Tag Archive for Kentucky

Tax And Business Climate In Kentucky

Tax And Business Climate In Kentucky

This month we travel to the Bluegrass State of Kentucky. The nickname is based on the bluegrass found in many of its pastures due to its fertile soil.

The Red River Gorge is a canyon system on the Red River in east-central Kentucky. Geologically, it is part of the Pottsville Escarpment, a resistant sandstone belt of cliffs and steep sided, narrow crested valleys. The prevalence of sandstone allowed the Red River to cut a magnificent gorge through the mountains. It is a rock climber’s paradise and is some of the best natural areas around!

Kentucky is a land with diverse environments and abundant resources, including the world’s longest cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park and the longest of navigable waterways and streams in the contiguous United States. Lush forests, mighty rivers and quaint towns blanket the landscape of the state.

The Kentucky Derby is a renowned horse race held at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May in Louisville. It is preceded by a 2-week festival and is celebrated in the Kentucky Derby Museum year-round.

Business Climate

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Written by | Posted in Kentucky Sales Tax Compliance • Tax Rates

Kansas, Kentucky And Louisiana State Sales And Use Tax Exemptions

Aaron Giles Sales And Use Tax

This is a continuation of the State Sales and Use Tax Exemption series from contributor and organizer Aaron Giles.

Kansas State Sales And Use Tax Exemptions

The state of Kansas levies a 6.5% state sales tax on the retail sale, lease or rental of most goods and some services. Local jurisdictions impose additional sales taxes up to 4%. The range of total sales tax rates within the state of Kansas is between 6.5% and 10.5%.

Use tax is also collected on the consumption, use or storage of goods in Kansas if sales tax was not paid on the purchase of the goods. The use tax rate is the same as the sales tax rate. Returns are to be filed on or before the 25th day of the month following the month in which the purchases were made. For example, purchases made in the month of January should be reported to the state of Kansas on or before February 25th.

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Written by | Posted in State Sales And Use Tax Exemptions

IRS Approves Extended Retirement Plan Distributions To A Trust

Many people want to leave the substantial wealth they have accumulated in retirement accounts in trust for their beneficiaries, rather than having the retirement accounts pass outright to them.  However, the IRS has established extremely complicated rules governing when retirement plan, IRA and Section 403(b) annuity contracts payable to a trust can be distributed over the life expectancy of one of the trust beneficiaries, rather than under the general five year distribution time limit.

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Written by | Posted in IRS • Retirement • Trusts

Florida Trustee’s Failure To File Trust Accountings And Tax Returns Results In Trust Freeze

In a recent Florida Appeals decision, Landau v. Landau, a trustee who failed to file proper and complete trust accountings for two years, and to file trust income tax returns for the same two years, was hit with a freeze of the trust assets by the Court. Because the trustee was also the lifetime income beneficiary of the trust, this freeze effectually prevented the trustee from using the trust for his own support.

Florida trust law requires that a trustee file annual trust accountings. This is true whether the trustee is a bank or trust company, or, as here, was the surviving spouse of the decedent who had created the trust for his lifetime benefit.
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Written by | Posted in Florida Tax

Kentucky Department of Revenue – Secrets Revealed

Many states, like my home state of Florida, have broad freedom of information laws. Known in Florida as the Sunshine Laws, the state’s citizens can request a wide range of information from the government. Under the laws, so long as the information is not made confidential by a specific statute/law, then the government has an obligation to provide the citizen with whatever is requested. As a state and local tax (“SALT”) practitioner, I often use this knowledge to my advantage. I often request documents and statistics from the state that I find beneficial to myself, my client, or my practice.

Other states have similar laws. In Kentucky, the Open Records Act gives its citizens a mechanism to request a broad spectrum of information from its government. Like many state agencies believe, the Kentucky Department of Revenue thought it was above the law. Read More

Written by | Posted in North America • State And Local Tax (SALT)