An often-overlooked estate planning trap involves including individuals who are not U.S. citizens as part of an estate plan.
If someone who is not a U.S. citizen or resident is given control over a trust, either as a trustee or a beneficiary, then the trust will be treated as a foreign trust and will be
Q: What do you think about the future of the estate tax now that Trump is president? I heard one of his proposals was to eliminate the estate tax. Do I need to even be concerned with estate tax planning going forward?
A: I understand your concern. President Trump’s tax reform proposal, as described on
The following is a general overview of the estate, gift, generation-skipping transfer (GST) and basic income tax rates for 2017.
Estate tax: Generally, a person dying between Jan. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2017, may be subject to an estate tax, with an applicable exclusion amount of $5.49 million (increased from $5.45 million in 2016).
The Internal Revenue Service has released the Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for February 2017, reflecting increases over January’s rates. AFRs, which are published monthly, represent the minimum interest rates that should be charged for family loans to avoid tax complications.
Here are the rates for February 2017:
|
|
Annual |
Semiannual |
Quarterly |
Monthly |
|
Short-term |
1.04% |
1.04% |
1.04% |
Maybe you just recently signed your estate planning documents. Maybe your documents have been sitting in a drawer or firebox, sight unseen, for five or more years. Either way, a common question is: When do I need to update my estate plan?
Estate documents generally are written to provide some flexibility in case you do
Retirement accounts such as IRAs, 401(k) and 403(b) plans and other qualified plans or profit-sharing plan accounts may provide an opportunity for charitable giving by offering a variety of tax benefits, depending upon the structure.
Generally, retirement assets may cause an estate tax liability for the account owner as well as income tax consequences for
An updated version of this post can be found here.
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