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Just before midnight on January 1, 2013, the House of Representatives adopted the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. There were few surprises except, perhaps, the extent to which numerous deduction and credit provisions remain intact. While the Act is expected to raise approximately $650 billion over the next 10 years, Congress must now contend ...

Keeping in mind that permanence and certainty are relative terms when it comes to tax legislation, Congress has finally provided a platform that allows for longer-term planning than we have had in the past. Although the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was passed too late to provide the certainty that is so important for year-end tax planning, ...

After briefly plunging over the “fiscal cliff” – the combination of tax increases and spending cuts that automatically came into effect on January 1, 2013 – Congress quickly passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the “Act”), which has now been signed into law by President Obama. This white paper summarizes those aspects of the Act that Wi...

After many months of heated debate, Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“ATRA”), which President Obama signed into law on January 2, 2013, averting the tax side of the so-called “fiscal cliff”. ATRA permanently extends the middle-class tax cuts, raises income tax rates on the wealthiest and, hopefully, ...

While several key provisions of the ACA take effect in 2013, the broader market impact is likely muted in the near term. Markets are forward-looking, and stocks have had ample time to digest the legislation since it was passed in 2010. Equities showed little movement when the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality in June, and though the recent...

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced the fourth in a series of deadline extensions for certain required filings in relation to foreign assets. FinCEN Notice 2012-2 extends the filing date for some filers of Form TD F 90-22.1, “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR),&rdqu...

News purveyors provide a valuable service, balancing a need to report on noteworthy occurrences while appealing to multiple audiences. Unfortunately, there is often a material difference between what is newsworthy to an investor vs. a broader audience looking to be infotained. With entertainment a necessary ingredient, more titillating stories are ...

In the first quarter issue of Global Foresight, Rockefeller presents an in-depth review of the risks and opportunities facing global investors in 2013. David Harris, Chief Investment Officer, discusses how the slow mend in the global economy, low interest rates, and other factors should keep equities as a logical core of most portfolios. Jimmy Chan...

This study finds optimism returning to Europe’s real estate industry. Sentiment among industry leaders about the prospects for their businesses is more positive than at any time since 2008, despite the uncertain macroeconomic outlook. Equity for investment in prime commercial real estate is expected to increase, but bank debt is predicted to ...

This paper answers frequently asked questions on how health care reform will affect companies with more than 50 employees. The report includes sections on options available to employers, penalties for non-compliance and the industries impacted the most.

Certain signals suggest that individuals are prepared to return to higher risk, higher reward markets. The combination of conditions in bond markets and the long-term outlook for the global economy have some analysts calling for what has been coined ‘The Great Rotation’ – a transformational shift of capital from bond&nb...

The author discusses long-term investing for the wealth expansion portfolio – assets available after shorter-term needs are met – to capitalize on medium-term market dislocations and opportunities as well as longer-term economic, social and geopolitical trends and themes. Trends from the past 25 years are discussed as well as five inves...

An integrated approach to estate planning and wealth management can achieve a greater likelihood of successful wealth transfer and minimization of transfer taxes. Wealthy clients who embrace this approach can hope to realize their wealth transfer goals early enough in their lifetimes to obviate reliance on transfers at death at significant extra tr...

The world continues to ride the same train of global imbalances. While short-term solutions have allowed us to arrive at the next station, few are attempting to address the long-term issues. We believe that capital markets will continue to assail the weakest links in the financial system, which, hopefully, instills the required discipline for polic...

Proposals to reduce federal debt have largely missed the mark. That is certainly the case when it comes to suggestions to replace tax-exempt municipal bonds with taxable alternatives or federally subsidized tax credit options. These alternatives not only produce much less in revenue for the US Treasury than most assume, they also result in a loss o...