AVOIDING ESTATE TAXES
In January, 2013, a deal on estate, gift, generation skipping transfer (GST) and income taxes was made between the Congress and the President. As a result, today each individual U.S. resident has a lifetime exclusion from gift, estate, and GST taxes of $5,000,000 adjusted for inflation from 2011. For 2018, the inflation-adjusted figure is $5,600,000. At the present time, Texas has no estate or inheritance tax.
What will the estate, gift and GST tax lifetime exclusions be when you die? Nobody has the answer to that question.
What we do know is that this is an era of huge budget deficits and rapidly growing national government debt. The pressure is on to do something - anything. The probability of rates being lower or exclusions higher in the next decade seem dim indeed, given the partisan political situation in the Congress and the exclusion amounts could even be lowered in some future deal between the President and the Congress.
All of the family wealth plans that we help our clients put in place have the built-in flexibility necessary to work as intended under all probable estate and gift tax scenarios.
It has been said that the estate and gift taxes are optional and that is true. We help families who want to arrange their affairs to avoid ever having to pay those taxes can do that. These sorts of plans cannot be implemented quickly and planning can do more the longer it has to work. If your estate is now or could conceivably grow to be more than an inflation adjusted $5,000,000, there are many ways that we can help you and your family avoid ever having to pay estate or gift taxes and preserve your wealth for your family for generations to come.
What will the estate, gift and GST tax lifetime exclusions be when you die? Nobody has the answer to that question.
What we do know is that this is an era of huge budget deficits and rapidly growing national government debt. The pressure is on to do something - anything. The probability of rates being lower or exclusions higher in the next decade seem dim indeed, given the partisan political situation in the Congress and the exclusion amounts could even be lowered in some future deal between the President and the Congress.
All of the family wealth plans that we help our clients put in place have the built-in flexibility necessary to work as intended under all probable estate and gift tax scenarios.
It has been said that the estate and gift taxes are optional and that is true. We help families who want to arrange their affairs to avoid ever having to pay those taxes can do that. These sorts of plans cannot be implemented quickly and planning can do more the longer it has to work. If your estate is now or could conceivably grow to be more than an inflation adjusted $5,000,000, there are many ways that we can help you and your family avoid ever having to pay estate or gift taxes and preserve your wealth for your family for generations to come.
