Page 24 - Pakistan Link - July 30, 2021

P24 – PAKISTAN LINK – JULY 30, 2021 COMMENTARY
Year-End Planning: 2021 Changes

and Your End of Year Checklist

n By Saghir Ahmad Aslam considered a designed beneficiary FOUNDATION
Rawalpindi, Pakistan (DB) and the account must be emp-
tied by the end of the 10th calendar P.O. BOX 5481, Santa Clara, CA 95056 | (408) 244.3282 | www.hidaya.org
(The following information is year following the year of death of the
provided solely to educate the Mus- IRA owner who has not reached the One Million Meals
lim community about investing and age of majority (yet to be defined),
financial planning. It is hoped that chronically ill or disabled individuals,
the Ummah will ben- or individuals not more than 10 years
efit from this effort younger, the same age, or older than
through greater finan- the IRA owner will still be able to take 50 C $1 $5 $10
cial empowerment, Next Steps: if you’re charitable advantage of the stretch IRA strategy. provides provides provides provides
enabling the commu- inclined and itemize your deductions, Stretching an IRA refers to the
nity to live in security you may want to increase your cash ability to take RMDs over the ben- 1 meal 2 meals 10 meals 20 meals
and dignity and fulfill gifts to offset Roth IRA conversion in- eficiary’s single life expectancy (using
their religious and moral obligations come or significant capital gains from the term-certain calculation method)
towards charitable activities.) the sale of the concentrated position rather than over the life expectancy of
Among its countless impacts, (a large holding in a single investment the original IRA owner.
the corona virus pandemic led to the or real estate. Next Steps: If you inherit an IRA
passage of the corona virus Aid, Re- • Coronavirus-related Dis- this year, check with your financial
lief and Economic Security (CARES) tributions (CRD) FROM Retirement advisor to determine if this change
Act, which brought investors a num- Accounts might affect your distribution require-
ber of changes to deal with during this What’s new: qualified individu- ment and strategy. And if you have
year. In addition, investors are seeing als of any age can take up to $100,000 included an IRA in your estate plan
changes in 2021 that were created by from IRAs and QRP. These distribu- for others to inherit after your death, Donate online via check or card at
the Setting Every Community Up for tions are exempt from the 10% ad- check with your attorney to determine
Retirement (SECURE) Act, which was ditional tax of early and or pre-59½ the possible impact on your estate www.hidaya.org
signed late in 2019. Because of these distributions and not subject to the planning strategy.
acts, investors have new issues to con- 20 % withholding requirements for
sider for the remainder, including: qualified retirement plans. Year-End planning Checklist or call us at (408) 244-3282
CARES Act A qualified individual is some- Taking these six actions as soon Hidaya Foundation is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) charitable organization with Tax ID # 77-0502583
• Retirement Plan Distribu- one who is diagnosed with the virus as possible will help ensure your
tions SARS-COV-2 or coronavirus disease working towards our financial goals-
What changed: Required mini- (COVID-19) by a test approved by and that you’re prepared for the up-
mum distributions (RMDs) are the Centers for Disease Control and coming tax season.
waived for 2021 from certain qualified Prevention or the experience of ad- 1. Review your portfolio with Exchange Rates for Currency Notes*
retirement plans (QRPs) such as 401 verse financial consequence due to your financial advisor to help ensure
(k) and 403(b) plans; IRAs including one or more of the following factors: your allocation still aligns with our Countries Buying Selling
inherited IRAs; and 2019 RMDs not being guarantied, furloughed, laid off, goals. Rs. Rs.
taken in 2019 with a required begin- having work hours reduced, unable 2. Ask your financial advisor
ning date of April 1, 2021. to work due to SARS-COV-2 or CO- for a gain/loss report to access the in-
Next Steps: Although you’re not VID-19, closing or reduced hours of come and / or capital gain you should USA 161.50 162.70
required to take an RMD in 2020. You business owned or operated by the in- expect this year. UK 221.00 224.00
want to take it anyway. dividual due to COVID-19, or other 3. Determine whether the 0% S.Arabia 42.50 43.00
• If you believe you are in a factors as determined by the Treasury capital gains rate will apply to you this Japan 1.41 1.44
lower tax bracket now than you expect Secretary. Keep in mind these dis- year. Euro 188.00 190.00
to be in the future, a current distribu- tributions will be taxable evenly over 4. Review tax-loss selling UAE 43.50 44.00
tion may result in long-term tax sav- three years beginning with this year strategies if you have capital gains.
ings. and if you want, you may repay the If you wish to realize a loss but keep
• Distributions you take now distributions within three years. your exposure to a depreciated sector (*July 29, 2021)
will reduce your year-end which Next Steps: if you’re eligible and and security, remember November
could decrease the amount you have considering taking distributions, con- 30,2021 is the last day to double up a A separate analysis released bers of unvaccinated people who are
to distribute in future RMDs. sult your financial advisor about the position to help avoid a wash sale. June 25 by Public Health England at a tremendous risk of developing
• If you do not need the cash potential impact on your long-term 5. Meet with your tax advisor found that two shots of the Pfizer- severe disease,” Nikolich-Žugich said.
flow, consider converting the distribu- plans. It’s always best to double check to prepare preliminary tax projections BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines “We shouldn’t be complacent or cava-
tion to a Roth IRA to take advantage making any financial decisions: and evaluate whether to defer income were 79 percent effective at protect- lier about it, but it pales in compari-
of the possibility for tax-free growth. • Traditional IRA Contribu- or accelerate expenses. ing against symptomatic illness with son to the question of how we get as
Consider the amount of income tion Age Limit Removed 6. Determine if any adjust- the delta variant and 96 percent ef- many people as possible vaccinated.”
you expect over the next 5-10 years. What changed: Starting in 2020 ment is needed to tax withholding or fective against hospitalization. – NBC
Are there times when it might be low- you can contribute to a traditional era estimated payments. The ability of vaccines to pro-
er or higher? It may be beneficial to no matter what your age as long as you (Saghir A. Aslam only explains tect against serious disease is critical, RITES FROM P21
take retirement plan distributions in and your spouse, if filling jointly, have strategies and formulas that he has Rasmussen said, and an indication crematoria”.
these lower income, lower tax bracket earned income. You have until April been using. He is merely providing in- that the shots continue to perform But Bhagwan Dutt Pathak, a re-
years to capture some tax savings. 15, 2021, to make 2020 contributions, formation, and NO ADVICE is given. well. tired professor of Sanskrit in the north-
which could be deductible. Mr Aslam does not endorse or rec- “If we started to see ICUs filling ern town of Mirzapur, says the reasons
Charitable Contributions Next step: if you are age 70% or ommend any brokerage firm, or any up with people who are fully vacci- were perhaps more mundane - that
What changed: if you’re unable order, consult your financial advisor investment at all, nor does he suggest nated, that would be an indication women mostly stayed at home and did
to itemize deductions, you will be al- and tax advisor to determine if addi- that anyone will earn a profit when or that the vaccines are no longer effec- the chores while men worked outdoors
lowed a charitable deduction of up to tional contributions make sense for if they purchase stocks, bonds or any tive,” she said. and took on work that involved heavy
$300 for this year (2020). If you can your investment strategy. other investments. All stocks and in- While the vaccines remain lifting.
itemize, the adjusted gross income • Inherited IRA vestments vehicles mentioned are for highly effective, there’s reason for Prof Kaushalendra Pandey, who
(AGI) limitation is waived, letting What changed: if you inherit an illustrative purposes only. Mr Aslam concern if outbreaks continue to teaches Sanskrit literature at the pres-
your offset more of your taxable in- IRA as a non-spouse beneficiary, and is not an attorney, accountant, real smolder across the country. The tigious Banaras Hindu University, says
come. These provisions apply only to the IRA holder died on or after Janu- estate broker, stockbroker, investment more that the virus is left to circulate, there are references in ancient texts to
cash contributions and not to con- ary 1, 2020, your options are limited. advisor, or certified financial planner. the more chances the pathogen has wives performing the last rites if a man
tributions to donor advised funds or Most non-spouse beneficiaries and Mr Aslam does not have anything for to mutate in a way that could make died without leaving a son or a daugh-
other organizations. qualified look-through trusts will be sale.) it more transmissible, enable it to ter or a male relative such as a brother.
cause more severe disease or help it Even daughters, he says, had the right
COVID FROM P21 Rasmussen said higher rates of underlying conditions, such as hy- evade the protection of vaccines. to do the last rites.
US had been fully vaccinated, and hospitalization and death in older pertension, diabetes and congestive “Every pathogen arms race ends “The ancient Hindu society was
the CDC tallied more than 10,000 adults aren’t surprising because heart failure. The study, published badly, because this is fundamen- very liberal and women enjoyed tre-
cases of breakthrough infections. older people are generally more vul- July 6 in the journal Clinical Micro- tally evolution,” Fortune said. “What mendous freedoms. Conservatism
As of July 12, the CDC reported nerable to serious illness from Cov- biology and Infection, found that we’re talking about is the virus trying came as a reaction to other religions,
5,492 breakthrough cases in which id-19. Immunocompromised people only six cases involved patients with to not go extinct, and evolution is first to Buddhism and then to Islam and
patients were hospitalized or died. or those with underlying conditions no comorbidities. going to favor transmission. Evolu- Christianity,” he says.
Three-quarters of the cases involved are similarly at higher risk. Israel reported this month that tion is going to favor vaccine escape.” Manoj Kumar Pandey, a priest
people over age 65. While they are In Israel, where 80 percent of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 93 Preventing such an outcome who specializes in funeral rites, says the
tracked as breakthrough infections, people 16 and older have been fully percent effective at preventing hos- will require focusing on vaccinating current belief that a cremation should
it’s not necessarily the case that Co- vaccinated, researchers studied 152 pitalizations and serious disease, but as many people as possible, in the be done by the eldest son is rooted in
vid-19 caused the hospitalizations or breakthrough cases in which pa- its effectiveness fell to 64 percent for U.S. and around the world. the Garun Puran - a Hindu religious
deaths, particularly among patients tients were hospitalized and found preventing infection and symptom- “I lose infinitely more sleep over text that deals with funeral rites, and is
who were asymptomatic. that most involved people with atic illness. the fact that we have such large num- RITES, P26
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