About William J. Stecker (Bill)

William J. Stecker (Bill) earned his bachelor's degree in Finance & Applied Mathematics. He also holds a Masters of Science in Accounting (with distinction) from DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois) earned in 1983. He is a Certified Public Accountant¹ since 1980 and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as a member of the Illinois and Colorado state societies.

Bill has spent over four decades in accounting, finance and tax related fields. Further, he has particular in-depth knowledge on Internal Revenue Code §72(t), having made multiple and successful private letter ruling requests and determination letter requests to the Tax Exempt & Governmental Entities Division of the Internal Revenue Service.

He has also published on §72(t) issues several times including:

(1) A Practical Guide To Substantially Equal Periodic Payments And Internal Revenue Code §72(t). This guide is now in its 5th edition and available for free on this website.

(2) Excerpts of the above have periodically appeared in: Journal of Retirement Planning (A Commerce Clearing House publication) and the Journal of Taxation (A Thompson Reuters publication).

Bill owns The Marble Group, Ltd. (an Illinois corporation), an accounting, tax representation and financial consulting group based in Illinois. Bill devotes most of his time to tax issues, specializing in retirement plan and participant issues --- primarily §72 and §§401-424 of the IRC. He is available for individual client representations and can be reached at: The Marble Group, Ltd., 332 South Michigan Avenue , Suite 1032 #M29, Chicago, Illinois 60604 or themarblegroup@wispertel.net or call (312) 361-0221.

Bill now splits his time between Chicago and Colorado as he is just plain old sick and tired of Chicago weather; particularly the winters and freezing rain coming from Lake Michigan.

Final Thoughts and Opinions by Bill

About the only thing worse than reading the Practical Guide is writing it. Everyone has a cross or duty in life and I guess the Practical Guide is mine. Without question, I have great respect for authors of all types & stripes. Writing is difficult only surpassed by the proofing which is even harder duty. As hard as I have tried I am certain there are still a dozen typographical errors in there. As you find them please let me know and I will make the corrections.

Substantially Equal Periodic Payments are your constitutional right. It is federal statute enacted by Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan. Back in 1986 this was not a big issue because IRAs were still relatively small business; now 35 years later it is a really big issue with a 20 trillion dollar price tag²; a high percentage of which is owned by taxpayers under the age of 60. The author believes this website and all of its materials (all of which are free for the taking) are needed in that you, the taxpayers, have received a huge disservice from the IRS:

(1) The rules (and traps) are now found in one ten page (double spaced) IRS publication, Notice 2022-6; not easily found because 99% of taxpayers do not know to go looking for it and it is woefully short — given the complexity of the subject matter it should be 50 pages (single spaced);

(2) SEPPs are comparatively complex and therefore mistakes are easy to make, however, the costs of a error are draconian in short order approaching 100% or more of one's original annual distribution.

(3) There is no way to submit your plan to get an official stamp of approval from the IRS; they flat out won't do it.

(4) Calling the IRS for help is an exercise in futility; call the general number and they are clueless; call the Tax Exempt & Governmental Entities department --- they don't answer and they don't call back.

(5) If you are audited, there is high likelihood the IRS will challenge your SEPP plan calling it "non-compliant". Pay up or hire a tax attorney to defend you.

Much of your rights have effectively been taken away; Congress said you have got it; the IRS has basically said: "Not on my watch.". You are virtually forced to either abandon this course of action, or, hire a not-so-easily-found true professional on §72(t) issues to get it done precisely right.

My hope is the guide and other related materials will provide some help in this regard. Knowledge is ammo; please use it wisely.

Lastly, I fully realize that this stuff is really boring so in order to stay awake, I have periodically made some, potentially ill-fated, attempts at humor. My excuse — I am an accountant; I am not a standup comedian — I tried — if you don't like the humor send me some substitute language and I will use it.

© William J. Stecker, CPA

---

1. Licensed in Illinois. William also holds a Preparer Tax Identification Number, ("PTIN") and an
   IRS Centralized Authorization File Number, ('CAF") with the IRS.