Once Removed Episode 19: The Step-Transaction Doctrine and the Case of Smaldino
Once Removed Episode 18: The Reciprocal Trust Doctrine
Once Removed Episode 16: Gift and Estate Tax, Inflation Adjustments for 2024
Once Removed Episode 17: Annual Gifting to Individuals: Options, Opportunities and Pitfalls
To Give or Not to Give: Considerations for Year-End Gifting
President Trump’s July 4th signing of the Opportunity, Balance, and Better Budget Act sets an increased $15 million federal estate and gift tax exclusion and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption per individual,...more
On May 22, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill. The bill now awaits approval by the Senate. One of the various goals of the bill is to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s...more
The Gift and Estate Tax Exclusion is currently scheduled to be reduced by approximately 50% in about 13 months. Without action from Congress, on January 1, 2026, the Exclusion will go from almost $14 million to about $7...more
This year was busy for trusts and estates practitioners. With 2025 marking the final year of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), many of its implications for federal corporate and individual income tax, gift, estate and...more
With the looming elections, tax planners have taken time to consider what the future of Estate and Gift Tax planning might be under the new Congress. Every new Congress considers changes to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,...more
At the end of 2025, the federal estate and gift tax exemption will dramatically decrease unless Congress affirmatively passes a law saying otherwise. This event is the “sunsetting” of a 2018 federal tax law and is leading...more
It is important to update your trust and estate plan regularly to protect your interests and meet the changing requirements of your future while integrating changes in law and best practices to provide for every potential...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) enacted significant changes in the federal estate and gift tax laws commencing in 2018. One of the most notable changes was that the TCJA doubled the federal lifetime gift tax...more
In a significant legislative shift, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 doubled the exemption amounts for estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes (collectively known as “Death Taxes”). As of 2024, the federal...more
Current tax laws provide historically high exclusion amounts for the federal estate and generation skipping transfer tax. These exclusion amounts, however, are slated to sunset by roughly 50% at the end of 2025. ...more
Actor Will Rogers is widely credited with stating that “the only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” While most taxpayers fear tax laws changing for the worse, estate...more
During 2022, COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, global inflation, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the uncertainty about the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), and the Inflation Reduction Act...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 increased the federal estate and gift tax exclusion amount (sometimes called the “basic exclusion amount” or “BEA”) from $5 million to $10 million. (Those numbers are adjusted for...more
The IRS recently released proposed clawback regulations on the treatment of gifts that are complete at the time of transfer but are potentially included in the donor's gross estate at death. Such gifts will likely get the...more
The Treasury Department issued proposed regulations on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 in follow up to the anti-clawback regulations published on November 26, 2019. The 2019 anti-clawback regulations were in response to the Tax Cuts...more
Overview During 2021, COVID-19, the new Biden administration, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES ACT), the American Rescue Plan (ARP), and the uncertainty about the...more
In 2020, COVID-19, the US presidential election, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the TCJA), and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the CARES ACT) dominated the planning landscape....more
On Tuesday, November 3rd, Americans went to the polls and cast votes for President, Senators, and House members. In some cases, the results are still being tabulated (or subject to challenge). However, the picture becomes a...more
For those of sufficient wealth to be concerned about federal estate taxes, lifetime gift giving can be an effective strategy. Although the estate tax is imposed on the aggregate of the taxable estate and lifetime taxable...more
What’s a clawback ? and should you be worried about it? By temporarily doubling the gift and estate tax exemption amount, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created an historic opportunity for affluent families to shelter wealth...more
As previously posted, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law in December 2017 (the “2017 Act”) made significant changes to the federal wealth transfer system with respect to gift and estate tax transfers during the...more
Traditional estate plans written under pre-2017 tax laws may generate significant and unnecessary income tax liability for heirs. The adoption of the 2017 Tax Act raised the federal estate tax exemption to approximately...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) passed in December, 2017, doubled the estate and gift tax basic exclusion amount from $5.0 million to $10.0, coupled with a cost of living adjustment. For 2019, the basic exclusion amount is...more
On Dec. 22, 2017, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the 2017 Act) into law. The 2017 Act roughly doubled the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption amounts from $5.49 million per...more