With passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act in 2012, portability has now been made “permanent”. Introduced into law for the first time in 2011 with the 2010 Tax Act, the concept of portability permits a married couple to fully utilize its combined $10 million (and now $10.5 million) lifetime exemption as indexed by letting the surviving spouse claim any unused portion of the deceased spouse’s exemption. With this provision now permanent, the surviving spouse no longer has a time limit to decide how best to use the increased exemption both during life through increased gifting and at death by protecting more of the estate from taxation.
As a result, the decision-making process with clients about whether to go with portability or with funding a B – – or whether to opt for some combination of both – – is not a simple knee-jerk decision. According to one of the nation’s leading estate planning attorneys and Ultimate Estate Planner President, Philip J. Kavesh, there were some unfortunate flaws in the way portability works that were initially a part of its introduction from the 2010 Tax Act. These flaws were not corrected; nothing has been changed about it except they basically made it now permanent because originally it was only going to be into law for two years.
We are pleased to present a number of tools that may be helpful to you and your clients with portability.
FREE Portability vs. “B” Funding Comparison Chart
This chart compares Portability side-by-side with the “B” funding option, looking at the pros and cons of each choice. To download this chart, click here.
White Paper: “Post-ATRA: Comparing the Pros & Cons of Portability vs. ‘B’ Funding”
For only $24.95, get this 10-page white paper entitled, “Post-ATRA: Comparing the Pros & Cons of Portability vs. ‘B’ Funding“. This white paper will give a glimpse into a private attorney technical training on the decision-making process surrounding portability and “B” trust funding, particularly as he walks you through a number of “rules of thumb” to follow when making this decision with your clients. Additionally, you will get a Portability vs. “B” Funding Pros & Cons Comparison Chart in a modifiable Microsoft Word version so that you can actually brand this chart with your firm name and use the form in your client meetings. To purchase this white paper, click here.
90-Minute Presentation: “The Traps of the New Form 706 and Portability”
Nationally renowned CPA, Robert S. Keebler, has a 90-minute teleconference on Form 706 and Portability. It was one of our most popular and well-attended programs of the year! This program goes over how to handle portability on the new Form 706, along with how the portability rules work, overlooked GST issues, the impact of choosing portability (or not), and how to avoid malpractice traps associated with portability. For more information about this program, click here.
We hope that you will use some or all of the above tools and resources available to you to help you and your clients with the issue of portability. If you have any questions or if there’s any other way that we can assist you and your practice, do not hesitate to contact us at 1-866-754-6477.