The IRS released its annual revenue procedure making inflation adjustments to the gift tax annual exclusion and other items for tax years beginning in 2013.
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TOPICS
Taxation of Estates & Trusts
Formula Marital Deduction Clause Not a Guaranteed Estate Tax Shelter
The Turner cases highlight the importance of properly transferring FLP interests during life in a way that avoids the trap of creating an estate tax when the decedent planned to have none.
Recent Developments in Estate Planning: Part II
This article covers recent developments in estate tax, including the portability election, proposed regs. on the alternate valuation date, FLPs.
Draft Instructions to Form 706 Provide Guidance on Portability Election
Draft Form 706 instructions provide guidance for electing the portability of a deceased spouse’s unused estate tax exclusion amount and for the executor’s use of the check box to opt out of electing portability of the unused portion of the exclusion amount.
Estate Exclusion Portability Election Regs. Issued
The IRS issued regulations on how to elect to use a deceased spouse’s unused exclusion from estate taxes, also known as the portability election.
Recent Developments in Estate Planning: Part I
This two-part article examines developments in estate planning and compliance between June 2011 and May 2012. Part I discusses developments regarding gift tax and trusts, an outlook on estate tax reform, and annual inflation adjustments for 2012 relevant to estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax. Part II, in the October issue, will cover developments in estate tax.
State Taxation of Trusts: Credit for Taxes Paid to Other States
The state income taxation of trusts and estates has become an increasingly complicated and challenging task for trustees and their tax advisers.
Draft Form 706 Provides Check Box to Not Elect Portability
Draft Form 706 addresses portability of a deceased spouse’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount and provides a check box for the executor to opt out of electing portability of the unused portion.
Computing the Includible Portion for Graduated GRATs
Recent regulations provide practitioners a reminder that planning discussions with clients considering graduated GRATs should include a review of the potential consequences presented if the grantor dies prematurely
IRS Issues Rules on Portability Election
The IRS has issued temporary regulations on how to elect to use a deceased spouse’s unused exclusion from estate taxes, also known as the portability election.
Final Regs. Issued on Ordering Rules for Estates and Trusts
The IRS issued final regulations requiring that a provision in a trust or will that indicates the source out of which amounts are to be paid must have an independent economic effect aside from income tax consequences if the allocation is to be respected for federal tax purposes.
Trust Deductions: Knight, Prop. Regs. Still Govern
Preparers of fiduciary tax returns for tax years 2011 and 2012 will not be required to unbundle fiduciary fees, but they still must treat payments readily identifiable as subject to the 2% floor separately from a bundled fiduciary fee.
IRS Extends Portability Election for Some Estates
Some executors who missed a deadline to apply a decedent’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount to a surviving spouse received an extension.
Important Lessons Regarding Valuation Issues
Taxpayers with high income and high net worth should be diligent regarding the valuation process and ensure they have used thorough and well-documented appraisal methodologies.
Transfers to Skip Trusts in 2010: Not Necessarily Free from GST Tax
Planning opportunities exist to minimize the generation-skipping transfer tax by severing trusts to which generation-skipping transfers were made in 2010.
Estate Planning for International Clients
It is essential for clients with multiple citizenship or residency to understand that the timing and manner of cross-border wealth transfers fundamentally affect their ability to minimize tax burdens.
Estimated Amount of State Income Tax Claim Not Deductible on Estate Tax Return
The Ninth Circuit held that an estate could deduct as a claim against it only the amount of state income tax and interest with respect to the income on a transaction that the estate ultimately paid, not the amount that it estimated at the time of the decedent’s death it would have to pay on the income.
Portability Election Extended for Some Estates
Some executors who missed a deadline to apply a decedent’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount to a surviving spouse received an extension Feb. 17.
Tax Court Rules Notice Not Required for Crummey Powers
In Turner, the Tax Court ruled that actual notice of a benficiary’s Crummey withdrawal right is not required to satisfy the present-interest requirement for the gift tax annual exclusion.
Estate Tax Treatment of Grantor Retained Interests Clarified
The IRS issued final regulations providing guidance on the portion of property (held in trust or otherwise) includible in the grantor’s gross estate if the grantor has retained the use of the property or the right to an annuity, unitrust, graduated retained interest, or other payment from the property for life, for any period not ascertainable without reference to the grantor’s death, or for a period that does not in fact end before the grantor’s death.
TAX PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
2025 tax software survey
AICPA members in tax practice assess how their return preparation software performed during tax season and offer insights into their procedures.
