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July 15, 2023 - Epoch Times

11:59

IRS Sends Out Warning to Millions of Americans

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	The IRS has, for one, just put out a major warning to all Americans, and secondly, they have also very quietly just changed the inheritance rules in this country, which almost ensures that you will be paying more in taxes when you pass on some money to your descendants.
	Let's discuss both of these developments, starting with the warning.
	To be specific, this warning was the taxpayers urging them to watch out for a new scam.
	A scam which tricks people into thinking that the government actually owes the money.
	Here's how the IRS described the mechanics of this new scam in a statement that they recently released.
	The new scheme involves a mailing coming in a cardboard envelope from a delivery service.
	The enclosed letter includes the IRS masthead and wording that the notice is in relation to your unclaimed refund.
	Like many scams, the letter includes contact information and a phone number that do not belong to the IRS. But it also seeks a variety of sensitive personal information from taxpayers, including detailed pictures of their driver's licenses that can then be used by identity thieves to try obtaining a tax refund and other sensitive financial information.
	So, essentially, people are receiving in their home mailboxes a cardboard envelope which claims that it's from the IRS. Inside of the envelope is an official-looking letter telling you that the government actually owes you money.
	All you have to do to claim that money is to respond to the letter by sending in a bunch of different personal details, such as your cell phone number, your bank routing information, your social security number, as well as photos of your driver's license.
	However, if you actually mail that in, or if you call the phone number that's listed in the letter, none of that information is going to the IRS. Instead, it's going to the scammers who will then turn around and use that information to steal your identity.
	And according to this statement from the IRS, there are a few details in this scam letter which comes in the cardboard envelope.
	Here's where they wrote: "There are many warning signs that can be seen in many similar schemes via email or by text.
	An unusual feature of the scam is that it tries tricking people to email or phone very detailed personal information in hopes of stealing valuable information.
	The letter tells the recipients they need to provide filing information for their refund.
	This letter contains a variety of warning signs, including odd punctuation in a mixture of fonts as well as inaccuracies." For example, the letter says the deadline for filing tax refunds is October 17th.
	The deadline for people on extension for their 2022 tax returns is actually October 16th.
	And those owed refunds from last year have time beyond that.
	And the IRS handles tax refunds, not quote-unquote unclaimed property.
	And to be frank with you, I'm always so surprised when scammers like these don't take a quick minute or two to fix the punctuation, spelling, and little technical issues.
	I mean, if you're going to be mailing out quite literally tens or hundreds of thousands of these scam letters, you can at least run spellcheck.
	Regardless, this is the new scam.
	And it's also worth mentioning that besides receiving this cardboard letter in the mail, the IRS also mentions that this same scam can play itself out via either text or email messages.
	Here's specifically what they wrote on this front.
	The IRS never initiates contact with taxpayers by email, text, or social media regarding a bill or tax refund.
	As a reminder, never click on any unsolicited communication claiming to be the IRS as it may surreptitiously load malware.
	It may also be a way for malicious hackers to load ransomware that keeps the legitimate user from accessing their system and files.
	This letter then lists several resources for people who either receive these types of texts, emails, and or letters in the mail that they can actually reach out to within the federal government.
	If you'd like to read this full notice from the IRS, I'll throw it into the description box below this video so you can check it out, which is of course that little box right below those like and subscribe buttons, which I hope you smash so that this content can reach ever more people via the YouTube algorithm.
	Now, since we're on the general topic of the IRS, well, there's something else that I believe you absolutely need to know.
	Just earlier this year, the IRS put out a new ruling, which officially changed the inheritance rules in this country, and it all but assured that most Americans will wind up paying more money in taxes.
	Specifically, Because you see, up until now, many people in the country set up what are known as irrevocable trusts in order to be able to pass on their estates to their children Without the government biting off a huge chunk in taxes.
	And in case you've never heard of it before, here's how Investopedia describes what an irrevocable trust actually is.
	Quote, A type of trust that cannot be modified, amended, or terminated without the permission of the grantor's beneficiary or beneficiaries.
	Essentially, the way that it works is that you set up an irrevocable trust when you want to pass on your estate, some property, or some assets to someone like your kid or your grandkid.
	Once the trust is set up, whatever assets you transfer into it are legally no longer yours.
	You cannot do anything with them once they are in the trust.
	Only the beneficiary that you've designated will eventually have access to them.
	And the benefits of this type of a trust is that for one, you save money, and secondly, your child or your grandchild can eventually be given your assets without having to pay the government a fortune in taxes.
	People with a lot of assets would often set up an irrevocable trust to remove the assets from the possession of the grantor.
	At the same time, it placed them under the trust control, enabling them to be passed to the beneficiaries tax-free.
	When the beneficiaries receive the assets, the assets receive a stepped-up value.
	It means they are given the fair market value when the grantor died instead of at the time of purchase.
	It enables the beneficiary to avoid paying capital gains taxes on the assets unless they are sold later and have become higher in value.
	And so, as an example, let's say that you bought a bunch of stocks.
	You had a great tip and you bought really low.
	You bought when the price was perfect.
	And your plan is to hold on to those stocks and eventually pass them on to your kids.
	And so, what you do is you place those stocks into the irrevocable trust, and you designate your kids as the beneficiaries.
	Many years go by, and the stocks just explode in value, and now they're worth, let's say, $20 million, which is a 500% increase from when you bought them.
	And that's great.
	Perfect.
	And because those stocks were put into the irrevocable trust, when you die, for one, those stocks will not be included in your taxable estate.
	And second of all, your child will be able to receive them without having to pay capital gains tax.
	Essentially, because of the irrevocable trust, there will not be any taxes paid on this generational transfer of wealth.
	Because otherwise, if you did not have this irrevocable trust, the tax bill would have just been enormous for those capital gains.
	And so generally, that's how these trusts work.
	Or rather, I should say that's how they used to work.
	Because as I mentioned a moment ago, the IRS has just issued a new ruling saying that, quote, assets in an irrevocable trust are technically not part of the estate, and therefore, estate taxes need to be paid.
	They claim now that the assets need to be under the direction of a will.
	The goal, it appears, is to be able to collect a lot more taxes on estates.
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	And now let's head on back to the studio.
	So what this new rule means in practice is that property held in an irrevocable trust that's not included in your taxable estate will no longer receive this step-up basis.
	Here's a great explanation for what this actually means from an article in Kimplinger magazine.
	By way of example, let's look at a couple whom we will call Tom and Jane.
	Tom and Jane purchased a home in 1975 for $100,000.
	If that house is now worth $250,000, And they sell that house, they will owe capital gains taxes on the growth of $150,000.
	In contrast, had Tom and Jane transferred their home to an irrevocable trust prior to March of 2023 when this rule was passed, the trust could sell the house from a cost basis of $250,000, not $100,000 because of the step up in basis.
	So no capital gains would be due when the trust then distributes those proteins to Tom and Jane's children.
	However, as this article alludes to, that is no longer the case as of March of 2023.
	In March of this year, the IRS issued this new ruling and everything changed.
	Meaning in practical terms, that if you want to save up property and assets and eventually pass it on to your kids, well, you will no longer be able to use an irrevocable trust to do that.
	You essentially just had the rug pulled out from underneath you.
	Because according to this new ruling from the IRS, well, the basis adjustment does not apply to property that was inherited through an irrevocable trust.
	And again, even though this is a major ruling that will leave a lot of people throughout the whole country high and dry, well, there was almost no publicity about it, meaning that very likely there are many people across America who have irrevocable trust but have no idea about the pitfalls and troubles that their kids will experience when they actually try to get their money.
	And therefore, if you or anyone you know has one of these irrevocable trusts, well, I will throw several resources down into the description box below this video for you to check out.
	You can look through them and you can make the adjustments that you need to make because the IRS, fresh with their 87,000 new agents, well, they appear to be quite keen on getting their hands on your money.
	And really think about that.
	You worked your whole life.
	You paid taxes on everything you earned.
	And yet now, you'll need to pay more taxes on the money that was already taxed just for the privilege of passing it on to your kids.
	And so, if either you or anyone you know is in this situation, well, consider sharing this video with them.
	And also, there'll be many links down in the description box below that you can read through regarding this ruling 2023-2 from the IRS. All that will again be down in the description box below.
	bit.
	Lastly, I wanted to mention that over on Epic TV, our awesome no censorship video platform, I recently published an awesome exclusive episode detailing President Trump's new Agenda 47, which is a massive new policy proposal that would restore a little-known presidential power which was quite literally lost about 50 years ago.
	Specifically, this is the executive power known as impoundment, something that President Nixon, while he was embroiled in the Watergate scandal signed away.
	And President Trump, with his Agenda 47, is making the argument that, for one, signing away this power was actually unconstitutional.
	Secondly, he said that he will attempt to regain this authority for the executive office.
	And then, once it was regained, he said that he would use it to fight the quote-unquote deep state as well as curb the federal bureaucracy.
	If you'd like to check out that awesome episode, the link to it will be right there at the top of the description box below.
	Just click on that link and you can head on over to Epic TV and watch that episode right away.
	And also, by the way, I will mention that, besides that episode, I publish somewhere between two to three exclusive episodes of Facts Matter on Epic TV every single week.
	Episodes that you will just not find here on YouTube.
	So there's a lot of stuff to check out.
	And again, that link will be right there at the top of the description box below.
	I hope you check it out.
	And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epic Times.
	Stay informed.

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