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Publications
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04.26.2012Is 2012 the Year for You to Make a Significant Gift to Your Family Members?Updates
2012 may be the ideal year for Washington residents to make gifts. The combination of the current Washington State tax laws and the change in the federal transfer tax structure presents a unique opportunity for residents to make large gifts to reduce the impact of the State estate tax.
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02.17.2011Charitable Gifting Strategy for IRAs and Other Tax-Deferred Retirement AccountsUpdatesYou already know how tax-deferred plans benefit your retirement planning, but do you know how to maximize their benefits for your favorite charities?
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02.16.2011Charitable Remainder Trusts: Doing Well by Doing GoodUpdatesA lifetime gift to a charitable remainder trust (CRT) can produce impressive tax and nontax results. A gift to a CRT qualifies for current income and gift tax charitable deductions although the charity will not have the beneficial use of the property until the noncharitable interests expire. In the meantime, the donor or other noncharitable beneficiaries will receive payments from the trust. Transferring highly appreciated assets to a CRT is particularly attractive - especially for donors who have some charitable interests.
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02.16.2011Making Lifetime Gifts Saves Federal TaxesUpdatesThe federal gift tax annual exclusion currently allows each individual to give up to $13,000 each year to an unlimited number of donees – entirely free of tax. (Under the 1997 Tax Act, the amount of the exclusion is indexed to inflation and is rounded to the next lowest multiple of $1,000.)
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02.15.2011Gifts to Charitable Lead Trusts Another Tax Advantaged Way to Give PropertyUpdatesCharitable lead trusts (CLTs) offer a tax advantaged way to transfer property to family members after a term during which fixed amounts are payable to one or more charities. CLTs can provide for the payment to charity to be in the form of either a fixed amount (an annuity form of trust) or a fixed percentage of the annually determined value of the assets of the trust (a unitrust). CLTs almost always take the form of an annuity trust (a so-called CLAT), because it generally offers a greater overall benefit.
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02.15.2011Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs), or, How to Make Gifts at Little or No Gift Tax Cost Another Tax Advantaged Way to Give PropertyUpdatesGRATs are a special type of trust, first authorized by Congress in 1990, that can greatly reduce the tax cost of making gifts. Importantly, recent developments confirm that GRATs can be planned that entirely eliminate gift tax costs. GRATs are particularly attractive because they have essentially no downside risk.
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02.15.2011Qualified Personal Residence Trusts Offer Large Potential Estate Tax SavingsUpdatesA QPRT is simply an irrevocable trust to which an individual (the "grantor") transfers a personal residence, reserving the right to occupy the residence for a term of a certain number of years. At the end of the term, the trustee of a QPRT either distributes the residence to the designated beneficiaries - usually the grantor's children - or retains the residence in trust for later distribution to the beneficiaries. If the trust continues, the trustee can lease the residence back to the grantor at a market rental rate without causing the residence to be included in the grantor's estate.
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02.15.2011The State of Washington Estate TaxUpdatesOn February 3, 2005, the Washington Supreme Court rendered a decision that effectively repealed the Washington estate tax. The legislature and the governor responded by enacting a new State estate tax to address the loss of tax revenue that would otherwise be incurred by the State.
