Estate and Trust Planning in 2022: News You Can Use
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) made some significant changes to federal estate and gift tax lifetime exclusion amounts. However, the TCJA fell short of repealing federal death taxes, and leaves the door open for Congress to decrease (or increase) the exclusions, or increase (or decrease) estate and gift tax rates, at […]
Your Estate Plan, Your Trusts, and Your Retirement Accounts
You should read this excellent short column by financial writer Arden Dale of The Wall Street Journal, “Minding Retirement Accounts in Estate Plans,” on integrating IRAs, 401(k) plans, federal employee Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) accounts, and similar retirement savings accounts into estate and trust plans. The article deals primarily with choosing primary beneficiaries in a […]
The 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax is Still Here
One little-mentioned provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the 3.8% net investment income tax (NIIT) that went into effect during Barack Obama’s administration. Various commentators refer to it as the “Obamacare surtax,” the “health care surtax,” or the “Medicare tax”; but whatever one chooses to call it, it is still going […]
7 Major Errors in Estate Planning – A Financial Advisor’s View
These days, access to estate planning counsel and financial advisors is no longer restricted to the very rich. (Well, there was never actually an exclusive club of rich folks who kept the secret rituals secret, but it used to cost a lot more than it does today. And in the good old days, only the […]
Consider “Front-Loading” Your Life Insurance Trust Contributions
A proposal that first appeared in the Obama administration’s failed 2012 budget proposal sought to override existing state laws and limit the terms of cascading or “dynasty” trusts to 90 years. This proposal didn’t make it into law, but might resurface again in a future Democratic administration or congress. Frontload your irrecovable life insurance trustAlthough […]
How Estate Taxes Hurt the Poor
Over the years, many clients have walked into my office with the goal (usually among several others) of eliminating, or at least minimizing, their family’s exposure to estate taxes. And I’ve been pleased to help them do that (and to charge reasonable fees for my help). But although minimizing estate taxes is important, it’s not […]
How Low Interest Rates Can Cut Your Tax Bill
I often point out tax-saving opportunities created by our current low interest rates, and an October 1, 2011 Wall Street Journal article does a nice job of making the point again. In How Low Rates Can Cut Your Tax Bill, Tax Report columnist Laura Saunders points out that our current low interest rates (a Section […]