Top Gun: Maverick - Core Estate Plan and Gifting Basics
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
Gift Tax Basics
NGE On Demand: GRAT Trusts with Eric Mann
To Give or Not to Give: Considerations for Year-End Gifting
The 2010 Tax Relief Act and your estate plan
Signed into law on July 4, 2025, the OBBBA permanently extends many provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act while introducing new rules for charitable giving and increasing estate and gift tax thresholds starting...more
For individual clients, the Legislation provides estate and tax planning opportunities, including through the increase in the federal gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions....more
On July 4, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law and as a result enacted numerous significant tax law changes. While this short article will not address each aspect of the OBBBA, it will...more
In this second installment of our multi-part series on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the “Act”), my colleague David Knutson and I discuss the changes made by the Act to the federal estate and gift tax regime....more
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
As lawmakers advance toward the critical 2025 tax cliff, a key—and increasingly contentious—policy question is coming into sharper focus: What should Congress assume about the future when it scores the cost of extending the...more
Across all industries, private companies, family offices, and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025. Here are 11 issues that...more
With the end of the year quickly approaching, now is good time to ensure you make your annual exclusion gifts for the year to reduce your taxable estate. For 2024, an individual can give $18,000 (and a married couple...more
Federal Estate, GST and Gift Tax Rates The federal estate, gift and GST applicable exclusion amounts are as summarized below. In simple terms, these dollar figures represent the amount of wealth that each individual can...more
In our inaugural episode of The Inside Basis, Randy Clark is joined by Sarah Bowman, one of our estate planning and trust administration lawyers, and Lauren Anderson, a wealth advisor at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, to discuss...more
A record-breaking stock market has again 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. Gifts...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
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced the 2025 cost of living adjustments for the estate and gift tax exclusion amounts. The Gift Tax Exclusion Amount is the amount an individual may gift to any number of persons...more
In 2018, as part of the “Trump tax cuts,” the federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption was increased to $11,180,000, with annual increases for inflation. Today, the exemption stands at...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
Estate planning is a lot like putting together a puzzle. The client provides you with their box lid showing what they want the ultimate result of their plan to look like. Then, estate planners are tasked to identify and...more
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that the annual gift tax exclusion is increasing in 2025 due to inflation. The exclusion will be $19,000 per recipient for 2025—the highest exclusion amount ever....more
The federal estate and gift tax exemption is the highest it has ever been. Under current law, you may transfer almost $14 million to anyone you wish without having to pay a dime of federal gift or estate tax. Absent any...more
As we will see shortly, it is often “better to give than to receive,” though this statement begs the obvious question of whether it is better to do so during one’s lifetime or upon one’s death. Many well-to-do individuals...more
The IRS adjusts tax brackets and other tax-related amounts for inflation on an annual basis. Based data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics through August 2024, experts have projected the following adjustments to some of...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
Real estate business owners face unique challenges that many business owners in other industries do not experience. The real estate market climbs and falls, contractor fees and material costs rise with inflation, and high...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provided major changes to the Internal Revenue Code, specifically doubling the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption (collectively, the exemption) from...more
In addition to the federal estate tax, which may be levied upon a decedent’s estate, New York imposes a separate state estate tax regime. Generally a decedent’s estate is subject to the New York State estate tax if such...more