The Impact of One Big Beautiful Bill on Estate Planning
Once Removed Episode 19: The Step-Transaction Doctrine and the Case of Smaldino
Once Removed Episode 18: The Reciprocal Trust Doctrine
Charitable Planning With Guest Stephanie Hood: Navigating Complex Rules and Traps for the Unwary
Once Removed Episode 16: Gift and Estate Tax, Inflation Adjustments for 2024
Once Removed Episode 17: Annual Gifting to Individuals: Options, Opportunities and Pitfalls
Once Removed Episode 12: SLATs and the Case of McKim vs. McKim
Once Removed Episode 11: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts, or SLATs
Once Removed Episode 10: Trustee Removal and Case Update on Leo Kahn Revocable Trust
(A)ESOP's Fables - The Income and Estate Tax-Free ESOP
The Renoir Spelling Bee
Taking the Sting Out of Death Taxes with Dylan Metzner, Jones & Keller
RETURN TO FOREVER - What Game Shall We Play Today?
To Give or Not to Give: Considerations for Year-End Gifting
INTRODUCING MALTA SPLIT DOLLAR
THE PAPER CHASE
With a Little Help from My Friends
The Greatest Gift: Your Individual + Family Estate Plan
August is National Make-A-Will Month, a timely reminder to create or update your will. Whether you’re establishing a career, raising a family, or accumulating assets, having a will in place ensures your loved ones are...more
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."- The Serenity Prayer- The first 100 days of President Trump’s administration have been...more
It is not uncommon for family members to lend a helping hand to one another through intrafamily loans. While loans can benefit family borrowers who may not qualify for a traditional loan or who need flexible payment...more
Every conveyance of property or of an interest in property from one person to another is prompted, or at least influenced, by economic considerations. The parties to the transaction may swap properties, or one party may...more
The May 2025 Section 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs and GRATs is 5.00%, which is the same as the April 2025 Section 7520 rate...more
How often should you review your trust and estate plan? Is there a regular cycle to these reviews, or should they be driven by significant events in your life or the lives of your beneficiaries and executor or trustee? How...more
The federal estate and gift tax exemption changes from year to year. The current combined federal estate and gift tax exemption amount of $13.99 million per person ($27.98 million per married couple) is scheduled to “sunset”...more
Just a few weeks ago, many individual taxpayers, driven by what they viewed as the relatively imminent expiration of the enhanced federal transfer tax exemptions, sought advice on how to leverage their remaining exemption and...more
When creating trusts for estate-reduction purposes, nothing compares to the Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust. This type of trust is referred to by the acronym “IDGT.” Called by some as an I-D-G-T and others a word that...more
Non-Americans who wish to purchase U.S. real estate should be aware of the tax consequences of owning real estate here. George McCormick discusses these tax issues and steps to minimize their impact....more
The number of taxpayers seeking the benefits of Qualified Small Business Stock (“QSBS”) has picked up steam in recent years, particularly since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) lowered the federal corporate tax rates to...more
As the ball drops in Times Square on December 31, 2024, many of the tax breaks established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 will disappear. While the TCJA made some permanent tax cuts, a number of tax cuts and...more
A recent Chief Counsel Advice issued by the IRS has been described by one team of estate planning experts as “the most important IRS ruling in a decade,” and it directly contradicts the prior IRS position on the issue. Should...more
There are a lot of very smart tax attorneys out there who are trying to figure out something new, and yet there’s very little innovation. Almost all techniques that we use are incremental variations of an older technique...more
This is The End- I have dreaded the year end for as long as I can remember. As a teenager and then as a young adult I associated the final quarter of the year, and especially the period beginning on Thanksgiving and...more
A strong stock market and “soft landing” have generated significant wealth this year. The gift tax, estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax are all imposed on the fair market value of assets at the time of transfer....more
Today is the anniversary of the largest Powerball lottery victory in the United States of $2.04 billion. Just over the $1.765 billion jackpot claimed last month (Oct 2023). What are some tax tips for lottery winners and...more
How planning can minimize the impact of income taxes - Until recently, estate planning strategies generally focused on removing as much wealth as possible from one’s estate to avoid the bite of federal estate tax....more
The menu of tax planning options for founders includes many strategies designed to minimize income taxes upon liquidity events and to provide for wealth preservation across multiple generations. To achieve those benefits,...more
Last Thursday, New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera, who represents the 33rd District (basically, the northwestern quadrant of The Bronx), proposed legislation that seeks to collect more taxes from the State’s high-income...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 year-end is approaching, but you still have time to work on your 2022 tax planning. Consider giving to your favorite charity to make this holiday season merry. Planned charitable giving provides you a way to maximize...more
“Déjà vu All Over Again”- The White House last week released the President’s Budget for the Fiscal Year 2023. The Budget is ambitious, but its “investments,” we are told, “are more than paid for with tax reforms focused on...more
Bare trusts across Canada could soon be required to file annual returns with the Canada Revenue Agency, or face large penalties for failing to report....more
Our annual estate and tax planning newsletter discusses certain concepts and techniques that should be considered in 2022 by our clients and friends in California. Perhaps the most important recent development was the failure...more