Estate & Gift Tax Planning
Reducing the tax on wealth transfer for families whose estates exceed the exemption, or will.
For families with significant real estate, a successful business, or concentrated investments, the federal estate tax is a real cost, and the exemption amount is a moving target set by Congress. Planning ahead of that exposure, while the assets are still appreciating, is where the greatest savings are found. KPLAN Law Group designs and implements estate and gift tax strategies as a core practice, not an afterthought to the basic trust.
The tools are well established: annual and lifetime gifting, irrevocable life insurance trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, intentionally defective grantor trusts, sales to trusts, and generation-skipping planning. What matters is choosing the right ones for the particular family, the particular assets, and the particular appetite for complexity, and then executing them correctly. Our attorney-CPA perspective and our relationship with KYJ, LLP mean valuation, gift tax returns, and ongoing trust accounting are handled as part of the plan.
We also advise on the income tax side of these strategies, including basis planning, so that a transfer that saves estate tax does not cost more in capital gains later.
How we help
- Lifetime gifting programs and use of the gift and estate tax exemption
- Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) and spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs)
- GRATs, IDGTs, and installment sales to grantor trusts
- Generation-skipping transfer tax planning and dynasty trusts
- Valuation discounts for family entities, coordinated with appraisers
- Gift tax returns (Form 709) and estate tax returns (Form 706) with KYJ, LLP