Taking the Sting Out of Death Taxes with Dylan Metzner, Jones & Keller
Bill on Bankruptcy: Fee Agreement Puts Law Firm In Trustee's Sights
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
In the months preceding the general election in 2024, the owners of many closely held businesses who had not yet given much thought to the disposition of their future estates, including their businesses, decided they should...more
On February 13, 2025, Republican lawmakers in Congress introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act, which aims to permanently eliminate the federal estate tax. Since 2015, various legislative efforts to repeal the estate, gift, and...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
As we start the new year, this Federal Tax Update highlights estate planning-related federal tax information that may be helpful as you consider planning options for 2024. ...more
When it comes to passing wealth to the next generation, one of the most powerful tools in our toolbox is the use of your lifetime gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax (GST) exemption amounts. While the...more
The IRS recently confirmed that, for 2022, the aggregate amount that can be given away without being subject to the gift or estate tax will increase to $12.06 million per individual. Thus, as of 2022, a married couple...more
It is said that two things are certain in life: death and taxes. True, but incomplete. What is missing from this short list is a third inevitable occurrence – tax law changes. We now have a new and pressing series of proposed...more
You have probably heard that the House Ways and Means Committee released proposals for increasing gift and estate taxes in order support legislation being advanced by the Democratic majority in Congress. ...more
This week, the House Ways and Means Committee released draft tax legislation. The legislative draft includes several provisions especially relevant to high-net-worth families and estate planning, including reducing the wealth...more
With Democratic control of the White House and Congress, there has been much speculation on what President Biden’s tax proposal will look like, as well as the likelihood that President Biden’s tax plan will be enacted into...more
On January 5, 2021, Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeated GOP incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in their Senate runoff elections, giving the Democrats 50 seats in the Senate. Vice President Kamala...more
The election is only weeks away, and with it is likely to come significant changes to the tax code. Many economists anticipate that, regardless of the outcome, there will likely be tax increases to reduce the federal deficit,...more
- Annual inflation-indexing continues to increase the historically high lifetime exemption amount for gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Those of considerable wealth who have not yet made gifts, such as...more
For most family business owners, the old way of discount planning has become perishable. For many years, closely-held business owners routinely heard estate planners advise them to give or sometimes sell family members’...more
This is the sixth issue in a planned series of alerts designed to provide an in-depth analysis on topics related to tax reform. Like all new things, new years typically welcome many changes, opportunities and new...more
President Trump promised and will pursue tax reform, but Congress must agree to any proposal. For the most part, a majority vote in both houses would allow tax reform for about a decade, and at least sixty Senate votes would...more
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the “2012 Act”) had a profound impact on the transfer tax system. I will briefly describe that system and then, by way of background, set the stage for these changes by summarizing...more