Some financial advisers are telling wealthy clients that the remainder of 2012 amounts to a last-chance sale on federal tax rates, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Taxes are set to rise in January in the U.S., pushing the top rate on dividends to 43.4 percent from 15 percent and the top rate on capital gains to 23.8 percent from 15 percent. Advisers at companies including Wells Fargo, Bank of America Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Northern Trust Corp. and U.S. Bancorp are discussing with their wealthy clients such strategies as selling appreciated securities, relocating assets to tax-deferred retirement accounts, converting IRAs, exercising stock options and making large gifts to heirs this year. Tax cuts first enacted during George W. Bush’s presidency and extended in 2010 are set to expire Dec. 31.
