Taking the Sting Out of Death Taxes with Dylan Metzner, Jones & Keller
Bill on Bankruptcy: Fee Agreement Puts Law Firm In Trustee's Sights
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
The start of a new year is a great time to review your current estate plan or consider creating one. 2024 brings a number of opportunities for creating an estate plan, pursuing gifting strategies, and considering...more
As we start the new year, this Federal Tax Update highlights estate planning-related federal tax information that may be helpful as you consider planning options for 2024. ...more
This is The End- I have dreaded the year end for as long as I can remember. As a teenager and then as a young adult I associated the final quarter of the year, and especially the period beginning on Thanksgiving and...more
When it comes to passing wealth to the next generation, one of the most powerful tools in our toolbox is the use of your lifetime gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax (GST) exemption amounts. While the...more
This alert from Verrill’s Private Clients & Fiduciary Services Group highlights the latest changes to the income tax and transfer tax landscape. The alert addresses the SECURE ACT 2.0, federal and state transfer tax updates...more
By most accounts, 2022 has been a tumultuous year from a planning perspective: the uncertainty of the midterm elections, stock market volatility, rising interest rates and the highest level of inflation in recent history have...more
High-net worth individuals have an opportunity to take advantage of high transfer tax exemptions if they act fast. Set to expire in 2026, unless Congress acts sooner, the time is now to implement strategies that make the most...more
Estate taxes are generally thought of as a tax on the wealthy, but wealthy is a relative term. The Massachusetts Estate Tax applies to a surprisingly large portion of the middle class, not just the top 1%. The estate tax is...more
The IRS recently confirmed that, for 2022, the aggregate amount that can be given away without being subject to the gift or estate tax will increase to $12.06 million per individual. Thus, as of 2022, a married couple...more
Act Now Before the Window of Opportunity Closes - By now you have probably heard that the House Ways and Means Committee introduced legislation a few weeks ago (see Let the Estate Tax Planning Games Begin - But Where Will...more
On September 10, 2021, the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means released a draft of proposed legislation that, if enacted into law, would reduce the estate tax exemption and significantly limit the effectiveness of certain...more
It is said that two things are certain in life: death and taxes. True, but incomplete. What is missing from this short list is a third inevitable occurrence – tax law changes. We now have a new and pressing series of proposed...more
You have probably heard that the House Ways and Means Committee released proposals for increasing gift and estate taxes in order support legislation being advanced by the Democratic majority in Congress. ...more
This week, the House Ways and Means Committee released draft tax legislation. The legislative draft includes several provisions especially relevant to high-net-worth families and estate planning, including reducing the wealth...more
With Democratic control of the White House and Congress, there has been much speculation on what President Biden’s tax proposal will look like, as well as the likelihood that President Biden’s tax plan will be enacted into...more
The election is only weeks away, and with it is likely to come significant changes to the tax code. Many economists anticipate that, regardless of the outcome, there will likely be tax increases to reduce the federal deficit,...more
- Annual inflation-indexing continues to increase the historically high lifetime exemption amount for gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Those of considerable wealth who have not yet made gifts, such as...more
Thanks to recent tax law changes, most families can avoid liability for federal estate and gift taxes. However, there’s a lesser-known tax whammy that can hit wealthy individuals without warning: the generation-skipping...more
A Personal Representative (PR) is in charge of the property (estate) of an individual who has died (known as the decedent). When a person passes away, their assets become property of their estate....more
For most family business owners, the old way of discount planning has become perishable. For many years, closely-held business owners routinely heard estate planners advise them to give or sometimes sell family members’...more
This is the sixth issue in a planned series of alerts designed to provide an in-depth analysis on topics related to tax reform. Like all new things, new years typically welcome many changes, opportunities and new...more
On September 27, 2017, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the National Economic Council, the Chair of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, the Chair of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the Speaker of the...more
The Trump Administration, the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance released their Unified Framework (Framework) for Tax Reform on September 28. There were few surprises and fewer details...more
President Trump promised and will pursue tax reform, but Congress must agree to any proposal. For the most part, a majority vote in both houses would allow tax reform for about a decade, and at least sixty Senate votes would...more