Articles Posted in Tax

A trust is a device for controlling how assets are held and distributed. Trusts can be revocable or irrevocable. There are many differnt types of trusts. A trust that is created during the lifetime of the person creating the trust (referred to as the grantor, settlor or trustor) is known as a “living trust” or…

1 – Disclaimer Plan With Trusts For Descendents 2 – Clayton QTIP Plan With Trusts for Descendants 3 – Two Share Plan With Trusts for Descendants 4 – Three Share Plan (Federal Bypass Trust (Family Trust); GST Exempt Reverse QTIP Marital Trust; Marital Trust) 5. Three Share Plan (Federal/State Bypass Trust (Family Trust); State Only…

Estates of decedents dying on or after January 1, 2011, may elect to transfer any unused federal estate tax exclusion amounts to the surviving spouse. The amount received by the surviving spouse is called the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE, amount. If the executor of the decedent’s estate elects transfer (through so-called portability) of…

The Bank Secrecy Act requires taxpayers to report foreign bank accounts, brokerage accounts and mutual funds, to the Treasury Department. Taxpayers report the accounts by filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Who Must File A U.S. person, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust and estate, must file a FBAR to report…

In planning for gifts of property, if the donor has a choice among more than one type of property to be transferred as the gift(s) (e.g., if she has a portfolio of several investment securities), it would probably be more advantageous, for tax purposes, to transfer assets having less unrealized appreciation (i.e., current value in…

The Internal Revenue Service has issured final regulations relating to the life expectancy and distribution period tables used to calculate required minimum distributions from IRAs, and qualified retirement plans. These regulations are of importance to plan participants, designated beneficiaries, and plan administrators of these qualified retirement plans, as well as owners, beneficiaries, trustees and custodians…

A key element of the unified estate and gift tax system is the unlimited marital deduction. The estate and gift tax structure permits essentially unlimited transferability of property between spouses (gifts during lifetime and transfers upon death) free of any tax. This policy is embodied in the gift tax marital deduction, and the estate tax…

Non-grantor trusts, are separate taxpaying entities. Income taxes generated by the trust are paid for by the trust. The trust must file fiduciary income tax return (Form 1041). In simple terms, if any portion of trust income is distributed to a beneficiary, the trust will take a deduction and the beneficiary will be responsible for…

For federal gift tax purposes, the value of a gift of property is the fair market value of the property at the time of the gift. Where property is transferred for less than full consideration, the amount by which the value of the property exceeds the value of the consideration is considered a gift and…

What is a trust? A trust exists when one person (the trustee) holds title to property for the benefit of another person (the beneficiary). A person called the grantor (also known as the settlor or trustor) creates the trust and transfers property in the trust. The grantor, trustee, and beneficiary can be different people. It…