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Don’t Let ‘Estate-Tax-Itis’ Drain The Family Wealth
Adreaded disease is spreading like wildfire — in all 50 of the United States.
It debilitates most successful business owners, then, ravages some or all of the kids and eventually hurts the grandkids.
Known by various names, the most common name is “estate-tax-itus.” It drains family wealth.
Some people don’t even know they have the disease. Most know because they have the painful symptoms (a huge tax bill) and search in vain for a cure. They attend seminars, read articles, special reports and books. They go from advisor to advisor looking for relief.
The key question is: “Is there a cure?”
The answer is a resounding :Yes!”
This article shows you how to start the process to totally cure estate-tax-itus for yourself, your family and your business — every time, no matter how young or old you are, whether you are worth $1 million, $10 million (or much more).
There are many ways to fight the disease, but the best way is to build a “tax-immune system.” For best results, start today.
Here’s a three-step process that works every time. Steps No. 1 and No. 2 make the diagnosis. Step No. 3 accomplishes the cure.
Step No. 1: Prepare a personal financial statement for you and your spouse. Divide your assets into the following five categories.
— Residence
— Business
— Qualified plans (pension, profit-sharing, 401(k), rollover IRA or other qualified plans)
— All other assets (typically, investments)
— Life insurance
Step No. 2: Make a list of your goals (actually three lists) — (1) for you and (if married) your spouse; (2) for your family (typically children and grandchildren); and (3) your business.
Here are the typical core goals we see in practice:
For list (1) — Maintain your lifestyle for as long as you (husband and wife) live and allow you to control your assets for as long as you live;
For list (2) — transfer your assets to the children and grandchildren intact — free of the estate tax-and educate your grandchildren;
For list (3) — transfer your business to the business child (or children) tax-free and treat the non-business children fairly.
Step. No. 3: Find an advisor who knows how to identify and implement the exact tax strategies that accomplish your goals using the specific assets on your financial statement.
Following are the are most often-used strategies we use in our practice to accomplish a typical client’s goals, based on the assets owned.
Your Residence. Use a Qualified personal residence trust to remove the residence from your estate, yet live in it and control it for as long as you live.
Your Business. Transfer your business to the business children using an Intentionally Defective Trust. It removes the business from your estate, transfers business to kids (tax-free to you and the kids), yet allows you to keep control for life (because you retain voting control).
Qualified plans. The funds in these plans are double-taxed, robbing your family of about 75 percent of the plan funds (i.e. the tax collectors get about $750,000 if you have $1 million in the plans, your family receives only $250.000).
Create a Subtrust or retirement plan rescue (RPR) to buy life insurance. This usually triples (or more) the amount you have in the plan, and your heirs get it all tax-free. For example, $1 million in the plan (worth only $250,000 to your family) will turn into $3 million (or more) for your family with a Subtrust or a RPR. And the entire $3 million is tax-free.
All other assets. Transfer these assets (all your assets, except those in the first three categories; for example, publicly traded stocks, bonds, real estate and other investments) to a family limited partnership, which legally reduces the value of these assets for tax purposes by 35 percent (yes, $1 million of real estate, stocks, bonds, etc. are only worth only $650,000 for tax purposes.)
Insurance. Get it out of your corporation and transfer all policies you or your spouse own to an irrevocable life insurance trust (But a Subtrust is best, if you can use it. See 3. above). Also, check out premium financing, a wonderful concept that allows you to buy huge amounts of life insurance ($3 million, $10 million or more) without paying premiums.
Finally, if your estate plan is already done, and it does not effectively eliminate the estate tax, get a second opinion.
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Estate Tax Blog
by Irv Blackman
First and foremost, Irv Blackman is both a CPA and a lawyer. Irv is a tax guy. Stay tuned to the site by signing up for the RSS feed.
