by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 26, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
Planning for privacy is best started by placing an attorney (along with the attendant attorney-client privilege) at the head of your planning team. Ensure that discussions and financial transactions are as secure and confidential as possible. Source: Nine...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 23, 2017 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
Most agreed the new Republican regime in Washington may get rid of the long-loathed estate tax (this year levied at a top rate of 40 percent on assets above the exemption of just under $11 million for a married couple). Yet, it will almost certainly be replaced...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 15, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Tax Planning
The court also found that Dee Wyly, the widow of Charles Wyly (who was Samuel Wyly’s brother and business partner), hadn’t committed tax fraud, even though she was a joint signer on Charles’ returns. However, she must pay taxes, penalties and interest for a...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 15, 2017 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Probate Admin, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Good advice in this article, but much of the uncertainty can be removed with thorough, comprehensive planning with an eye toward flexibility. For example, in our planning (http://Protect.LIFE), we offer not only the current flexibility of the Clayton election,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 14, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning
There are many types of advisors, but only lawyers are subject to state bar ethics rules and able to provide attorney-client privilege for confidentiality. Most importantly, planning is not all about money, and we know that. Go to http://Protect.LIFE and let an...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 13, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Property Tax, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning
California slaps high tax rates on the rich, and when they and/or their income leaves the state, the solution is…guess what…more taxes. Including property taxes, especially commercial. Or is it the gun control that is chasing good families away?...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 13, 2017 | Asset Protection, Business Succession, Career Maintenance, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning, Venture Protection
Among the chief goals of succession planning is providing continuity of management and minimizing the tax costs of transferring property interests to new generations.Source: Six Things Family-Owned Firms Should Know About Succession Planning
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 9, 2017 | Asset Protection, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Tax Planning, Venture Protection
For international investors who want to thrive in the California lifestyle, they face three different issues: immigration status, business investment and tax planning. For these clients, I recommend they consider “Roundtripping”, (i.e., they invest in a CA...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 6, 2017 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
Practitioners should review options with clients that might include: Outright bequest to surviving spouse, with contingent disclaimer trust, subject to the problems that this approach creates Clayton QTIP approach, subject to the complexity it creates...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 6, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Tax Planning
On Dec. 12, 2016, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced final regulations (issued in proposed form on May 5, 2016) requiring domestic disregarded entities with foreign owners to file Form 5472 information returns with the IRS...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 6, 2017 | Asset Protection, Charity, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
Interesting speech below on crucial importance of philanthropy, even for national defense:
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 2, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning
Hopefully your working clients are maxing out opportunities to save all they can into 401(k)s, IRAs and Roth IRAs. Those who still have money left over should consider purchasing Series EE savings bonds with any extra funds. In the short term, they will get...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 2, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
When it comes to modern-day estate planning, trusts invariably are an integral part of the structure. In the authors’ daily reviews of trusts, they have found that thoughtful planning can at times be rendered problematic due to trustee selection. The consequences can...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 2, 2017 | Asset Protection, Charity, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
While it’s important that charities and their staff understand how to match various tools, such as charitable remainder trusts (CRTs), charitable lead trusts (CLTs), charitable gift annuities and other gift plans with the needs of their donors, which may...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 2, 2017 | Asset Protection, Charity, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Protection, Income Tax, Tax Planning
Wealthy families can now transfer wealth to children and grandchildren at a transfer tax discount of up to 50 percent, while receiving up to a 50 percent current charitable income tax deduction—all while avoiding tax on the subsequent sale of appreciated...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 28, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Tax Planning
The Senate Committee on Finance voted 26-0 in September to kill the “Stretch IRA” for non-spousal beneficiaries — putting trillions of dollars of legacy wealth in danger of being collected by the tax man.“This is going to be big,” said James Lange, a Squirrel...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 15, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Retirement Planning
A charitable gift annuity can provide a surrogate for fixed income during retirement in an environment of low interest rates that may linger for decades. Source: Charitable Gift Annuities May Answer the Fixed Income Question
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 14, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
WealthManagement.com polled nearly 350 advisors in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory to seehow they think a Trump presidency will affect their business. Source: Advisors on the Trump Administration
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 13, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
It will be awhile before we know how all this may affect estate tax repeal: President-elect Donald Trump’s race to enact the biggest tax cuts since the 1980s went under a caution flag Monday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned he considers current levels...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 12, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
I hope it happens, as there is plenty for families to plan for besides taxes. If it does happen, my clients with the latest planning are prepared. Currently, individuals can inherit estates worth up to $5.45 million without being taxed. Estates valued over that...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 8, 2016 | Asset Protection, Income Tax, Tax Planning
Since the United States presidential election last month, some U.S. citizens have inquired about moving abroad. How we advise them depends on their objectives. Does the client merely want to live in another country for a limited number of years, or does she...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 3, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
For many client situations, I continue to be a big proponent of using the Clayton election for flexibility in this age of estate tax uncertainty. The Clayton election continues to be the smart way, for many families, to avoid the “AB Trap” of capital gains...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 1, 2016 | Asset Protection, Charity, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
The PF excise tax provision would collapse the current two-tier tax—some pay 2 percent and some pay 1 percent on investment income—to a straight 1 percent tax. Here’s how it goes. PFs are required to pay a 2 percent excise tax on investment income every year....
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 1, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
As always, flexibility is key: Recommend cautious optimism. The elimination of the estate tax in particular is likely to be welcome news to your higher net worth clients, but the proposal may be subject to opposition or compromise in Congress. This compromise could...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 26, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
From WealthCounsel VP Matt McClintock: Increasing asset protection for the surviving spouse and others. Depending on the trust design, a bypass-type trust can provide greater asset protection than a QTIP marital trust. A bypass trust can have multiple discretionary...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 23, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
In light of Donald Trump’s election and his pre-election platform to reduce marginal income tax rates, there are several planning strategies that should be considered as part of your client’s year-end planning. John O. McManus, founding principal of McManus &...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 23, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
The insular planning community (or at least, the insular planning press) didn’t plan very well for Trump, now is playing catchup: The first few days after the election Washingtonians were walking around in a daze. The trajectory of policy and politics...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 19, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Tax Planning
The United States has tax treaties with a number of foreign countries. Under these treaties, residents (not necessarily citizens) of foreign countries are taxed at a reduced rate, or are exempt from U.S. taxes on certain items of income they receive from sources...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 15, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
As for the UHNW population itself, the richest are getting richer, older and more male. UHNW women decreased by 3 percent, and their total wealth decreased by about 14 percent, a phenomenon the study indicates is partially a result of increased reliance on inherited...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 14, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
Section 2801 Inheritance Tax Under Section 2801(a), a U.S. domiciliary (or a U.S. resident trust) who receives a gift or bequest from a covered expatriate (CE) is subject to a tax equal to the fair market value of the covered gift or bequest, multiplied by the highest...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 14, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Tax Planning
The strategy is all the more powerful if tax rates drop. Why finalize the sale of a business in 2016 when there’s a chance you’ll be able to keep more of the proceeds for yourself down the line? “This is an exercise we normally go through,” said Michael...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 14, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
Transfer Tax Related Proposals Repeal the gift, estate tax and the generation-skipping transfer taxes, establishing in their place a carryover basis for appreciated property, subjecting beneficiaries to income tax on the gains when they dispose of the property in the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 13, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
Dear Wealth Manager, You cannot take care of your clients by simply regurgitating what you hear from the mainstream press, or the mainstream financial press, or even your clients. Get out and mingle with The People.
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 9, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
He proposes to eliminate estate and gift tax and to tax capital gains held until death with a USD5 million exemption (for an individual filer).With regard to individual taxation, Trump proposes to have three income tax thresholds (as opposed to the existing...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 8, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
It’s called the Global High Wealth Industry Group, and it falls under the Internal Revenue Service’s Large Business and International Division. It’s also been called “The Wealth Squad.” The unit, launched in 2010, aims to “take a...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 7, 2016 | Archived, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
On Sept. 8, 2016, the estate tax celebrated its 100th birthday. Over the past century, practitioners, lawyers and even laypersons have voiced their opinions on whether the estate tax should be retained or repealed.Not to be outdone, we asked two of our esteemed board...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 4, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Charity, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
For many clients in the mid-range, we can pretty much take care of the issue in the first paragraph below with Clayton election planning. (HNW clients may benefit from other advanced techniques such as NING trusts.) The issue in the second paragraph below (changes to...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 3, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
Under the new statute, the New Jersey estate tax exemption will be $2 million during the year 2017, and it will be repealed beginning in 2018. The New Jersey inheritance tax, which applies to inheritances received by non-family members, remains in effect....
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 2, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
The below article is very superficial. For example, although having the trustee originally purchase the insurance is optimal, there are several other ways to transfer the insurance policy into the trust. Also, ILITs are great for asset protection even if they are...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 1, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
Summary of Planning Action Steps Begun in 2003, Treasury took 13 years to draft these regulations, yet several material uncertainties exist. Until clarified, protect clients conservatively by: Completing contemplated and partial prior transfers. Modifying entity...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 31, 2016 | Asset Protection, Dying Embarrassed, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Probate Admin, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to go back and fix an estate plan before death or incapacity of the grantor? Protective Law Corporation will be very pleased to offer such post-mortem estate planning, and we will add it to our pricing sheet just as soon as the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 28, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
As the 2016 presidential election nears, the tax policies of the two major candidates have come into sharper focus. We’ve compiled the most critical aspects of the tax proposals that have emerged from the presidential candidates. Source: Ten Critical Differences...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 26, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Tax Planning
IRS has released Revenue Procedure 2016-55 outlining 2017 estate tax exclusion and other exemption amounts relevant to estate planning, as follows: The annual gift exclusion remains at $14,000 The basic exclusion amount (for determining unified credit against gift and...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 23, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning
Proposed changes to the 2704 regs will not be finalized until well into next year, most likely, and if Hillary is elected you may not discover how badly you needed the discounts until she gets her lower exclusions several years from now — but the critical point...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 14, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
What Practitioners Should Do? There are a number of steps that practitioners should consider taking now, even though all of this is up in the air: Communicate with and inform both current active clients and even inactive clients. It might generate interest and...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 5, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
Tell a friend, please — you may have seen me and other estate planning attorneys blogging recently on proposed changes to Section 2704 regulations taking effect at the end of this year. While these changes affect the kind of estate tax avoidance planning that we...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 28, 2016 | Asset Protection, Dying Embarrassed, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Horror Stories, Tax Planning
Bad planning led to $40 million estate tax bill forcing heirs to sell stock, Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. If attacked, do you want to be Victor or Victim? At SacredHonor.US, we hate it when people die embarrassed. And at Protect.FM, we believe good estate plans...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 27, 2016 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
Good news! The IRS just issued, moments ago, a new Revenue Procedure 2016-49, modifying Rev Proc 2001-48, removing a possible grey area in the use of the so-called Clayton election for flexible and comprehensive post-mortem (i.e., portability and reverse QTIP) tax...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 16, 2016 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Tax Planning
This is authored by Matt McClintock, VP of Education for WealthCounsel: I initially created this article as a resource for members of WealthCounsel, but we share it with the entire industry. To that end, I’m sharing this resource here and encourage attorneys and...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 11, 2016 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
The proposed Internal Revenue Code Section 2704 regulations (the “regs”) prevent taxpayers from considering a range of restrictions that could otherwise reduce the value of an interest in an entity for transfer tax purposes. These restrictions include those...