May 20, 2012

Are incentive fees coming to funds?

Boy, what a difference 25 years makes in the world of fund taxation. When my firm launched the first long/short fund in 1986, we had to contend with several constraints: the “short short” rule, which I will explain in a moment, a limitation on shorting stocks, a severe limitation on...

• commodities,
• tax

April 22, 2012

A better approach to taxing gains?

By Robert N. Gordon

Late last year, I attended a hearing of the congressional Joint Committee of Taxation on the taxation of financial products. One of the four speakers testifying that day was attorney David S. Miller, who put forth the idea that really rich people should mark their assets to market...

• tax

February 19, 2012

What lurks in the president's budget

With the big exception of dividends, President Barack Obama's 2013 budget looks very much like his 2012 budget. In fact, many of the tax changes affecting individuals that were proposed in the 2012 budget and not enacted show up again in the 2013 budget. For investors, there are...

• tax

November 20, 2011

Last chance to double up on losses

By Robert N. Gordon

A core principle of managing portfolios for tax efficiency is disciplined loss harvesting

• tax

October 23, 2011

Top marginal tax rates may skyrocket

By Robert N. Gordon

The political winds have shifted and “millionaires” now are expected to shoulder much of the burden of balancing the budget

• tax

September 25, 2011

Last chance to re-characterize

By Robert N. Gordon

Much has been written about the opportunity to undo, or re-characterize, a Roth IRA conversion if the assets in the account depreciate

• Individual retirement accounts (IRAs),
• tax

July 24, 2011

Are your clients traders or investors?

By Robert N. Gordon

Under U.S. tax law, investment expenses are considered miscellaneous itemized deductions

• tax

June 19, 2011

The complexity of ETF options

As they do with stocks, investors have the opportunity to trade listed options on many exchange-traded funds

• exchange traded funds (ETFs),
• tax