Last month’s article was the first in a series about Asset Protection Planning. We explored some history of this area of the law, some basic ideas and concepts of wealth preservation planning, and took a closer look at the legal entities commonly used to mitigate risks of property loss to owners.

Nothing quite shows the order of the state’s priorities as the fact that California spends $46,700 a year to incarcerate an inmate, but only $9,706 a year to educate a K-12 student.  

I suspect that when your computer has a problem, you are the first to know.  If the network has a problem, everyone on the company stops working, and various people from your staff begin calling or poking their heads into your office to report the issue.  You may have someone else fix it, but you are the first to realize that something is wrong.  Interestingly, this doesn’t have to be the case.  It is now possible for the computer guy to know that there is a problem before you do.

In 2009, the IRS rolled out its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program to try and get taxpayers to disclosure and properly report their offshore bank accounts and assets.  In exchange for agreeing not to pursue criminal prosecution against taxpayers that came forward under the program, taxpayers had to pay their outstanding tax, interest and penalties on the undisclosed income.  The program was deemed a success where approximately 15,000 taxpayers came forward disclosing assets in 60 different countries.