Children as Dependents, Kiddie Tax, and College Tax Planning Strategies – Updated

A number of years ago, we authored this article explaining why higher income parents may be well served to gift appreciated investments to their children and then have the children use the proceeds to pay for college. The article further explained how taxpayers who faced alternative minimum tax (AMT) received no tax benefit from [...]

Good and Bad Reasons Why High Income Earners Miss the Opportunity With 529 Plans – Part I

Related Posts: Part II: High Income Earners and the Math of 529 Contributions Is Overfunding 529s Really so Terrible? More than 50,000 visitors in 2021… click here to sign up for our newsletter and never miss a post! (Don’t worry, we will not take up too much space in your inbox.  After four fun introductory [...]

Should I Use a 529 College Savings Plan to Pay for Private K-12 Expenses?

When qualified state tuition programs (QSTPs) were first introduced in 1996 and Section 529 was added to the Internal Revenue Code, the intent of Congress was to create a create a tax-friendly way for families to save for college costs.  At that time, the law provided that any earnings in a QSTP would be tax [...]

Can Student Loans Fairly Be Labeled “Good Debt”?

Last week’s Astute Angle post explained some fallacies related to mortgage borrowing and how the free pass treatment of home mortgages as "good debt" leads to poor financial decision-making.  In response to that post, I received a few questions related to the "good debt" label of student loans that prompted another debt-centric post.  Three of [...]

Tax Planning Strategies Under the New Tax Law

The first sentence of our early November 2017 Astute Angle post read "It is November 8th, 2017 as this is written and there is no doubt that a lot will happen with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act before the end of the year."  As expected, a lot did happen to the initial Tax Cuts [...]

More Smart Tax Planning with 529 College Savings Plans

In a prior article about saving for college, we outlined some of the many ways to handle overfunded 529 college savings plans and why these underpublicized options justify aggressive funding of 529 plans.  In the opening paragraphs of that article, we explained how the rules treat 529 account funds used for non-qualified expenses: The first [...]

Is Overfunding 529s Really so Terrible?

Since Section 529 was added to the Internal Revenue Code under the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, many families have discovered the significant advantages of the “Qualified Tuition Programs” which we collectively now refer to as 529 College Savings Plans. Among other benefits, these plans offer tax-exempt investment growth for any funds eventually [...]

Children as Dependents and College Tax Planning Strategies

Note: An updated version of this article was posted in May 2018 to reflect the new tax law under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It can be found here: https://rpgplanner.com/college-tax-planning-strategies/ Most questions in life that begin “Can I…” ideally ought to be prefaced with the question of “Should I…” The distinction is important. “Can [...]

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