IRS e-mail requesting information

Several clients have recently contacted me regarding an e-mail they received allegedly from the IRS. I can sssure you that the IRS does not send e-mails to taxpayer's requesting information. Should you receive an e-mail you believe Uncle Sam sent, delete it! If you are still uneasy about not responding, pick up the phone and call the IRS. The IRS never has and never will seek information from taxpayer's via e-mail. If you still aren't convinced, call your Power of Attorney and ask them if they also received an e-mail regarding you. By law the IRS must send copies of all correspondence to your Power of Attorney.

Donate Stocks, save $$$$$

Many clients ask me how to avoid paying Capital Gains on stock sales. The short answer is you can't. However, what you can do and what I suggest is donating the stock to a charity. As an example, let's say you purchased IBM many years ago. The purchase price (or the cost basis) was $ 2,000. Today your stock is worth $ 10,000. If you were to donate your shares to a charity you could take an $ 8,000 deduction for charitable contributions and not have to claim the $ 8,000 as income. You wouldn't pay tax on your gains.