 |
Strategies To Reduce Or Eliminate Your Estate Taxes
FAQs
1. Who has to pay estate taxes? Depending on how much you own when you die, your estate may have to pay estate taxes before your assets can be fully distributed. Estate taxes are different from, and in addition to, probate expenses (which can be avoided with a revocable living trust) and final income taxes (on income you receive in the year you die). Some states also have their own death/inheritance taxes. Federal estate taxes are expensive - the rate is 46% in 2006, 45% in 2007 and 2008 - and they must be paid in cash, usually within nine months after you die. Since few estates have this kind of cash, assets often have to be liquidated. But estate taxes can be substantially reduced or even eliminated - if you plan ahead. Your estate will have to pay estate taxes if its net value when you die is more than the "exempt" amount set by Congress at that time. Here is the current schedule: Year of Death........."Exemption" Amount (Back to Top) 2. How is the net value of my estate determined? To determine the current net value, add your assets, then subtract your debts. Include your home, business interests, bank accounts, investments, personal property, IRAs, retirement plans and death benefits from your life insurance. (Back to Top) 3. How can I reduce or eliminate my estate taxes? In the simplest terms, there are three ways: 1. If you are married, use both estate tax
exemptions. (Back to Top) 4. Using Both Exemptions If your spouse is a U.S. citizen, you can leave him or her an unlimited amount when you die with no estate tax. But this can be a tax trap, because it wastes an exemption. Let's say, for example, that Bob and Sue together have a net estate of $4 million and they both die in 2006. Bob dies first. He leaves everything to Sue, so no estate taxes are due then. When Sue dies, her estate of $4 million uses her $2 million exemption. The tax bill on the remaining $2 million is $920,000! ($900,000 in 2007 and 2008.) But if, instead, Bob and Sue plan ahead, they can use both their exemptions and pay no estate taxes. A tax-planning provision in their living trust splits their $4 million estate into two trusts of $2 million each. When Bob dies, his trust uses his $2 million exemption. When Sue dies, her trust uses her $2 million exemption. This reduces their taxable estate to $0, so the full $4 million can go to their loved ones. This planning can also be done in a will, but you would not avoid probate or enjoy the other benefits of a living trust. (Back to Top) 5. Removing Assets From Your Estate A great way to reduce estate taxes is to reduce the size of your estate before you die. So, spend some and enjoy it! Also, you probably know whom you want to have your assets after you die. If you can afford it, why not give them some assets now and save estate taxes? It can be very satisfying to see the results of your gifts--something you can't do if you keep everything until you die. Appreciating assets are usually best to give, because the asset and future appreciation will be out of your estate. Assets you give away keep your cost basis (what you paid), so the recipients may have to pay capital gains tax when they sell. But the top capital gains rate is only 15% (assets held at least 12 months). That's a lot less than estate taxes (45-46%) if you keep the assets until you die. Some of the most commonly-used strategies to remove assets from estates are explained below. Note that these are all irrevocable, so you can't change your mind later. (Back to Top) 6. Tax-Free Gifts This is easy and it doesn't cost anything. Each year, you can give up to $12,000 ($24,000 if married) to as many people as you wish. So if you give $12,000 to each of your two children and five grandchildren, you will reduce your estate by $84,000 (7 x $12,000) a year - $168,000 if your spouse joins you. (This amount is now tied to inflation and may increase every few years.) If you give more than this, the excess will be considered a taxable gift and will be applied to your $1 million gift tax exemption. Charitable gifts are unlimited. So are gifts for tuition and medical expenses if you give directly to the institution. (Back to Top) 7. Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) An easy way to remove life insurance from your estate is to make an ILIT the owner of the policies. As long as you live three years after the transfer of an existing policy, the death benefits will not be included in your estate. Usually the ILIT is also beneficiary of the policy, giving you the option of keeping the proceeds in the trust for years, with periodic distributions to your spouse, children and grandchildren. Proceeds kept in the trust are protected from irresponsible spending and creditors, even ex-spouses. (Back to Top) 8. Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT) A QPRT lets you save estate taxes by removing your home (a substantial asset) from your estate now; yet you can continue to live there. Here's how it works. You transfer your home to a trust for a period of time, usually 10 to 15 years. During this time, you continue to live in your home. When the time is up, it transfers to the trust beneficiaries, usually your children. If you wish to stay there longer, you may make arrangements to pay rent. If you die before the trust ends, your home will be included in your estate, just as it would without a QPRT. There's more. A QPRT "leverages" your estate tax exemption. Since your children will not receive the house until the trust ends, its value as a gift is reduced. For example, if the current value of your home is $250,000 and you put it in a QPRT for 15 years, its value for tax purposes could be as little as $75,000. That leaves much more of your exemption for other assets. (Back to Top) 9. Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) and Grantor Retained Unitrust (GRUT) These are much like a QPRT. The main difference is that a GRAT or GRUT lets you transfer an income-producing asset (stock, real estate, business) to a trust for a set number of years, removing it from your estate, and still receive the income. (If the income is a set amount, the trust is called a GRAT. If the income fluctuates, it's called a GRUT.) When the trust ends, the asset will go to the beneficiaries (usually your children). Since they will not receive it until then, the value of the gift is reduced. If you die before the trust ends, the asset will be in your estate. (Back to Top) 10. Family Limited Partnership (FLP) and Limited Liability Company (LLC) FLPs and LLCs let you reduce estate taxes by transferring assets like a family business, farm, real estate or stocks to your children now, and still keep some control. They can also protect the assets from future lawsuits and creditors. Here's how it works. You and your spouse can set up an FLP or LLC and transfer assets to it. In exchange, you receive ownership interests. Though you have a fiduciary obligation to other owners, you control the FLP (as the general partner) or LLC (as manager). You can give ownership interests to your children, which removes value from your taxable estate. These interests cannot be sold or transferred without your approval, and because there is no market for these interests, their value is often discounted. This lets you transfer the underlying assets to your children at a reduced value, without losing control. (Back to Top) 11. Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) A CRT lets you convert a highly appreciated asset (like stocks or investment real estate) into a lifetime income without paying capital gains tax when the asset is sold. It also reduces your income and estate taxes, and lets you benefit a charity that has special meaning to you. With a CRT, you transfer the asset to an irrevocable trust. This removes it from your estate. You also get an immediate charitable income tax deduction. The trust then sells the asset at market value, paying no capital gains tax, and reinvests in income-producing assets. For the rest of your life, the trust pays you an income. Since the principal has not been reduced by capital gains tax, you can receive more income over your lifetime than if you had sold the asset yourself. After you die, the trust assets go to the charity you have chosen. (Back to Top) 12. Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) A CLT is just about the opposite of a CRT. You transfer an asset to the trust, which reduces the size of your estate and saves estate taxes. But instead of paying the income to you, the trust pays it to a charity for a set number of years or until you die. After the trust ends, the trust assets will go to your spouse, children or other beneficiaries. (Back to Top) 13. Buying Life Insurance Depending on your age and health, buying life insurance can be an inexpensive way to replace an asset given to charity and/or to pay any remaining estate taxes. The three-year rule mentioned earlier does not apply to new policies. But you should not be the owner of the policy - that would increase your taxable estate and estate taxes. To keep the death benefits out of your estate, set up an ILIT and have the trustee purchase the policy for you. (Back to Top) 14. How To Reduce or Eliminate Estate Taxes Summary Chart 1. If Married, Use Both Exemptions (Living Trust with Tax Planning) • Uses both spouses' estate tax exemptions • In 2006-2008, protects up to $4 million from estate taxes 2. Remove Assets From Estate (Transfer Life Insurance Policies to
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust) (Qualified Personal Residence Trust) (Grantor Retained Annuity Trust / Grantor
Retained Unitrust) (Family Limited Partnership / Limited
Liability Company) (Charitable Remainder Trust) (Charitable Lead Trust) 3. Buy Life Insurance (Back to Top) |
There are 8 sections to FAQs:
• Living Trusts
• Estate Taxes
• Who Should Be Beneficiary of Your IRA
• Corporate Trustees
• Charitable Remainder Trusts
• Life Insurance Trusts
• The Duties and Responsibilities of a Successor Trustee
• Funding Your Living Trust
FOUNTAIN LAW FIRM, P.A.
2045 Fountain Professional Ct., Suite A
Navarre, Florida 32566
Tel: 850-939-3535
Fax: 850-939-3539
E-Mail: Fountain@FountainLaw.com
Internet: http://www.FountainLaw.com
The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask us to send you free written information about our qualifications and experience.
©Schumacher Publishing