Preparing Gift Tax Returns

Is a Simple, Low-Risk

— Right?

At this time of year, lots of practitioners are sitting down to bang out Form 709’s for clients and will probably do so quickly and easily, without giving them much thought. “But therein lies the rub!” There are lots of traps for the unwary, if you fall into them - - plus a lot of liability risk, maybe not because of an audit in the next couple of years, but rather when the client dies years from now and a mountain of penalties and interest may have accrued (or more estate tax may be incurred)! Join us and nationally renowned CPA, estate planning attorney and tax expert, Martin Shenkman, for a straight-forward practical discussion of what every gift tax return preparer needs to know, including:

• When should clients file returns but don’t? (You may be missing revenue you should be earning!)
• When should you claim annual exclusions for gifts into trusts and file Crummey notices?
• How does estate tax uncertainty affect gift tax returns?
• What should (or should you not) be disclosing on the return (what do the “adequate disclosure” rules really mean)?
• Should you use the GST (generation skipping tax) exemption? Rely on automatic allocation of it? Or opt out and allocate it yourself?
• Are you aware of the charitable contribution reporting trap?
•  How do you report front-loaded 529 plans?

And much more!