11 taxes and private wealth management
in a global context

global income tax structures

tax rate structure

progressive rate structure - most
*marginal tax rate, rate on the next 1 of income

flat tax structure

special tax provision for interest income:

  • an exemption for certain types
  • a favorable tax rate
  • an exclusion amount (limited amount)

dividend income:
exemptions / special rates / exclusions
mitigating double taxation

capital gains or losses:
long-term gains treated more favorably generally
only realized gains were taxed in most cases

income tax regimes

common progressive

heavy dividend tax

heavy interest tax

heavy capital gain

light capital gain tax

flat and light

flat and heavy

tax deferred accounts

after-tax accumulations and returns for taxable accounts

simple tax environments

blended taxing environments

accrual euivalent

types of investment accounts

accrual taxes on interest and dividends
tax drag

deferred capital gains

cost basis B
low-embedded tax liability

wealth-based taxes

FVIF=[1+r(1-t)]^n

FVIF=(1+r)^n-[(1+r)^n-1]t
=(1+r)^n
(1-t)+t

return the tax of the untaxed cost

FVIF=(1+r)^n(1-t)+t-(1-B)t
=(1+r)^n(1-t)+tB

FVIF=[(1+r)*(1-t)]^n

effective annual after-tax return
not capture effects of deferred unrealized captital gains

r=r(1-pti-ptd-ptcg)

effective capital gains tax rate

T=tcg(1-pi-pd-pcg)/(1-pti-ptd-ptcg)

FVIF=(1+r)^n(1-T)+T*-(1-B)tcg

accrual equivalent after-tax return
R.AE

the tax-free return that if accrued annually produces the same after-tax accumulation as the taxable portfolio

accrual equivalent tax rate
T.AE

tax drag= taxable return - accrual equivalent return

r(1-T.AE)=R.AE

taxable accounts

tax-exempt accounts

tax-deferred accounts / TDAs

taxes and investment risk

taxes not only reduce invest returns but also absorb some investment risk

wealth management

trading behavior
proper investment management strategy remains more important than proper asset location strategy

trader

active investor

passive investor

exempt investor

asset location

planned holding period

investment style

tax regime governing

restrictions:
borrow and lend rate
borrowing costs
behavioral constraints
liquidity constraints

lending offset borrowing to achieve desired overall asset allocation

tax loss harvesting
realizing a loss to offset a gain or income
reducing the current tax obligation

reset the cost bases

increase the amount of net-of-tax money available for invest

highest-in, first-out (HIFO) tax lot accounting

holding period management

after-tax mean-variance optimization

substitute accrual equivalent returns

substitute after-tax standard deviation