Estate Tax Planning
Is your joint estate large enough to be subject to the federal Estate Tax? That means if your estate is over $3.5 million this year you could be subject to estate taxes. If you are one of these fortunate individuals or couples, then you should consider taking some additional steps to protect your heirs from this tax. The tax rate is currently 45% of everything over $3.5 million. The exemption from estate tax is scheduled to go down to $1 million beginning January 1, 2011. So you can see how important this planning is.
There are a number of ways to minimize or eliminate altogether the estate tax. Many of them involve some form of lifetime giving, either outright or in trust. Some of these gifts are so easy that you won’t need to feel depleted or impoverished at all as a result. These gifts can be leveraged to result in even more savings through the use of gifts to churches, charities, foundations, insurance and other entities.
Another approach is to freeze or fractionalize the value
and ownership of some of your assets so that the taxable
amount is not artificially inflated by the whims of
market forces.
Finally, under certain circumstances the IRS will allow you
to pay the estate tax over 15 years at very low interest rates
and for the first four years you can pay interest only. This payment plan is a big improvement over the usual all cash
paid nine months after death. We will explain all of your
options to you and help you to pick one that best suits your
estate and your family.
"We will explain all of your options to you and help you to pick one that best suits your estate and your family."