Take-Away: An important reminder is that for 2020 only, a cash gift of $300 to charity may be deducted even if the donor claims the standard deduction on their 1040 income tax return. Background: The CARES Act, to assist ailing charities, created a one-year exception from normal income tax rules which permits a cash gift […]

Take-Away: There continues to be uncertainty whether there will be significant changes to the tax laws with the election of Vice President Biden, and the outcome of the election of the two Georgia senators. With that uncertainty comes the need to plan estates with some degree of flexibility to respond to future tax law changes […]

Take-Away: The IRS just published Revenue Ruling 2020-27 that provides that if an individual or business received a PPP loan under the CARES Act to be used to pay covered business expenses, those expenses cannot be deducted on the loan recipient’s income tax return this year if the forgiveness of that PPP loan is reasonably […]

Take-Away: A family that is considering the acquisition of real property might consider the use of a Split Purchase Annuity Trust [SPLAT] to take title, as an alternative to a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT) or a grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT.) Background: A donor is treated for gift tax purposes as transferring the entire […]

Take-Away: If one thing is certain, it is that with every new Congress, some representative will file a Bill to repeal the federal estate tax. Other than the one-time event in 2010 which provided a federal estate tax ‘holiday,’ each Bill to repeal the federal estate tax will disappear, only to be refiled in the […]

Take-Away: Despite all of the angst caused earlier this year when Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed a wealth tax, it does not look like such a tax will be gaining any traction in the near future. Background: Senator Warren proposed during her Presidential campaign a wealth tax of 2% on annual wealth tax on wealth in […]

Take-Away: Late last month the IRS answered a question many had with regard to the amount of charitable deductions an individual can claim in 2020 if that individual makes gifts of both appreciated assets and cash in light of the CARES Act’s increase in the amount of cash that can be deducted for 2020. The […]

Take-Away: The benefit to lifetime gifts to a non-grantor irrevocable trust have been periodically covered in the past. Why they are covered again is the threat that grantor trusts might be subject to substantial tax law changes as Congress struggles to find revenues to pay for its pandemic relief programs, and to many, a grantor […]

Take-Away: With 2021 comes some new federal transfer tax exemptions. In the case of annual exclusion gifts there is no change from 2020.  A couple of changes also apply to the income taxation of trusts and estates. Transfer Tax Exemptions: The key transfer tax exemption changes for 2021 follow. Basic Exclusion Amount: For decedents who […]

Take-Away: Much has been written about ‘upstream’ planning, where appreciated assets are gifted to an elderly parent with the purpose of receiving a step-up in the income tax basis of the gifted assets on the death of the parent. Much less has been written about the benefit to ‘downstream’ planning, where assets are transferred to […]