King & Wood, P.A.

Tax Planning Strategies for 2021

“Although uncertainty surrounding the likelihood of tax reform continues for the moment, there are still several wealth transfer strategies that can be considered by those wanting to make gifts.”

The uncertainty surrounding the election and possibility of changes to the tax law led many families to make substantial wealth transfers in 2020, especially as the historically high gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions were so advantageous. This recent article from Financial Advisor, “No More Gift Tax Exemption? Additional Planning Strategies To Consider for 2021,” discusses the options that are still available for 2021.

Gifting is Still a Good Strategy. Even if you used your gift and GST tax exemptions, you may still make additional gifts outright or in trust using the 2021 inflation adjusted amount. The gift and GST tax exemptions are indexed for inflation, so this year the exemptions went from $11.58 million in 2020 to $11.7 million for 2021. Annual exclusion gifts allow individuals to make gifts up to $15,000 per person, and $30,000 for married couples, which do not count towards the gift and estate tax exemptions.

Direct payments for medical and tuition payment are still good options that won’t deplete the annual exclusion or gift and GST tax exemption. Just be sure to make the payment directly to the qualified educational institution or medical provider.

Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATS) still work. A GRAT is a special type of irrevocable trust. The grantor makes a gift of property in trust, retaining the right to an annual payment (annuity) from the trust for a specified amount of time. They can be used for a number of different assets, including assets expected to appreciate significantly. Check with your estate planning attorney to be sure this is a good option for you. If the grantor dies within the annuity term, the entire value of the trust generally will be included in the estate, as if it had never been created.

Sale to Grantor Trust. This strategy takes advantage of the differences between the income and transfer tax treatment of irrevocable trusts. The goal is to transfer anticipated appreciated assets at a reduced gift tax cost. In return for the transfer of property, the trust gives the grantor a note, which carries a market rate of interest and usually requires a balloon payment of principal at the end of the note’s term. In most cases, when the trust is a grantor trust, the grantor and the trust are treated as the same taxpayer for income tax purposes, but as two separate entities for transfer tax purposes. Because of this, neither the sale nor the note payments trigger income taxation.

Intra-Family Loans. These loans can be made at lower rates than by commercial lenders without the loan being deemed a gift. This lets an individual help their family members financially, without triggering additional gift tax. Wealth may be shifted, if the loan assets are invested by the borrower and earn a higher return than the required interest rate. Interest is to be paid within the family, and not to a third-party lender.

The intra-family loan establishes both a bona fide creditor relationship and the payment of interest. Family loans can be financially advantageous and emotionally tricky, so navigate with care. Your estate planning attorney will create the proper documents and all parties need to be clear on the details.

These strategies will work best when integrated into your estate plan. Discuss with your estate planning attorney to ensure that they will align with your long-term goals, as well as your tax planning.

Reference: Financial Advisor (Feb. 24, 2021) “No More Gift Tax Exemption? Additional Planning Strategies To Consider for 2021”

Your Estate Planning Checklist for 2021

“Early in 2021, you should communicate with your advisers and review several items about your 2020 planning, if that planning is to have any likelihood of succeeding.”

If you reviewed or created your estate plan in 2020, you are ahead of most Americans, but you’re not done yet. If you created a trust, gave gifts of real estate, business interest or other assets, you need to address the loose ends and do the follow up work to ensure that your planning goals will be met. That’s the advice from a recent article “Checklist 2020 Planning Follow Through: You Have More Work To Do” from Forbes.

Here are few to consider:

Did you loan money to heirs? If you made any loans to heirs or had any other loan transactions, you’ll need to calendar the interest payment dates and amounts and be sure that interest is paid promptly as described in the promissory notes. Correct interest payments are necessary for the IRS or creditors to treat the transaction as a real loan, otherwise you risk having the loan recharacterized or worse, being disregarded completely.

Did you create an irrevocable trust? If so, you need to be sure that gifts are made to the trust each year to fund insurance premiums. If the trust includes annual demand powers (known as “Crummey powers”) to allow gifts to qualify for the gift tax annual exclusion, written notices for 2020 gifts will need to be issued. This can be way more complicated than you expect: if you have transfers made to multiple trusts and outright gifts made directly to heirs, those gifts may need to be prioritized, based on the terms of the trusts and the dates of the gifts to determine which gifts qualify for the annual exclusion and which do not.

If you made gifts to a trust that is exempt from the generation skipping transfer tax (GST), you may have to file a gift tax return to allocate the GST exemption, so the trust remains GST exempt. Talk to your estate planning attorney to avoid any expensive mistakes.

Do you own life insurance? Or does a trust own life insurance for you? Either way, do not ignore your coverage after you’ve purchased a policy or policies. Your broker should review policy performance, the appropriateness of coverage for your plan, etc., every few years. If you didn’t do this in 2020, make it a priority for 2021. Many people create SLATS—Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts—so that their spouse benefits from the trusts. However, if your spouse dies prematurely, the SLAT no longer works.

Paying trustee fees. If you have institutional trustees, their fees need to be paid annually. If you pay the fees directly, the fee becomes an additional gift to the trust, requiring the filing of a gift tax for that year. If the trust pays the fee directly, there might not be a tax implication. Again, check with your estate planning attorney.

Did you make transfers to a trust with a disclaimer mechanism? If you made transfers to a trust that has a disclaimer mechanism and you want to reconsider the planning, it may be possible for beneficiaries or a trustee to disclaim gifts made to the trust within nine months of the transfer, thereby unwinding the planning.

Did you create any GRATs in 2020? If you created a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust, be certain that the trustee calendars the required annuity payments and that they are paid on a timely basis. Missing payments could put the GRAT status in jeopardy. You should also confirm also how the payment is calculated, which should be in the GRAT itself.

The best estate plan is one that is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it works, throughout changes that occur in law and life.

Reference: Forbes (Dec. 27, 2020) “Checklist 2020 Planning Follow Through: You Have More Work To Do”

Should a GRAT Be Part of My Estate Plan?

“Low interest rates and looming potential tax changes make this a good time for high-net-worth clients to use a special tool to transfer wealth: the grantor-retained annuity trust (GRAT), a strategy to reduce future estate taxes, by transferring assets to beneficiaries without using the lifetime gift tax exclusion.”

A Grantor-Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT, is funded by the grantor, the person who creates the trust, in exchange for a stream of annuity payments at a predetermined interest rate—the IRS Section 7520 rate. The interest rate in December 2020 is 0.6%, as reported in the article “Transferring Wealth With This Trust Can Yield Big Tax Advantages” from Financial Advisor.

GRAT assets need only appreciate greater than the Section 7520 rate over the term of the trust, and any excess earnings will pass to beneficiaries, or to an ongoing trust for beneficiaries with no gift or estate tax.

Because the grantor takes back the amount equal to that which was transferred to the trust (often two or three years), which is set by the IRS when the trust is funded, future appreciation over and above the interest rate passes gift-tax free.

There’s little upkeep. Once the trust agreement is in place, a gift tax return needs to be filed once a year. If the trust is set up without a tax ID number, there’s no need to file an income tax return.

The grantor is responsible for the income generated by the asset in the GRAT, but that’s it. If the value of the property is increased following an audit, the gift won’t be increased but the annuity will. If the GRAT property decreases in value, the only out of pocket is the set-up costs.

Assets in a GRAT may be anything from an investment portfolio to shares in a closely held business.

Most GRATs are designed to have the value of the retained annuity be equal to the value of the property that is transferred to the GRAT. If the values are equal, then the amount of the gift for tax purposes is zero, since the value of the transfer less the annuity value is zero.

GRATs are not for everyone. The success of the GRAT depends upon the success of the underlying assets. If they don’t appreciate as expected, then there might not be a significant amount transferred out of the estate after paying for the legal, accounting and appraisal fees. If the grantor dies during the term of the GRAT before payments back to the grantor have ended, the GRAT will be unsuccessful.

Generation skipping transfers cannot utilize GRATS, since the generation skipping tax exemption may not be applied to a GRAT, until the grantor’s death.

Ask your estate planning attorney about whether a GRAT could benefit your family. If a GRAT is not a good fit, they will know about many other tools available.

Reference: Financial Advisor (Nov. 30, 2020) “Transferring Wealth With This Trust Can Yield Big Tax Advantages”

When Should Succession Plan Be Used?

“We currently have the highest estate tax exemption and the lowest intra-family interest rates in history. That combination alone is significant, but when mixed with the potential for lower estate and gift tax exemptions and depressed business valuations, you have a potent catalyst for transitioning ownership.”

Anyone with a taxable estate that includes an operating business should be looking into the efficacy of making gifts in 2020 to take advantage of a unique set of circumstances, advises the article “Why Now is the Right Time to Execute Succession Plans” from Worth.

The federal exemption from transfer taxes is at a historically high level. Individuals may transfer up to $11.58 million of assets during their lifetime without incurring federal gift, estate or generation skipping transfer tax (GST). The current maximum federal gift and estate tax rate and the current maximum federal GST tax rate is now 40 percent. As the law stands now, this amount is not scheduled to be reduced until the end of 2025, but whether that will remain is anyone’s guess.

The IRS has stated that it will not attempt a claw back of taxes if the exemption amount decreases soon, so taxpayers who put off taking action before December 31, 2020 will miss out.

Lower Value Another Incentive to Develop a Succession Plan

It is important not forget the impact of the global pandemic. Valuations in some parts of public markets continue to be high, but many private companies have lost a lot of value. The lower appraised values can be beneficial for succession planning. If a business owner is willing to transfer all or a portion of the private company to successive generations now, that lowered appraisal value means that more wealth can be shifted. There is the possibility of growth in the future, free of gift, estate, or GST tax.

How Do Interest Rates Impact Succession Plans?

Many strategies used to transfer assets between generations are based on interest rates which are near the lowest they have ever been. Every month, the IRS releases the updated Section 7520 and Applicable Federal Rates (AFR). These are the rates used for transfer techniques like GRATs and intra-family loans. In October, the 7520 rate was 40 basis points (“bps”), and the Mid-Term Annual AFR, used for loans with terms of three to nine years was 39 bps.

Succession Plans Take Time to Create

This unique combination of exemptions, low business valuations and low interest rates is likely to lead many business owners to their estate planning attorney’s offices to implement succession plans before the calendar years ends. The smart move is to contact your estate planning attorney, CPA, and financial advisor as soon as possible to discuss options, and get succession plans going. There will likely be a more-than-usual last minute rush to complete many financial and legal tasks this December, and getting started as early as possible will make it more likely that your succession plan can be completed before December 31, 2020.

Reference: Worth (Nov. 2, 2020) “Why Now is the Right Time to Execute Succession Plans”

Federal Estate Tax Exemption Sunset Is Not Far Off

“Maybe not tomorrow, but the sunset of our historically high estate tax exemptions is coming—and with the election on its way, it could be sooner than you think.”

In 2018, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) doubled the lifetime gift, estate, and generation-skipping tax exemption to $11.18 million from $5.6 million. With adjustments for inflation, that exemption in 2020 is $11.58 million, the highest it’s ever been, reports the article “Federal Estate Tax Exemption Is Set to Expire—Are You Prepared?” from Kiplinger. However, this won’t last forever.

There’s a limited time to this historically high exemption. The window for planning may be closing soon. The high amount is set to sunset at the end of 2025, but the impact of a global pandemic and the upcoming presidential election will likely accelerate the rollback.

As of this writing, many states have already eliminated their state estate taxes, although 17 states and the District of Columbia still have them. The estate planning environment has changed greatly over the last decade. However, for families with large assets, and for those whose assets may reach Biden’s proposed and far lower estate tax exemption, the time to plan is now.

Gifting Assets Now to Reduce Estate Taxes. The IRS has stated that there will be no clawback on lifetime gifts, so any gifts made under the current exemption will not be subject to estate taxes in the future, even if the exemption is reduced.

Keep in mind that when gifting assets, to make a gift complete for tax purposes, you must relinquish ownership, control, and use of the assets. If that is a concern, married couples can use the Spousal Lifetime Access Trust or SLAT option: an irrevocable trust created by one spouse for the benefit of the other. Just be mindful when funding irrevocable trusts of gifting any low cost-basis assets. If the trust holds assets that appreciate while in the trust for extended periods of time, beneficiaries could be hit with tax burdens.

Take Advantage of Lower Valuations and Low Interest Rates. The value of many securities and businesses have been impacted by the pandemic, which could make this a good time to consider gifting or transferring assets out of your estate. Lower valuations allow a greater portion of assets to be transferred out of the estate, thereby reducing the size of the estate.

With interest rates at historical lows, intra-family loans may be an effective wealth-transfer strategy, letting family members make loans to each other without triggering gift taxes. Intra-family loans use the IRS’ Applicable Federal Rate–now at a record low of between 0.14%-1.12%, depending upon the length of the loan. These loans work best when borrowed funds are invested and the rate of return earned on the invested loan proceeds exceeds the loan interest rate.

Avoid Last-Minute Rush by Starting Now. This type of estate planning takes time. The more time you have to plan with your estate planning attorney, the less likely you are to run into challenges and hurdles that can waste valuable time. When estate tax laws change, estate planning attorneys get busy. Creating a thoughtful plan now may also help prevent mistakes, including triggering the reciprocal trust doctrine or the step transaction doctrine. Planning for asset protection and distribution allows families to control how assets are distributed for many generations and to create a lasting legacy.

Reference: Kiplinger (Oct. 14, 2020) “Federal Estate Tax Exemption Is Set to Expire—Are You Prepared?”

Estate Planning Actions to Consider before 2020 Ends

“If you have not already been inundated with invitations to webinars, articles, and newsletters regarding estate planning, you should consider doing so before the end of the year, since you undoubtedly will receive these over the next few months.”

When it comes to estate planning, there’s no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” solution. That is especially true before a presidential election. However, there are several factors that should be considered and discussed with your estate planning attorney, as recommended in this recent article from The National Law Review “Top Ten Estate Planning Recommendations before the End of 2020.”

The estate, gift, and generational-skipping transfer tax exemption is now $11.58 million per person. It’s scheduled to increase every year by an inflationary indexed amount through 2025 and in 2026 will revert to $5 million. If Biden wins the election, don’t be surprised if changes are made earlier. The IRS has already said that if the exemption is used this year, there will be no claw back. This is a “use it or lose it” scenario. If you are planning on using it, now is the time to do so.

It is possible that Discounts, GRATS, Grantor Trusts, and other estate planning techniques may go away, depending upon who wins the election and control of Congress. Consider taking advantage of commonly used estate planning tools before it is too late.

Married couples who are not ready to gift significant amounts to their children or to put assets into trusts for their children should consider the SLAT–Spousal Lifetime Access Trust. They can create and gift the exemption amount to a SLAT and still maintain access to the assets.

Single individuals who similarly are not ready to make large gifts and give up access to assets may also create and gift an exemption amount to a trust in a jurisdiction based on “domestic asset protection trust” legislation. They can be a beneficiary of such a trust.

Interest rates are at an all-time low, and that is when tools like intra family loans, GRATs and GLATs are at their best.

Moving to Florida, Nevada, Texas, and other low- or no-income tax states has become very popular, especially for people who can work remotely. Be aware that high tax states like New York and California are not going to let your tax revenue leave easily. Check with your estate planning attorney to make sure you’re following the rules in giving up your domicile in a high-income tax state.

Reference: The National Law Review (Oct. 6, 2020) “Top Ten Estate Planning Recommendations before the End of 2020”

Take Advantage of Tax Laws Now

 

“If you like the way the laws are today, you need to take advantage of them now, before they are changed tomorrow. In other words, use it or lose it.”

The pundits are saying that the if Democrats win the White House and possibly Congress, expect changes to income, gift generation skipping transfer and estate taxes. This recent article from Forbes, “Use It Or Lose It: Locking In the $11.58 Million Unified Credit” says that the time to act is now.

Since 2000, the estate and gift tax exemption has taken a leap from $675,000 and a top marginal rate of 55% to an exemption of $11.58 million and a top marginal rate of 40%. However, it’s not permanent. If Congress does nothing, the tax laws go back in 2026 to a $5.6 million exemption and a top marginal rate of 55%. The expectation is that if Biden wins in November, and if Congress enacts the changes published in his tax plan, the exemption will fall to $3.5 million, and the top marginal rate will jump to 70%.

The current exemption and tax rate may be as good as it gets.

If you make a taxable gift today, you can effectively make the current tax laws permanent for you and your family. The gift will be reported in the year it is made, and the tax laws that are in effect when the gift is made will permanently applicable. Even if the tax laws change in the future, which is always a possibility, there have been proposed regulations published by the IRS that say the new tax laws will not be imposed on taxable gifts made in prior years.

Let’s say you make an outright taxable gift today of $11.58 million, or $23.16 million for a married couple. That gift amount, and any income and appreciation from the date of the gift to the date of death will not be taxed later in your estate. The higher $11.58 million exemption from the Generation Skipping Transfer Tax (GSTT) can also be applied to these gifts.

Of course, you’ll need to have enough assets to make a gift and still be financially secure. Don’t give a gift, if it means you won’t be able to support your spouse and family. To take advantage of the current exemption amount, you’ll need to make a gift that exceeds the reversionary exemption of $3.5 million. One way to do this is to have each spouse make a gift of the exemption amount to a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT), a trust for the benefit of the other spouse for that spouse’s lifetime.

Be mindful that such a trust may draw attention from the IRS, because when two people make gifts to trusts for each other, which leaves each of them in the same economic position, the gifts are ignored and the assets in the trusts are included in their estate. The courts have ruled, however, that if the trusts are different from each other, based on the provisions in the trusts, state laws and even the timing of the creation and funding of the trusts may be acceptable.

These types of trusts need to be properly administered and aligned with the overall estate plan. Who will inherit the assets, and under what terms?

A word of caution: these are complex trusts and take time to create. Time may be running out. Speak with a skilled estate planning attorney with knowledge of tax law.

Reference: Forbes (July 17, 2020) “Use It Or Lose It: Locking In the $11.58 Million Unified Credit”

 

How Does an Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust Work?

 

“This type of trust can be established to benefit your spouse, children, grandchildren and other descendants. However, it may be more appropriate in some situations than others. Getting to know the details of what an IDGT is and how it works can help you decide if it makes sense for you.”

Using trusts as part of an estate plan creates many benefits, including minimizing estate taxes. One type of trust is known as an “intentionally defective grantor trust,” or IDGT. It’s a type of irrevocable trust used to limit tax liability when transferring wealth to heirs, as reported in the recent article “Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust (IDGT)” from Yahoo! Finance. It’s good to understand the details, so you can decide if an IDGT will help your family.

An irrevocable trust is one that can’t be changed once it’s created. Once assets are transferred into the trust, they can’t be transferred back out again, and the terms of the trust can’t be changed.  You will want to talk with your estate planning attorney in detail about the use of the IDGT, before it is created.

An IDGT allows you to permanently remove assets from your estate. The assets are then managed by a trustee, who is a fiduciary and is responsible for managing the trust for the beneficiaries. All of this is written down in the trust documents.

However, what makes an IDGT trust different, is how assets are treated for tax purposes. The IDGT lets you transfer assets outside of your estate, which lets you avoid paying estate and gift taxes on the assets.

The IDGT gets its “defective” name from its structure, which is an intentional flaw designed to provide tax benefits for the trust grantor—the person who creates the trust—and their beneficiaries. The trust is defective because the grantor still pays income taxes on the income generated by the trust, even though the assets are no longer part of the estate. It seems like that would be a mistake, hence the term “defective.”

However, there’s a reason for that. The creation of an IDGT trust freezes the assets in the trust. Since it is irrevocable, the assets stay in the trust until the owner dies. During the owner’s lifetime, the assets can continue to appreciate in value and are free from any transfer taxes. The owner pays taxes on the assets while they are living, and children or grandchildren don’t get stuck with paying the taxes after the owner dies. Typically, no estate tax applies on death with an IDGT.

Whether there is a gift tax upon the owner’s death will depend upon the value of the assets in the trust and whether the owner has used up his or her lifetime generation-skipping tax exemption limit.

Your estate planning attorney can help establish an IDGT, which should be created to work with the rest of your estate plan. Be aware of any exceptions that might alter the trust’s status or result in assets being lumped in with your estate. Funding the IDGT also takes careful planning. The trust may be funded with an irrevocable gift of assets, or assets can be sold to the trust. Your attorney will be able to make recommendations, based on your specific situation.

Reference: Yahoo! Finance (June 3, 2020) “Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust (IDGT)”