Once Removed Episode 19: The Step-Transaction Doctrine and the Case of Smaldino
Once Removed Episode 18: The Reciprocal Trust Doctrine
Once Removed Episode 16: Gift and Estate Tax, Inflation Adjustments for 2024
Once Removed Episode 17: Annual Gifting to Individuals: Options, Opportunities and Pitfalls
To Give or Not to Give: Considerations for Year-End Gifting
In 2017, the federal gift and estate tax exemption was $5.49 million. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 doubled the gift and estate tax exemption amount to $11.18 million in 2018, and that amount has been adjusted for...more
With the looming elections, tax planners have taken time to consider what the future of Estate and Gift Tax planning might be under the new Congress. Every new Congress considers changes to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,...more
At the end of 2025, the federal estate and gift tax exemption will dramatically decrease unless Congress affirmatively passes a law saying otherwise. This event is the “sunsetting” of a 2018 federal tax law and is leading...more
As we will see shortly, it is often “better to give than to receive,” though this statement begs the obvious question of whether it is better to do so during one’s lifetime or upon one’s death. Many well-to-do individuals...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) enacted significant changes in the federal estate and gift tax laws commencing in 2018. One of the most notable changes was that the TCJA doubled the federal lifetime gift tax...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provided major changes to the Internal Revenue Code, specifically doubling the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption (collectively, the exemption) from...more
In a significant legislative shift, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 doubled the exemption amounts for estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes (collectively known as “Death Taxes”). As of 2024, the federal...more
The number of taxpayers seeking the benefits of Qualified Small Business Stock (“QSBS”) has picked up steam in recent years, particularly since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) lowered the federal corporate tax rates to...more
Current tax laws provide historically high exclusion amounts for the federal estate and generation skipping transfer tax. These exclusion amounts, however, are slated to sunset by roughly 50% at the end of 2025. ...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) took effect on Jan. 1, 2018, and impacted personal income taxes, small businesses, estate tax rules, capital gains rules, special needs accounts, and much more. The TCJA is scheduled to sunset...more
Under current estate tax law, taxpayers benefit from the most generous gift and estate tax regime in history. Indeed, in 2023, an individual can shield assets worth up to $12.92 million from federal gift and estate tax....more
Actor Will Rogers is widely credited with stating that “the only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” While most taxpayers fear tax laws changing for the worse, estate...more
During 2022, COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, global inflation, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the uncertainty about the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), and the Inflation Reduction Act...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 increased the federal estate and gift tax exclusion amount (sometimes called the “basic exclusion amount” or “BEA”) from $5 million to $10 million. (Those numbers are adjusted for...more
The IRS recently released proposed clawback regulations on the treatment of gifts that are complete at the time of transfer but are potentially included in the donor's gross estate at death. Such gifts will likely get the...more
The Treasury Department issued proposed regulations on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 in follow up to the anti-clawback regulations published on November 26, 2019. The 2019 anti-clawback regulations were in response to the Tax Cuts...more
The need for estate planning is essential for small business owners who have most of their personal fortune tied up in the operation. This is compounded by the looming reduction of the federal gift and estate tax exemption...more
Overview During 2021, COVID-19, the new Biden administration, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES ACT), the American Rescue Plan (ARP), and the uncertainty about the...more
The amount that you can give to your children during life or leave to them after death estate tax-free currently is at a historically high level. As of January 1, 2021, an individual can give or leave $11.7 million and a...more
In 2020, COVID-19, the US presidential election, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the TCJA), and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the CARES ACT) dominated the planning landscape....more
The federal government taxes the transfer of assets via three separate but interrelated taxes: the estate tax, which taxes the transfer of assets at death, the gift tax, which taxes gratuitous transfers during your lifetime,...more
In the wake of COVID-19, we may see significant statutory changes to the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions. Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts and other planning techniques provide...more
For those of sufficient wealth to be concerned about federal estate taxes, lifetime gift giving can be an effective strategy. Although the estate tax is imposed on the aggregate of the taxable estate and lifetime taxable...more
You may have heard by now that the Gift and Estate Tax exemption amount was increased by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which became effective on January 1, 2018. This article is to highlight some of the key estate...more
What’s a clawback ? and should you be worried about it? By temporarily doubling the gift and estate tax exemption amount, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created an historic opportunity for affluent families to shelter wealth...more