Tax slayer
Grits, Grats, Gruts What? -- Estate Planning-Beyond the Basics By Michael J. tax slayer Tax questions. SmithIt has been said that the best estate planning is to die shortly before your last check bounces. For those of us not planning on spending every last penny, some attention to estate planning is warranted. Current law allows each individual a one-time exclusion from estate/gift taxes. tax slayer Tax advice. The one-time exclusion is currently $650,000 and will increase to $1,000,000 (See Table 1). With proper wills and correct asset ownership, a couple can leave their beneficiaries up to twice the amount of the exclusion without paying any estate/gift taxes. With estate/gift tax rates ranging from 37 percent to 55 percent, proper use of the exclusions available to both spouses is an important first step. tax slayer Tax filing. If a couple''s wealth, either current or expected, is significant enough so that estate/gift taxes cannot be avoided completely, they should consider gifting property in order to reduce their future estate/gift tax liability and increase the amount of property their beneficiaries will ultimately receive. Once a couple''s wealth exceeds the amount necessary or desirable for their own purposes, gifts should be made in a fashion that intelligently utilizes the available exclusions from estate/gift taxes. Gifting assets that have the greatest potential for appreciation is important, as not only the current value of the gifted property is excluded from tax, but also future appreciation. Other techniques involve the use of discounts, that is, gifting property at a discounted value due to a minority ownership interest, illiquidity, or the retention of the use or income of the property for a period of time. Gifts should be leveraged in order to get the biggest bang for your gift tax buck. Qualified Personal Residence TrustA Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT) is a modified form of a Grantor Retained Income Trust (GRIT). Prior to the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990 (RRA ''90), GRITs were very popular estate planning vehicles whereby a person (the grantor) would transfer property to an irrevocable trust and retain the right to receive the income of the trust for a period of years. On the expiration of the trust''s term, the remaining property was then distributed to the trust beneficiaries, typically the grantor''s children. The initial gift of property to the trust was discounted from the fair market value of the property contributed due to the income interest retained by the grantor. In many cases, the trust property was placed in investments that did not produce income, such as stocks or mutual funds. This had the effect of reducing the income paid to the grantor and increasing the value of the trust property transferred to the remainder beneficiaries. In substance, the grantor received a discount in the value of the gift due to a right to receive income which in reality was never paid. GRITs were effectively eliminated by RRA ''90; however, the transfer of a personal residence into a trust with a retained right to use the residence for a specified term was excepted from the limitations imposed by RRA ''90.
Tax slayer
Questions || Free tax software canada || New-york-state-sales-tax || Bush tax cuts