Pre-Election Estate Tax Proposals: Clinton vs. Trump

By Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, AEP, JD Are major estate tax law changes in the offing? Perhaps, but my Ouija board smoked when I asked the question. So, barring that type of guidance, what assurance can there be? The election hasn’t occurred yet, so there’s certainly no way to know which candidate will win. Party platforms haven’t even been finalized. And, there’s no assurance that the winner’s proposals will be enacted. In spite of the above, practitioners should put all clients involved in active planning on notice of Clinton and Trump’s proposals because they’re so dramatically different. No…

IRA Trusts: Conduit or Accumulation?

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…

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…