Trump Savings Accounts

 

I was reading someone somewhere complaining about Michael and Susan Dell’s recent donation of $6.25 billion. 

The bitter are always with us, unfortunately. 

But it gives us a chance to talk about the new Trump savings accounts. I see that we even have a new tax form to (possibly) bulk-up our 2025 Form 1040 return.

What are they?

The Trump accounts are a twist on an IRA.

What is the twist?

One does not need earned income to contribute to a Trump account.

Anything else?

Trump accounts cease to be Trump accounts when the beneficiary turns age 18. These things are intentionally designed for infants, children and young adults who (likely) have not started working.

How are infants and children going to know how to open this account?

They do not need to. Their parent (more precisely, the person who can claim them on a tax return) will do so for them.

How will the parent/person do this?

Two ways:

·      There is a new tax form (Form 4547 - get it?)

·      There will be a new tax portal (trumpaccounts.gov) 

 

Will this account be with the government itself?

The Treasury will create the account with a “designated financial agent.” No, I do not know what that means. I do see where one can thereafter move the account - say to Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard (as examples) - should one wish.

How do you know one can move the account?

Because I was looking at an ad from one of the investment companies.

What about free money?

Children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028 will be eligible for a $1,000 seed contribution from the Treasury. There are requirements, such as a social security number, of course.

This period (2025 to 2028) BTW is called the “pilot program.”

What if the family makes too much money?

The “too much money” thing does not apply to the $1,000.

What is the July 4, 2026 date I have read about?

None of the government’ $1,000 seeding will occur before July 4, 2026.

What if you were born before 2025?

You still qualify to establish a Trump account, as long as you are under the age of 18 at the end of the year. You won’t get that $1,000, though.

Big deal. Why all this hullabaloo for $1,000?

One can put more than a $1,000 into the account.

The annual limit is $5 grand, and the $1 grand seed money does not count toward the $5 grand.

An employer can also put in $2.5 grand annually, but that $2.5 counts toward the overall $5 grand.

Who can contribute?

Parents of course, but also grandparents, other family members, and friends.

And Michael and Susan Dell.

Who qualifies for the Michael and Susan Dell Donation?

The $250 Dell donation reaches children age 10 and under but not eligible for the $1,000 Treasury seed contribution.

There is also an income test, although the test is by zip code and not household. The test is $150,000 or less of median income. Note that a child may qualify even if living in a wealthy household, if the median (not average) income for the zip code is $150,000 or less. The reverse is also true, of course.

What if I cannot put in $5 grand every year?

Put in what you can. Skip a year. Do not make the perfect the enemy of the possible.

Is there a tax deduction for this?

In general: no. Think of it as a Roth contribution.

I am uncertain about the employer ($2.5 grand) contribution, though. Generally, such expenses are deductible by an employer. I however expect that it will also be taxable to the employee, meaning that someone somewhere is paying tax.

Is there another way to get money into the account?

Yes. There is the usual stuff, such as rolling an account from one investment company to another.

The one that intrigues me is a contribution from a 501(c)(3) tax exempt. There is no explicit limit on these contributions, other than the overall (c)(3) requirement to benefit broad categories of beneficiaries and not just the select fortunates.

This, BTW, was the Dell contribution we referred to above: a $6.25 billion donation to contribute $250 each to 25 million children age 10 and under.

What if my parent/person fails to open an account?

Supposedly, the Treasury will open one if the child otherwise qualifies.

You think so?

Consider me cynical at the moment.

How is this thing taxed?

It is not: think IRA.

When can the child get to the money?

Figure that the child cannot until he/she turns age 18. If he/she can, something terrible has happened.

What about after age 17?

Then the Trump account gets wonky.

Supposedly this thing becomes a “regular” IRA account.

OK, but it would be a “regular” IRA account with nondeductible contributions in it. In tax lingo, we call this a “nondeductible” IRA, which has greatly lost favor since people have had access to Roth IRAs. Distributions from a Roth are (generally) tax-free. Distributions from a nondeductible are partially tax-free. There is even a tax form (Form 8606) for nondeductibles to track the numbers between taxable and nontaxable.

Inside wonk: you would not believe how difficult it can be to get (some) tax preparation software to run an IRA distribution through Form 8606 to calculate the taxable portion. I have seen more than one staff accountant give up in frustration.

I suppose Congress may further clarify/change the rules for this age-18 flip. I would like to see the flip go to full-Roth and not to this nondeductible-IRA yahtzee, but we will see.

A positive, though: since it flips to a “regular” IRA, you can make annual IRA contributions to it, if you wish. You will need earned income, of course.

Are there penalties for distributions?

You are not supposed to access IRA monies before age 59 ½. If you do, the distributions (adjusting for that wonky nondeductible IRA arithmetic) will be taxable.

In addition to income tax and unless for several permitted purposes (first house, higher education, adoption expenses and so on), there will also be a 10% penalty.

What does CTG think?

You can tell Trump accounts took water during passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill. There is stuff to both like and dislike.

Me? In general, I like.

Let’s say that you can put away $1,000 per year for 18 years. Add the government’s $1,000 seed. Assume market rate of returns, low investment fees and the money remaining untouched (remember: it is not taxed while within the IRA) for 40 to 50 years.

What an incredible gift and legacy to a grandchild.

Is Found Money Taxable?

Say that you found a money clip with several hundred dollars. There is no identification, so there is no way to return it.

Question: Do you have taxable income?

Let’s look at a famous tax case.

In 1957 the Cesarinis purchased a used piano at an auction for $15. Their daughter took lessons using this piano.

In 1964, while cleaning the piano, they discovered $4,467 in old currency bills. They exchanged the old currency for new at the bank. They also reported the $4,467 as income on their tax return.

By October 1965 they were having second thoughts. They amended their 1964 tax return, reversing the $4,467 from income and asking for a tax refund of $836.

The IRS rejected the refund claim.

Off to Court they went.

The Cesarinis had three arguments:

(1)  The $4,467 was not income under the tax Code.

(2)  If it was, then it was income in 1957, when they purchased the piano. Since 1957 was a closed tax year, there was no further tax consequence.

(3) Even if it was taxable in 1964, it should be taxable as capital gains and not as ordinary income.

The Court was methodical:

·      Code section 61(a) stated “except as otherwise provided in this subtitle, gross income means all income from whatever source derived….” 

Granted, there are other sections that may keep a source from being taxed – or delaying its taxation – but the general rule is to consider all accessions to wealth as taxable. The language was intentional, and it was deliberately used by Congress to assert the full measure of its taxing power under the 16^th amendment.

·      The IRS did not, but the Court did, point to the following Regulation:

Treasure trove, to the extent of its value in United States currency, constitutes gross income for the taxable year in which it is reduced to undisputed possession.”

The Cesarinis, seeing an opening, pressed on the year they obtained undisputed possession.

That is not a tax question per se, so the Court looked at state law. Say the Cesarinis had sold the piano in 1958, not knowing about the cash. Would they have an action against a purchaser who later found the cash? In Ohio (their state of residence) they would not. Extrapolating, the Court determined that “undisputed possession” occurred in 1964, when the cash was found.

·      The Court acknowledged that both the piano and the cash could be construed as capital assets, and that capital gains derive from the sale or exchange of capital assets. 

And this is where word selection is critical: neither the piano or the currency had been sold or exchanged. No sale or exchange = no capital gain.

The Cesarini case cemented that found money – sometimes called “treasure trove” – is taxable just like any other type of income.

You are not really surprised at the answer, are you?

Our case this time was Cesarini v United States 296 F Supp 3 (N.D. Ohio 1969).

Taxation of Olympic Winnings

The summer Olympics are going on in Tokyo. I have watched little of the competitions. As I have gotten older, I watch less and less television, Olympics included. My heaviest TV consumption is just around the corner, when the NFL season begins. I am an unabashed NFL junkie.

Let’s discuss the taxation of Olympic awards, including medals.

In general, the law taxes all awards and prizes. There are exceptions, of course, but for years there was no exception for Olympic medals and prize money.

This means that if someone won a gold medal, for example, Uncle Sam was standing on the podium with the athlete waiting for his cut.

Can you imagine having to pay tax on a gold medal?

Although a gold medal is not pure gold. The last pure gold medal was awarded in 1912, and today’s gold medals are over 90% silver. Gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics were less than 2% gold, for example.

Then there is the issue that a medal – once awarded – can be worth more than the weight of the metals that went into its manufacture. Boxing fans may remember the boxer Wladimir Klitschko from the 1996 Atlanta games. He sold his gold medal in 2012 for $1 million, donating the proceeds to charity.  

There may also be cash winnings. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) will pay a winning athlete approximately $37,000 per gold medal. While not bad, it pales in comparison to some other countries. Singapore will pay over $730 thousand for a gold medal, by comparison.

The real money of course is in endorsements. Usain Bolt receives $4 million per year from Puma as a brand ambassador, even after retirement. Not bad work if you can get it.

Back to tax. The general rule is that all prizes and awards are taxable, unless the Code allows an exception.

In 2016 lawmakers decided that it was a bad look to assess tax on Olympic winners. Two senators – John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota and Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York – submitted a bill to change this situation. Here is a joint statement, something we are unlikely to see again in the near to intermediate political future:

It’s no secret that athletes don’t become Olympians overnight. For many of the competitors who’ve been fortunate enough to earn a spot on an Olympic or Paralympic podium, it’s a lifetime’s worth of work that has come with years of blood, sweat and tears.

It’s a patriotic endeavor that often has a large price tag affiliated with it, too.

Under the current tax code, medals and any associated prize stipend are considered taxable income.

Tax policy is too often complicated and partisan, which makes the bill we introduced this year unique. Our bill passed the Senate without a dissenting vote, and is about as simple as they come. The bill, which awaits action in the House, would bar the IRS from leveeing a victory tax on Olympic and Paralympic medalists.

Preventing the IRS from taxing medals and modest cash incentive prizes sends the right message to present and future members of Team USA: Rather than viewing Olympic success as another chance to pay Uncle Sam, it’s a special opportunity to celebrate American patriotism and the Olympic tradition.

The tax on Olympic winnings was called the “victory tax,” and President Obama signed the United States Appreciation for Olympians and Paralympians Act into effect on October 7, 2016. There was an important issue, however: how were professionals (think Kevin Durant, for example) to be taxed? These athletes were already making eye-watering sums of money, and to exclude their winnings seemed … an overreach … if one was truly trying to reward the amateur athlete.

Here is the Code section:

           Code § 74 - Prizes and awards

              (d) Exception for Olympic and Paralympic medals and prizes

(1) In general

Gross income shall not include the value of any medal awarded in, or any prize money received from the United States Olympic Committee on account of, competition in the Olympic Games or Paralympic Games.

(2) Limitation based on adjusted gross income

(A) In general

Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any taxpayer for any taxable year if the adjusted gross income (determined without regard to this subsection) of such taxpayer for such taxable year exceeds $1,000,000 (half of such amount in the case of a married individual filing a separate return).

How therefore is an Olympic winner taxed?

·      There is no tax on the medal itself.

·      Prize money is not taxed unless the athlete has substantial other income, with substantial meaning over $1 million (half that if married filing separately).

·      Endorsement income is taxable as normal.

Income and Credit Card Rebates

I am reading a case so unique that I doubt there is much takeaway taxwise, other than someone beat the IRS.

What gets the story started is automobile rebates back in the mid -70s. The economy was limping along, and car manufacturers wanted to sell cars. Buy a car, get money back from the manufacturer.

To a tax geek, receiving a check in the mail raises the question of whether there is income somewhere.

The overall concept behind taxable income is that one has experienced an accession to wealth. That is how discharge of debt can create income, for example. As one’s debt goes down, one’s wealth increases.

What to do with a car rebate?

The IRS did the obvious thing: it saw a car; it saw payment for a car; and it saw a rebate going back to whoever bought the car. There was no increase in wealth here, it decided. The result was that one paid less for the car.

There are countless variations on the theme. What to do with airline miles, for example?

Our case features Konstantin Anikeev (K). K got himself a Blue Cash American Express credit card. The card had a reward program. American Express would send you money for buying (approved) things with the card.

American Express disallowed certain purchases from the program, however, including:

(1)  Interest charges and fees

(2)  Balance transfers

(3)  Cash advances

(4)  Purchase of traveler’s checks

(5)  Purchase or reloading of prepaid cards

(6)   Purchase of any cash equivalent

I get it. American Express did not want someone to walk the transaction through back to cash.

K noticed something: the program did not address gift cards.

A gift card is just a prepaid card, right? Not quite. A gift card is not redeemable in cash or eligible for deposit into your bank account.

I had not really thought about it.

K did think about.

You know what you can do with a gift card?

You can buy a money order, that’s what. You then deposit the money order in the bank.

Sounds like a lot of work for a couple of bucks.

K went to town. Over the course of a year or so, he and his wife generated rebates of over $300 grand.

K knows how to commit.

Interestingly enough, American Express did not seem to care. 

The IRS however did care. They were going to tax K on his $300 grand. K pointed out that the IRS had provided guidance way back by saying that rebates were not income, and all he received were rebates. Granted, there were more bells and whistles here than a 1978 Chrysler Cordoba, but that did not change anything.

The IRS said nay-nay. The guidance they put out back in the 70s involved a product or service. That product or service had a cost, and that cost could then be reduced to absorb the effect of the rebate. There were no goods and services with K’s scheme. There was nothing to “absorb” the rebate.

Off they went to Tax Court.

There is a tax subtlety that we need to point out.

The IRS could have argued that the exchange of the gift card for a money order was a taxable event. Since the cost of the gift card had been adjusted down by the rebate K received (meaning the cost was less than a dollar-on-a-dollar), there would be a gain upon the exchange.

It is a formidable argument.

That is not what the IRS did. They instead argued that K had an income recognition event when he bought the gift card.

Huh? How?

Because he intended to ….

The Court was having none of this argument.

The Court reminded the IRS that gift cards are a product. The card has a uniform product code that the cashier uses to ring up the cost. It is a product, just like a car. The IRS was upset because it got gamed. It did not like the result, but that did not give the IRS leash to arbitrarily look down the road and back-up the tax truck when it did not like the destination. The IRS should tighten its rules.

Here is the Court:

These holdings are based on the unique circumstances of this case. We hope that respondent polices the IRS policy in the future in regulations or in public pronouncements rather than relying on piecemeal litigation.”

K won. He and his wife had tax-free cash.

BTW, K did all this with a card whose credit limit was $35 grand. I am REALLY curious how much time they put into this.

Our case this time was Anikeev v Commissioner, TC Memo 2012-23.

Can You Have Reasonable Cause For Filing Late?

I am looking a reasonable cause case.

For the non-tax-nerds, the IRS can abate penalties for reasonable cause. The concept makes sense: real life is not a tidy classroom exercise. If you have followed me for a while, you know I strongly believe that the IRS has become unreasonable with allowing reasonable cause. I have had this very conversation with multiple IRS representatives, many of whom agree with me.

I am looking at one where the penalty was $450,959.

To put that in perspective, a January 29, 2019 MarketWatch article stated that the median 65-year-old American’s net worth is approximately $224,000.

Surely the IRS would not be assessing a penalty of that size without good reason – right?

Let’s go through the case.

Someone died. That someone was Agnes Skeba, and she passed away on June 10, 2013.

Agnes had an estate of approximately $14 million, the bulk of which was land (including farmland) and farm machinery. What the estate did not have was a lot of cash.

On March 6, 2014 the attorney sent an extension form and payment of $725,000 to the IRS.         

COMMENT: An estate return is due within 9 months of death, if the estate is large enough to require a return. Seems within 9 months to me.

The attorney included the following letter with the payment:

Our office is representing Stanley L. Skeba, Jr. as the Executor of the Estate of Agnes Skeba. Enclosed herewith is a completed “Form 4768 — Application for Extension of Time to File a Return and/or Pay U.S. Estate Taxes” along with estimated payment in the amount of $725,000 made payable to “The United States Treasury” for the above referenced Estate Tax.

Additionally, we are requesting a six (6) month extension of time to make full payment of the amount due. Despite the best efforts of this office and the Executor, the Estate had limited liquid assets at the time of the decedent’s death. Accordingly, we have been working to secure a mortgage on a substantial commercial property owned by the Estate in order to make timely payment of the balance of the Estate Tax anticipated to be due.

Currently, we have liquid assets in the amount of $1.475 million and the estimated value of the total estate is $14.7 million. Accordingly, we have submitted payments in the amount of $575,000 to the State of New Jersey, Division of Revenue, for State estate taxes payable and in the amount of $250,000 to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue for State inheritance taxes payable. We are hereby submitting the balance of available funds to you, in the amount of $725,000, as partial payment of the expected U.S. Estate Taxes for the Estate.

We are in the process of securing a mortgage, which was supposed to close prior to the taxes being due, in the amount of $3.5 million that would have permitted us to make full payment of the taxes timely. Due to circumstances previously unknown and unavoidable by the Executor, the lender has not been able to comply with the closing deadline of March 7, 2014. It is anticipated that the lender will be clear to close within fourteen (14) days and then we will remit the balance of the estimated U.S. Estate Taxes payable.

Additionally, there has been delays in securing all of the necessary valuations and appraisals due to administrative delays caused by contested estate litigation currently pending in Middlesex County, New Jersey.

I would say he did a great job.

But the estate did not pay-in all of its estimated tax ….

A few days later the estate was able to refinance. The estate made a second payment of $2,745,000 on March 18, 2014. This brought total taxes paid the IRS to $3,470,000.

COMMENT: Mrs. Skeba died on June 10^th. Add 9 months and we get to March 10^th. OK, the second payment was a smidgeon late.

Now life intervened. It took a while to get the properties appraised. The executor had health issues severe enough to postpone the court proceedings several times. The estate’s attorney was diagnosed with cancer, delaying the case. Eventually the law firm replaced him as lead attorney altogether, which caused further delay.

As we said: life.

The estate asked for an extension for the federal estate tax return. The filing date was pushed out to September 10, 2014.

The estate was finally filed on or around June 30, 2015.

          COMMENT: Nine-plus months later.

The tax came in at $2,528,838, with estimated taxes of $3,470,000 paid-in. The estate had a refund of $941,162.

Until the IRS slapped a $450,959 penalty.

Huh?

The IRS calculated the penalty as follows: 

$2,528,838 – 725,000 = 1,803,838 times 25% = $450,959

The reason? Late filing said the IRS.

On first pass, it seems to me that the worst the IRS could do is assess penalties for 8 days (from March 10 to March 18). Generally speaking, penalties are calculated on tax due, meaning the IRS has to spot taxes you already paid-in.

In addition, need we mention that the estate was OVERPAID?

The attorney asked for abatement. Here is part of the request:

Beyond September 10, 2014, the Estate continued to have delays in filing due to the pending and anticipated completion of the litigation over the validity of the decedent’s Will, which would impact the Estate’s ability to complete the filing and the executor’s capacity to proceed. Initially, it, was anticipated that the trial of this matter would be heard before Judge Frank M. Ciuffani in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Middlesex County, Chancery Division-Probate Part in July of 2014. Due to health concerns on behalf of the Plaintiff, Joseph M. Skeba, the Judge delayed these proceedings multiple times through the end of 2014, each time giving us a new anticipation of the completion of the trial to permit the estate tax return to be filed. Upon the Plaintiffs improved health, the Judge finally scheduled a trial for July 7, 2015, which was expected to allow our completion in filing the return.

           

Accordingly, this litigation, which was causing us reason to delay in the filing, gave rise to the estate’s inability to file the return.

Finally, in May of 2015 we were notified of the Estate’s litigation attorney, Thomas Walsh of the law firm of Hoagland Longo Moran Dunst & Doukas, LLP, that he was diagnosed with cancer that would possibly cause him to delay this matter from proceeding as scheduled. In early June, we were notified by Mr. Walsh’s office that his prognosis had worsened and he would be prevented from further handling the litigation of this matter, so new counsel within his firm would be assisting in carrying this matter through trial. Due to the change in counsel, it was deemed that the anticipated trial was no longer predictable in scheduling, so the Estate chose to file the return as it stood at such time.

Displaying the compassion and goodwill toward man of deceased General Soleimani, on or around November 5, 2015 the IRS responded to the attorney’s letter and stated that the reasons in the letter did not “establish reasonable cause or show due diligence.”

Shheeeessshh.

The accountant got involved next. He included an additional reason for penalty abatement:

I do not believe the IRS had knowledge of the extension in place at the time the penalty was assessed, nor did they have a record of the additional payment of $2,745,000. The IRS listed the unpaid tax as $1,803,838 and charged the maximum 25% to arrive at the penalty of $450,959.50. The estate not only paid the entire tax the estate owed by the due date to pay but also had an overpayment. Section 6651(b) bars a penalty for late filing when estimated taxes are paid.

           

The IRS did not respond to the accountant.

The accountant tried again.

Here is the Court:

                To date, IRS Appeals has not responded to either letter.

I know the feeling, brother.

You know this is going to Court. It has to.

The estate’s argument was two-fold:

1.  The estate was fully paid-in. In fact, it was more than fully paid-in.
2.  There was reasonable cause: an illiquid estate, health issues with the executor, issues with obtaining appraisals, an estate attorney diagnosed with cancer, on and on.

The IRS came in with hyper-technical wordsmithing.

Based on § 6151, the Government cleverly reasons that the last day for payment was nine months after the death of Agnes Skeba—March 10, 2014; because no return was filed by that date a penalty may be assessed. Applying the rationale to the facts, the Government contends only $750,000 was paid on or before March 10, 2014, when $2,528,838 was due on that date. Referring back to § 6651(a)(1), a 25% penalty on the difference may therefore be assessed because it was not paid by March 10, 2014. As such, the full payment of the estate tax on March 18, 2014 is of no avail because the “last date fixed” was March 10, 2014. Accordingly, the Government argues that the imposition of a penalty in the amount of $450,959.00 is appropriate.

The Court brought out its razor:

The Government puts forth a valid point that there is an administrative need to complete and close tax matters. Here, the Estate had nine months to file the return, the extension added six months, and Defendant unilaterally added another nine months to file the return. Although there was the timely payment of the estate taxes, the matter, in the Government’s view, lingered and the administrative objective to timely close the file was not met. See generally Boyle, 469 U.S. at 251. There may be a need for some other penalty for failure to timely file a return, but Congress must enact same.

Slam on the wordsmithing.

COMMENT: Boyle is the club the IRS trots out every time there is a penalty and a late return. The premise behind Boyle is that even an idiot can Google when a return is due. The IRS repetitively denies penalty abatement requests – with a straight face, mind you – snorting that there is no reasonable cause for failure to rise to the level of a common idiot.

That said: did the estate have reasonable cause?

Finally, another issue in this case is whether Plaintiff demonstrated reasonable cause and not willful neglect in allegedly failing to timely file its estate tax return. Although the Court has already determined that the penalty at issue was not properly imposed pursuant to the Government’s flawed statutory rationale, it will review this issue for completeness.

In the tax world, folks, that is drawing blood.

In this case, Mr. White submitted his August 17, 2015 letter explaining the rationale for not filing. (See supra at pp. 5-6). For example, in Mr. White’s letter, he indicated that certain estate litigation was delayed due to health conditions suffered by the executor. (Id.). Additionally, Mr. White refers to the Hoagland law firm and one of the attorneys assigned to the case as having been diagnosed with cancer. (Id.). The Hoagland firm is a very prestigious and professional firm and based on same, Mr. White’s letter shows a reasonable cause for delay.

In addition, Mr. White’s prior letter of March 6, 2014 notes that there was difficulty in “securing all of the necessary valuations and appraisals. . . caused by the contested litigation.” (Hayes Cert., Ex. C). Drawing from my professional experience, such appraisals often require months to prepare because a farm located in Monroe, New Jersey will often sit in residential, retail, and manufacturing zones. To appraise such a farm requires extensive knowledge of zoning considerations. Thus, this also constitutes a reasonable cause for delay.

I hope this represents some whittling away of the Boyle case. That said, I wonder whether the IRS will appeal – so it can protect that Boyle case.

I would say the Court had little patience with the IRS clogging up the pipes with what ten-out-of-ten people with common sense would see as reasonable cause.

Our case this time for the home gamers was Estate of Agnes R. Skeba vs U.S..