Latest News From Keir

Notes from the FPA Virtual Town Meeting…
This week the FPA held a “Virtual Town Meeting” phone conference to update us on the activities of the association. The speakers for this program were:

New Tax Rules for the November 2010 CFP® Certification Examination
President Obama signed the Hiring Incentives To Restore Employment Act on March 18, 2010 which included one provision that impacts the CFP® Certification Examination. The one change relates to the Section 179 deduction covered in Topic 51 on the CFP Board’s 89 Topic list.

How the Basis Step Up Rules Work in 2010
Taxpayers who die during 2010 will not owe an estate tax as it has been repealed for the year 2010 under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (2001 Tax Act) signed by President Bush. However, there is a downside to no estate tax which is a carryover basis system. For all years except 2010, the heirs receive the estate assets with a basis equal to fair market value at date of death. However, under the carryover basis system in place for 2010, the deceased taxpayer’s basis carries over to the heir (limited to fair market value at death). In addition, the executor has the ability to step up the basis by $1.3 million on assets passing to any heir plus an additional $3 million of basis step up on assets passing directly to the surviving spouse.

What Type of Estate Planning Questions to Expect
Around 2,000 candidates are currently studying for the July 2010 CFP® Certification Examination to be given on July 16th and 17th at various locations across the country. Although most of the candidates recently finished an Estate Planning course at a local CFP Board registered program, the most common question from candidates studying for the July 2010 CFP® Certification Examination is how will the exam test Estate Planning if the estate tax has been repealed for 2010?

Results for the March 2010 CFP® Certification Examination
The CFP Board mailed out the results for the March 2010 CFP(R) Certification Examination on May 11, 2010 from Washington, DC. The CFP Board also posts the results on their website approximately one week after the letters are mailed out just in case a candidate had recently moved or a letter gets lost in the mail. The results should be available online around May 18, 2010. Candidates will need to log into their account to access their results.