We can expect the ‘new’ Congress to begin to immediately take up the extension of the 2017 Tax Act and many of its provisions when it convenes early next month. Another piece of legislation that is expected to be visited by Congress early in 2025 is the proposed ACE Act, which has a fair amount of bipartisan support. The Accelerate Charitable Efforts Act, or ACE Act, focuses on eliminating perceived abuses of donor advised funds (DAFs.)

The SECURE 2.0 Act was passed almost two years ago. Some of its new provisions only become effective starting in 2025.

If an individual owns more than one IRA, they might want to consolidate those IRAs into a single IRA to assure the full creditor protect that Michigan statute affords the IRA owner.

Michigan’s version of the Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities provides for a 90-year wait-and-see duration for a future contingent interest to vest, but the Personal Property in Trust Act extends that duration to 360 years.

While a recharacterization of a Roth IRA, back to a traditional IRA is no longer possible, an IRA owner is still able, within a narrow time frame, to change the nature of their contribution from traditional to Roth, or just the opposite.

In Michigan we do not have either a state estate tax or state inheritance tax to plan ‘around.’ However, there are several states that still impose, one or the other tax that should be considered when provide planning guidance.

It has been less than two weeks since Mr. Trump became President-elect Trump, but the speculation on the impact of his return to the Presidency on taxes and estate planning has already generated several articles, perspectives, and (no surprise) wild speculation.

The proposed Regulations to the SECURE 2.0 Act provide a surviving spouse more flexibility in taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) from an inherited retirement account, yet understanding those new rules will be a challenge.

The Final Regulations that provide guidance to the SECURE Act, released on July 18, 2024, give a slightly broader definition of an eligible designated beneficiary and some relief from the certification requirements.

Normally I avoid ‘like the plague’ writing about the federal generation skipping transfer tax (GST) because: (i) I don’t fully understand the GST rules and its confusing elections and exemptions; and (ii) I usually break out in hives as I struggle to read and understand the GST rules and the nuances of those rules.