Bob Cohen Joins Glass Jacobson
June 29, 2011 | 
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Owings Mills, Md. – June 27, 2011 – CPA Wealth Management firm Glass Jacobson is pleased to announce that Robert “Bob” Cohen has joined the firm as a Principal. Mr. Cohen will be responsible for managing and growing the firm’s tax preparation services and for continuing to expand the firm’s presence in the Washington, D.C. metro region.
Prior to joining Glass Jacobson, Mr. Cohen was a tax partner at BDO Seidman, a national accounting and consulting firm. His work at Glass Jacobson will focus on tax and wealth planning for closely-held businesses in real estate, construction, distribution, and professional services. He specializes in advising businesses through mergers and acquisitions through expert advice with tax, legal structure and financing.
“Glass Jacobson’s unique approach for building wealth for both our individual and businesses clients through our combined tax, accounting and financial/ investment planning practices is exactly the way I’ve practiced my entire career,” Mr. Cohen said. “Combining my broad and deep tax experience with my financial planning background as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, Glass Jacobson is a perfect fit.”
A New Jersey Native, Mr. Cohen is a graduate of The University of Maryland for both undergraduate and graduate studies, Mr. Cohen is a member of the University’s Alumni Association. In addition, he serves on Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants; American Institute of CPAs; Technology Council of Maryland; and Suburban Maryland Estate Planning Council. He has written articles for publication in the areas of tax and financial planning.
“Bob Cohen has a stellar and well-deserved reputation as a financial services professional and is clearly devoted to providing his clients the highest level of service and reliability,” said Glass Jacobson President Edward Jacobson. “We are excited at the potential for growth he brings to our expansion into the D.C. market.”
About Glass Jacobson
Founded in Baltimore in 1962 as a traditional CPA firm, Glass Jacobson has evolved into a wealth management firm to better serve its clients’ diverse, ever-growing financial needs. Today, the firm’s unique Wealth Management Model brings together the essential services of Investment Management, Advanced Planning and Relationship Management, and delivers them with unparalleled expertise and professionalism. Serving as a personal CFO, Glass Jacobson looks beyond the numbers to get to the core of every client’s financial situation. The firm delivers a full team of in-house CPAs, investment advisors, financial planners and insurance specialists to every client. To learn more about Glass Jacobson, please see www.glassjacobson.com.
Securities Offered Through Triad Advisors. Member FINRA & SIPC
###
Women- Make Retirement Planning a Priority
June 22, 2011 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Women face special challenges when planning for retirement. Because their careers are often interrupted to care for children or elderly parents, women may spend less time in the workforce and earn less money than men in the same age group. As a result, their retirement plan balances, Social Security benefits and pension benefits are often lower. In addition to earning less, women generally live longer than men, and they face having to stretch limited retirement savings and benefits over many years.
What can you, a woman in Baltimore, do? Make retirement planning a priority. This Women and Retirement Planning article details steps you should take.
Questions?
vanessa.duchman@glassjacobsonia.com or visit our Women in Business section.
Moves You Make that can Trigger the AMT
June 14, 2011 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Among the items that can contribute to an alternative minimum tax (AMT) liability are personal and dependency exemptions, state and local tax deductions, interest on second mortgages, tax credits, exercising stock options, long-term capital gains, tax-exempt interest, and tax shelters.
First, a little background. The AMT was set up to keep very wealthy people from using various tax benefits to pay little or no tax. But the AMT doesn’t just affect the wealthy anymore. It’s hitting increasing numbers of moderate income taxpayers. Back in 1987, only 140,000 personal returns were subject to the AMT. It is estimated that 32.4 million taxpayers are liable for 2010.
Here are some basic facts about the AMT and how it could end up costing you:
- The AMT is a separate tax system with a set of rules aimed at determining the minimum amount in taxes you must pay given your income.
- You calculate both your income tax under the regular rules and the AMT rules and pay whichever is higher.
- Under the AMT rules, you add back many items that are deducted or excluded from regular income taxes. This increases the base for the AMT.
- If you are liable for the AMT, you use the alternative AMT tax rates, which run from 26 percent to 28 percent. Regular tax rates go from 10 percent to as much as 35 percent.
There are several financial moves that you might make that affect the AMT. Among them:
- State and local taxes- it’s common to make year-end prepayments of taxes that would be due next year. However, if you wind up paying the AMT, you may derive no benefit from this practice. You need to know where that cross-over point is.
- Incentive stock options- Certain incentive stock options (ISOs) qualify for tax deferral and preferential capital gains treatment, for the regular tax. But the exercise of these options triggers income for the AMT. You might want to stagger the exercise of options over several years to reduce AMT exposure.
- Miscellaneous itemized deductions- The rules are similar to those for state and local taxes. Again, proceed cautiously before making prepayments of expenses like investment, legal and tax preparation fees. If you unavoidably must pay AMT, the rate is 26 percent on the first $175,000 of income and 28 percent for amounts above $175,000.
Questions about the AMT and how it might affect you?