As 2018 nears the end of the year, the IRS is publishing the new 1040 tax returns and the benefits of the Tax Cuts are now transparent and visible to the lay eye. The 1040 tax returns for 2017 and previous years was approximately 78 lines long and took up 2 full pages. The new 2018 1040 tax return is 23 lines long and fits on half of an 8×11 piece of paper if printed front and back. Gone are the 1040EZ and the 1040A. Everyone will file...

Temporarily creates 7 new tax brackets: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. Increases Standard Deductions: Single $12,000, Married Filing Jointly $24,000, Head of Household $18,000. Repeals deductions for personal exemptions. Increases Child Tax Credit to $2,000 ($1,400 refundable), subject to phase out. Eliminates all 2% itemized deductions (bottom of Schedule A) Limits Itemized Deductions for non-business taxes to $10,000 for SALT (State...

The IRS determined that because cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, are not issued by a sovereign, bitcoin and its brethren are not currency.  The IRS holds that cryptocurrencies are personal property in much the same manner as owning shares of stock in Amazon or Ford Motor Company.   Therefore, the IRS treats cryptocurrencies as a capital asset, subject to either short-term or long-term capital gains and losses. Each time you acquire...

The Kansas Revisor of Statutes is considering adopting the UPHPA. The Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA) helps preserve family wealth passed to the next generation in the form of real property. Affluent families can engage in sophisticated estate planning to ensure generational wealth, but those with smaller estates are more likely to use a simple will or to die intestate. For many lower- and middle-income families, the majority of...

Kansas provides a statutory procedure by which a judgment creditor may file an authenticated or certified copy of a judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction in another state or commonwealth in the appropriate district court in Kansas.  Once the foreign judgment is entered in Kansas, it carries the full force and effect of a Kansas judgment, subject to the laws of the foreign state or commonwealth as to issues like statutory...