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 […]
It’s Back! The Tax-Free IRA Charitable Rollover
Thanks to the Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (“PATH”), signed into law on December 18, 2015, Section 408(d)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code once again provides a $100,000 annual exclusion from gross income each year for qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) made directly from a traditional IRA by donors aged 72 or older. […]
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 […]
Congress Procrastinates Again on Tax-Free Charitable IRA Rollovers
Once again, a special provision of the Tax Code offering older owners of individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) an advantageous way to make charitable donations, is scheduled to expire on December 31. For the remainder of 2013, a traditional IRA owner, age 70½ or over, may transfer directly, tax-free, up to $100,000 per year to an […]
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 […]
Why Copyrights and Trusts Don’t Always Mix Well
Here’s a recent article of mine about the estate planning aspects of transferring copyrights to literary and artistic works. I wrote it for a readership of trusts & estates lawyers, CPAs, and financial planners who get questions about copyrights, making gifts of them during life and at death, and how the heirs of authors and […]