Don’t Miss These 4 Estate Planning Opportunities!

Do you have a succession plan for your business? If you haven’t started your plan or if it’s been a while since you looked at it, talk to your attorney and your accountant; it’s important to make sure everything is in order long before the plan will be executed. And now’s the perfect time to plan because four extremely important estate planning opportunities are likely to be reduced or eliminated in the near future!

1. Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts – IDGTs or “grantor trusts” currently allow donors to pay the income tax on the trust income that is paid to or accumulated for heirs without it being treated as a taxable gift by the donor. This is one of the most powerful estate planning tools and yet it is high on the list of items to be eliminated.
2. Valuation Discount – The IRS is expected to soon issue regulations that will restrict or eliminate valuation discounts for transfers of interests in family-controlled businesses.
3. Record-Low Interest Rates – Interest rates used for estate planning techniques are still in the 1% range (historical lows), but there is pressure to increase rates in the near term.
4. Exemption Levels – The current $5,250,000 exemption per donor for the estate, gift and generation-skipping tax may be cut back to 2009 levels of $3,500,000 for estate tax and only $1,000,000 for gifts (less than 1/5^th of the current gift tax exemption).

If you’re a business owner who wants to learn more about planning for your future and the future of your business, join me this Friday for a free breakfast seminar called “Kaufman, Rossin Presents: Estate Planning Hazards & Home Runs.”  I will share true stories of the hazards I’ve seen from business owners who didn’t address estate and trust planning … and the home runs that have resulted from smart, timely planning. You’ll learn why it’s important to address this now, and the risks you take by procrastinating.

If you’re an entrepreneur and would like to attend, please contact Heather Freeland at 305-646-6097 or hfreeland@kaufmanrossin.com. If you can’t make it to the seminar, you can follow the conversation live on Twitter by following @KaufmanRossin and using hashtag #KRPresents.