The federal government recently has enacted several laws increasing the reporting obligations of both U.S. resident and non-resident taxpayers and imposing additional taxes and penalties on non-compliant taxpayers. But how can the Internal Revenue...
For decades, the United States had a top marginal tax rate as high as 50, 70 and even 90 percent.1 As a matter of fact, for the past 50 years there have only been five years (1988 to 1992) when the top marginal tax rate was less than the current...
Since Jan. 1, 2010, trustees and personal representatives have faced a new transfer tax landscape one filled with questions but very few answers. For this one year, the estate and generation skipping transfer (GST) taxes have been eliminated and a...
Unmarried partners don't enjoy the protections and benefits that are unique to marriage. For example, unmarried partners aren't entitled to an intestate share and don't have the statutory right to demand an elective share, as spouses do. Unmarried...
Is there such a thing as bulletproof asset protection against federal claims? Many estate planners say and advise their clients to use or rely on certain techniques and tools like state exemptions, tenancy-by-the-entirety property rights, limited...
Some attorneys are working feverishly to get clients’ assets into a specialized trust before proposed federal legislation eliminates the provisions that have made it so popular as a means of significantly reducing taxes.
In May 1976, radio broadcaster Paul Harvey began a series of five-minute vignettes entitled The Rest of the Story. It was so popular that it continued until his death in 2009 a span of 33 years! He would recite what everyone and then (after a...
Estate planning in the context of second marriages is increasingly common and necessary in the evolving world in which we practice. Estate-planning techniques that are effective for spouses in first marriages may be unsuited when applied to...
In the ongoing family limited partnership (FLP) battle between taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service, taxpayers have been able to achieve some significant victories over the past two years in the Tax Court, particularly in the face of IRS...
Legislators in Congress are reportedly considering creating a kind of Roth IRA version of the estate tax. On The Money, a blog of the congressional newspaper The Hill, this week said lawmakers are considering whether to let taxpayers have the...
