Estate Taxes
Act Soon…Discounted Gifts Will Become Harder…
Individuals and their attorneys are very creative when planning to reduce estate taxes. One technique is to transfer an interest in a family owned family limited partnership (“FPL”), at a discounted value, to a family member while keeping the entity in the family....
Voiding of QTIP Election May Save Gift Taxes…
Instead of an outright distribution to a surviving spouse, estate planners often advise that assets be distributed to a qualified terminal interest property (“QTIP”) trust for the benefit of the surviving spouse. This planning occurs often in a second or third...
US Supreme Court Strikes Defense of Marriage Act… Now What?
On June 26, 2013, in United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. ___ (2013), the Supreme Court of the US upheld the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Appeals Court”) decision in Windsor v. US, which upheld a challenge to Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act...
Relief for Late Filed Portabilty Elections!
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has offered needed relief for portability elections. Portability, discussed in a prior blog, can save a surviving spouse’s beneficiaries over $2 million (in 2017) in estate taxes! However, to utilize such savings, the surviving...
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (“ILIT”).. still important?
Many of our clients created an ILIT to hold life insurance outside of their estate to provide liquidity to help their children pay estate taxes. Generally an ILIT is created to avoid the triggering aspects of IRC Section 2042 so life insurance on the decedent’s life...
NEW.. Final Regulations Issued for Portability
As I have mentioned in a previous blog the concept of portability enables a surviving spouse to take advantage of his or her deceased spouse’s unused exemption (“DSUE”) amount. For example, if Sue dies and only uses 2 million of her 5.430 million exemption amount,...
Charitable Gifting… Don’t Forget the Receipt!
Many of us love to benefit charities and make gifts of used clothing, furniture and miscellaneous items. In a recent Tax Court Memorandum case, Kunkel, the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) reminds us what needs to be done to be able to deduct the value of...
What is your liability as a fiduciary for estate or trust tax returns?
No authority exists in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), the Treasury Regulations thereunder or case law that imposes a duty on a taxpayer to file an amended tax return to correct an error or omission on a previously filed tax return if the...
Portability of Estate Tax Exemption
Many of you already know that under the 2010 Tax Act surviving spouses can take advantage of their deceased spouse’s unused federal estate tax exemption. What was not clear is how and when to do this. Because of the confusion the Internal Revenue Service (the...
Portability… How Valuable Is It?
Each United States resident is subject to the federal estate and gift tax and is entitled to a $5.450 million applicable exclusion amount (“AEA”) (often called the Unified Tax Credit or the basic exclusion amount) which reduces their federal gift and estate tax....