top 40 Tax Advisors to Know During a Recession. His three-decades as an educator of tax professionals makes him a once-in-a generation figure in the leadership of the accounting profession.

The Coming Tax Hikes Are A Monstrous Opportunity For A4A Members

Not to distract from the 9.7 rating out of 10, near the end of this class Bob Keebler addressed the return of the estate tax planning monster.

Bob cited statistics indicating a 600% increase in estates that will become taxable in the next week or two, after the new tax regime is enacted.

Reviews of this important session for advisors are below. Sign up for $10 a month for 24/7 CE credit and learn to slay the tax dragon.  

• A lot went over my head, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
• A++
• Always good!
• Bob is great.
• The average NW of my client base does not rise to the level of complexity to take advantage of the great recommendation.
• Excellent as usual. Suggestion on something to add: Please comment on this potential scenario: The cap gains laws get revised (and let's say the outcome was as bad as you anticipated).  Advisors help their clients mitigate the tax costs.  THEN those revised cap gains laws get changed (back) AGAIN.   Because many of the strategies recommended are irrevocable, what liability (if any) do advisors have for implementing actions that can't be taken back?  Are there more strategies that can offer some flexibility?
• Excellent presentation
• Excellent, but every attendee should automatically get access to the slides in real time.
• Good could have gone more into CRT's and IRAs
• Great
• Great
• Great
• Great & timely info
• Great.  Frightening.
• I was still reading the first poll question and thinking about it when the poll question got pulled
• I also think its absurd that we don’t get the slides.  My preferred learning method is to get them, print them and write notes directly onto them. Can’t do it without slides.  IF I really wanted to, I could probably do screen shots of each slide if I wanted to keep them, but that’s absurd.
• It was complex.  I need a CRT 101 class. 
• Loved it! Mr. Keebler's content is always just what I am looking for. Former CPA turned planner...managing a lot of clients and its hard to stay on top of the latest developments and good strategies.
• So much to cover in an hour.
• Thanks Bob for helping me be a much better planner with tax planning ideas that my clients wouldn't receive otherwise. 
• Very informative
• Very informative!
• Very knowledgeable and interesting
• Went a little too quickly for me, but was jam-packed with good info
• Wow, today Bob hit a home run with his presentation. He covered all the bases nicely, and there was more new material than usual. Some of the "big picture" comments and observations were the most useful and practical of all. Items such as using installment sales, opportunity zones, charitable remainder trusts and the like in order to minimize taxes. Historical references to baby boomers having saved now for 70 years, and the estate tax possibly coming back into the mainstream soon are other examples.

Managing The Coming Capital Gains Tax Hike

Private wealth clients are likely to be adversely affected by a change in tax laws widely expected after the Covid crisis. Managing capital gains is more important in 2021. 

The total tax burden of Americans is low compared to other major economies and fiscal reality makes higher capital gains taxes a virtual certainty. 

The window of opportunity to plan for the capital gains tax hike could close in 2021 or 2022.

It’s all explained in this class for CFA, CFP, CIMA, CPA/PFS and other financial fiduciaries advising private wealth clients.

A leading educator of accounting, legal and financial professionals for three over decades, Robert Keebler, CPA/PFS, summarizes what you need to know right now about:

• charitable remainder trusts to defer and eliminate capital gains
• IRC §453 installment sales to reduce capital gains
• electing out of installment sale treatment to accelerate gains
• the math of recognizing capital gains
• how charitable lead trusts cam lower capital gains taxes
• direct charitable gifts to reduce capital gains
• Opportunity Zones
• loss harvesting
• 1031 exchanges
• f collars, variable forward sales, and options
• IRC §1259 "choking" collars
• shorting against the box

Tax Tipping Point

Do the math. When you add the Covid relief to outstanding Treasury debt and interest, it comes close to $30 trillion. Fiscal reality is higher taxes are on the way.

Tax policy is a touchy issue but advisors are in a position to show the fiscal facts, as we do in this video combining Fritz Meyer’s slide about the U.S. total tax burden versus other major developed nations with the latest data on the cost of Covid aid and stimulus bills and the U.S balance sheet.