With the recent increase of the 2026 federal estate and gift tax exemption to an unprecedented and astounding $15 million per person (a whopping $30 million for married couples), the necessity of federal estate tax planning...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Private Letter Ruling (PLR) 202504006, addressing several important estate and gift tax questions related to the division of a marital trust and the subsequent disclaimer of...more
Through the years, the US Tax Court has provided significant clarification on the gift tax consequences of terminating qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trusts. Two new cases in 2024, Estate of Sally J. Anenberg...more
November 2024 AFRs and 7520 Rate - The November 2024 Section 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs and GRATs is 4.40%, which was the same as the October 2024 rate...more
It’s not enough for the founder of a closely held business to have successfully established the business. The business has to grow, not only to increase profits, but also to make it more competitive and to diversify its...more
The Arkansas Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act (the “Act”) became effective on January 1, 2022. Arkansas is one (1) of five (5) states, including Colorado, Kansas, Utah, and Washington, that has enacted the Uniform...more
Drawn from Steve Gorin’s 2nd quarter 2021 newsletter, this webinar discusses recent cases on when payments to owners who perform services are compensation and when are they distributions, describes issues in modifying trusts...more
As Election Day 2020 approached, there was much talk about planning that individuals should consider doing before the end of the year. The impetus for this was an assumption that the Democrats would win the Presidency and...more
I. INTRODUCTION - This outline is a selective and evolving review of the history of the modern federal estate tax. It originated during the attempts to repeal the estate tax in President Clinton’s second term and...more
Increase in Exemption from Estate, Gift and Generation-Skipping Transfer Taxes - On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Act") was signed into law. The Act implements a variety of significant tax reforms....more
Tax Act of 2017: Transfer Tax Provisions - The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Act of 2017”) was signed by the President on December 22, 2017. The transfer tax provisions of the Tax Act of 2017 (i.e. the estate,...more
Action Item: This year, Blank Rome’s annual estate planning newsletter will be issued in six installments. Each installment will discuss certain concepts and techniques that we hope may be of interest to our clients and...more
In a recent taxpayer victory, the Tax Court found in favor of the taxpayer with respect to three hotly contested gift and estate planning issues involving family limited liability companies. The Tax Court decided the case of...more
Blank Rome’s annual estate planning newsletter discusses certain concepts and techniques that we hope may be of interest to our clients and friends....more
The October § 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs and GRATs is 2.4%. This is up from September's 2.0% rate. The applicable federal rate ("AFR") for use with a sale to a defective...more
On June 26, 2013, the United States Supreme Court issued its decisions in Windsor v. United States and Hollingsworth, et. al. v. Perry et. al., thus ending a four year "fast-track" judicial expedition of the validity of the...more
Now that Congress has implemented a relatively large per person federal gift/estate tax exemption (i.e., the per person federal gift/estate tax exemption is $5,250,000 in 2013, indexed for inflation), many think that estate...more