Don’t Miss the Boat on Gifting and Estate Tax Exemptions

July 20, 2020 In December 2017, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), creating a significant but temporary opportunity for high-net-worth individuals to transfer a portion of their wealth to heirs free of gift and estate tax. The act included a provision to increase the federal gift and estate tax exclusion from $5.45M … Continued

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” claimed Benjamin Franklin. But at least with the latter matter, there can be different degrees of severity. Indeed, in some respects, we are generally living in a relatively benign tax environment these days but given the increasingly populist and progressive sentiments … Continued

Estate and Gift Tax Exemption

One of the biggest changes occurred here, with the taxable estate exemption doubled. The number of estates predicted to owe tax in 2018 versus 2017 may be cut in half thanks to the change in the estate and gift tax exemption amount.  The new limit, which applies to gifts made during life or assets left … Continued

The Art of Gifting UP

In today’s world of innovation, where one idea could turn a young entrepreneur into an overnight million(billion)aire, it is becoming increasingly common for a financially successful individual to accumulate far more wealth than their living parents ever could. It is in this group of high net worth investors where a unique wealth transfer strategy may … Continued

Shrinking Home Values to Enlarge Wealth Transfers

In the alphabet soup of estate planning jargon, the acronym QPRT is one of the more familiar — if not fully understood — terms and it represents a popular and rather common technique for potentially passing significant wealth amongst generations using family homes with little or no gift or estate tax consequence.  The letters stand … Continued

The Estate Tax: Still Going Strong at Age 100

Even at the ripe old age of 100, the Federal Estate Tax – also affectionately known as the ‘death tax’ – is still steeped in controversy.  When it was first instituted in 1916 during the height of World War I, it was seen by supporters as a reasonable way to enhance U.S. revenues in case America joined … Continued

Fiscal Cliff Notes

“This is not a prediction, it is a certainty–there will be serious disruption in the world’s financial services industry…. It’s going to be ugly.” – The Times, London, 1999 (discussing the “Y2K” threat) Years ago in the midst of another date-specific moment in time, the world became obsessed that planes would drop from the sky … Continued

Estate Planning Basics: Things to Consider

Estate planning is much more involved and offers more benefits than simply a plan to reduce your tax bill.  In addition to issues that affect your family and control of your assets after your death, estate planning must also account for prevailing legislation that governs estates.  For example, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 … Continued