Avoiding Costly Partner Retirement Account Mistakes

One of the greatest income tax benefits “bestowed” on people by the government is the ability to fund retirement accounts and deduct the contributions from their income tax. One of the biggest tax burdens falls upon these retirement accounts when the owner passes on, with all of the amounts in the retirement accounts counted as income to the beneficiary. But there are now legal steps partners can take to cut income taxes on these accounts and allow the accounts to grow to astronomical amounts tax deferred… provided they take those steps. (Originally appearing as a column in Out in Asheville, 2008.)