Download Printable Article By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Recently, I’ve seen and heard a great deal of debate regarding the proper way to draft an IRA Trust (or what I call an IRA Inheritance Trust® and is also known as a Standalone IRA Trust and Standalone IRA Beneficiary Trust). The debate centers around whether the individual beneficiaries’ subshare trusts should, as a “default” position, be structured as conduit or accumulation trusts. Before I address this issue, let’s briefly deal with some background matters. First,…
Hurry and Use the Restricted LLC/LP Statutes Before the IRC Section 2704 Regulations are Finalized!
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Estate planners often use family limited liability companies and family limited partnerships to facilitate gifting and installment sales of minority interests or non-voting interests to family members or irrevocable trusts for the benefit of family members. Under Code Section 2704(b) and Treasury Regulations §25.2704-2(a), if an interest in an entity is transferred to or for the benefit of a member of the transferor’s family, any applicable restriction is disregarded in valuing the transferred interest. Treasury Regulations §25.2704-2(b) defines an applicable restriction as a limitation on the ability to liquidate the…
2017 Exemption Amount Released
The Internal Revenue Service has released Rev. Proc. 2016-55, which announced the 2017 exemptions and various tax adjustments as follows: The annual gift exclusion remains at $14,000 The unified gift and estate exemption is adjusted to $5,490,000 The annual exemption for gifts to a non-U.S. citizen spouse is $149,000
2016 WealthCounsel Symposium Debrief
By Kristina Schneider, Executive Director It’s Tuesday, October 25, 2016 and I just returned to the office from the 2016 WealthCounsel Symposium in Washington, D.C. The annual conference for WealthCounsel is always one that is a bit personal to me, as it was the conference I first attended a week after Phil hired me back in July 2004. It’s always fun to see familiar faces and to be around the very people that we help throughout the year. As an internet-based company, it’s pretty rare that we have face-to-face contact and most of all of my contact with our customers…
Feeling the Burn: The Importance of the Tax Burn in Estate Tax Planning
Download Printable Article By Steven J. Oshins Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Decades ago, Jane Fonda made the phrase “feel the burn” popular in her highly successful aerobic exercise videotapes. More recently, “feel the Bern” became popular as the de facto slogan during Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid. But in advanced estate tax planning, we feel a different kind of burn called the “tax burn”. Very simply, our client transfers assets to an Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust (“IDGT”) and continues to pay all income taxes on income produced by the transferred assets, including capital gains taxes on sales of those assets. By continuing…
Knowing What You Don’t Know: What an Effective Financial Plan Anticipates
By Jason Oshins, Financial Advisor, MBA Mark Twain said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” More often than not, planning is done as though the world is linear. Financial Advisors and clients make assumptions as though life moves in a straight line and nothing unexpected ever occurs. Then, when the unexpected occurs – and it will – the plan collapses. An effective plan is dynamic, anticipating and addressing what it can, and preventing the unexpected from derailing a desired future existence. Furthermore, it builds in…
Reducing Or Eliminating Capital Gains On The Sale Of Businesses And Real Estate
Download Printable Article By Bruce Givner, Esq. Most people are familiar with the use of a Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange as a way to handle the disposition of real estate. Some people are familiar with the use of a charitable remainder trust as a way to handle the disposition of unmortgaged real estate and stock in a “C” corporation. However, Section 1031 exchanges have undesired time constraints; CRTs are disliked because (i) the taxpayer can’t use the sales proceeds and (ii) nothing is left to go to the children (not necessarily true). The best approach is to talk to clients…
Planning for 2704 Proposed Regs: Be Wary of the Step Transaction Doctrine
Download Printable Article By Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, AEP, JD The Ultimate Estate Planner recently ran a series of teleconferences on the 2704 Proposed Regs and received numerous responses from our attorney community. Here’s one we wanted to share with you. Introduction Practitioners are still grappling with the intricacies and complexities of the Proposed 2704 Regulations. But it is vital to start addressing some of the long existing tax doctrines that might undermine planning for the new Regs. Because of the incredible focus on the Regs themselves, little has been written yet on ancillary considerations. Once such potential…
How to Write a Proper Business Letter
Download Printable Article By Kristina Schneider, Executive Assistant Writing a business letter seems somewhat common knowledge or perhaps common sense to most people; however, it’s sometimes shocking to see how many administrative staff members – – even those with a college education – – are completely incapable of writing business letters. In this article, we will walk you through each step on how to properly write a business letter so that you can quickly and easily write correspondence on behalf of or for your boss without too much editing. Company Letterhead The first step to writing business letters is to…
Pardon My Bloopers!
Download Printable Article By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law My law firm recently welcomed aboard a new, young attorney, straight out of law school and it got me thinking back – – what was it like when I first started out as a lawyer, some 38 years ago? (Wow, time does fly!) You know how, sometimes, our most vivid memories are about things that went inexplicably wrong? That’s where my mind immediately went when recalling my early days as an attorney. I remember getting out…