Pending legislation could have a major impact on the Federal Estate and Gift Tax. H.R. 1, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (“Tax Cuts Act”) released on November 2, 2017 by the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of...
Tax Provisions Impacting Estate Planning In the New Tax Act
December 29, 2017
The new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“2017 Tax Cuts Act”) signed by the President on December 22, 2017, P.L. 115-97 (115th Cong., 1st Sess.), contains important tax provisions related to estate planning. The most...
2018 Increase to The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion
November 9, 2017
The most commonly used method for tax-free giving is the annual gift tax exclusion, which allows you to make a gift of up to $14,000 (per donor, per donee, per year) on an annual basis to each donee with no gift tax and no...
The Power of Making Lifetime Gifts
November 7, 2017
A very effective strategy to employ in order to ensure that your estate will not be subject to estate tax is to make sufficient gifts during your lifetime so that at your death your estate is smaller than the then-current...
Taking Advantage of the Tuition Payment Exclusion
November 7, 2017
Section 2503(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 provides for an unlimited gift tax exclusion for payments of tuition made directly by a donor to an educational institution on behalf of a student for the purpose of...
Benefitting from Section 529 College Savings Plans
November 7, 2017
Contributions to a Section 529 College Savings Plan (“529 Plan”) do not qualify for the exclusion for tuition payments, but can take advantage of the $14,000 (soon to be $15,000) annual gift tax exclusion. The...
Gifting Under the Medical Payment Exclusion
November 7, 2017
The payment of a beneficiary’s medical expenses is excluded from the gift tax, with no limitation on the amount excluded. To qualify for this exclusion, the payment must be made directly to the provider, and it must be...
Making Gifts in Trust
November 7, 2017
Despite the tax savings, you may be uneasy about making outright gifts to your children and grandchildren, due to the loss of control over when and how they use the gift. This concern can be addressed by making the gifts in...
Taking Full Advantage of Charitable Gifts
November 7, 2017
You should review your charitable giving to ensure that it is being done in the most tax-efficient manner. Charitable giving is an important form of estate planning. Gifts to charity are not (and never have been) subject to...
Making Charitable Gifts from your IRA
November 7, 2017
The tax law was changed in 2015 to permanently allow tax free Charitable Gifts from an Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”) by those over age 70-1/2. The law allows an “exclusion from income” of up to $100,000 per...