by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Foghorn Leghorn once observed " Ah say Ah say, these folks are more dizzy than a centipede at a toe countin' contest", an apt reflection perhaps of the caliber of Solid Funding's cadre of writers who have stepped on a duck (yet again) with this collection of nonsense in "Most Common Mistakes on Structured Settlement Documents", a putative "how to guide" for plaintiffs. (as of September 7, 2011 at 11:00am EDT)
Excerpts and Comments
"If the written up agreement is not thorough, you just might end up collecting income tax". -Solid Funding
Comment: And I thought the IRS collected income tax. All these years you've been paying taxes and if the (settlement) "agreement is not thorough" you can actually colle ct 'em...or so says Solid Funding...LOL
"Remember that the claims you will get from this is (sic) usually excluded from your gross personal income when it arouse from a personal physical injury or physical sickness."-Solid Funding
Comment: You know "grammar" isn't just a fancy word for your Mama's mama. I can think of more interesting things to get me "arouse"! How about you?.
"The government continuously exert (sic) effort in looking for people or opportunities to collect income taxes"-Solid Funding
Comment: Hey! Hey! Hey! Glad to see that government is "creating jobs".
"If the agreement is written correctly, a structured settlement for non-taxable damages can avoid taxes on not only lump sums paid at the time of settlement to the claimant and to a third-party assignee under a section 130 “qualified assignment,” it also avoids taxation of the internal growth of the annuity or U.S. Treasury obligation after the defendant has been released"-Solid Funding
Comments. It is the damages that are subject to the applicable tax or tax exemption, not the "internal growth of the annuity". The process of how structured settlements work contains 4 steps (1) Periodic payment obligation as payment of damages created in release document in exchange for release of Defendant and/or Insurer (2) Assignment of periodic payment obligations (3) An annuity or treasury obligation is purchased as a "qualified funding asset" (but isn't owned by the plaintiff; plaintiff has no rights in the qualified funding asset (but could be given a lien or security interest in the asset) (4) periodic payments made to plaintiff, plaintiff's trust and/or to the attorney (or law firm) if fees are being structured.
Unless you enjoy "the pillory" of public critcism, the structured settlement watchdog discourages factoring companies from hiring and publishing the work of writers, who appear to have no professional qualifications or experience in the subject matter, for marketing purposes. The lack of experience is never more evident when one sees these "wordsmiths" sample the smorgasbord of available information but fail to connect the dots.Their lazy efforts detract from our goal to increase public literacy about structured settlements and should stop.
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