by Arthur Geffen | Oct 14, 2011 | Estate Planning, Estate Tax
It’s easy to gripe about the rich manipulating the rules to lower their tax rates, but sometimes it’s better to simply borrow a few pages from their playbook. Finagling a low tax rate on income – as Warren Buffett talks freely about – might be difficult...
by Arthur Geffen | Oct 4, 2011 | Estate Attorney, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax
The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reminded estates of married individuals dying after 2010 that they must file an estate tax return, before October 31, to pass along their unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount to their surviving spouse. It was...
by Arthur Geffen | Sep 19, 2011 | Estate Planning, Estate Planning Solutions, Estate Tax, IRS
Wealthy taxpayers who want to make large gifts to family members recently got good news: A federal appeals court affirmed a popular technique to sidestep gift taxes. The decision, Estate of Petter v. Commissioner, was published in August by the Ninth Circuit in...
by Arthur Geffen | Sep 13, 2011 | Estate Attorney, Estate Lawyer, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Solutions, Probate
One of the most common estate planning mistakes that people make is joint ownership. For the most part, we’re not talking about when a husband and wife have joint bank accounts or the title to their home is held in both of their names. While not ideal for...
by Arthur Geffen | Aug 17, 2011 | Estate Planning, Estate Planning Solutions, Estate Tax
Wealthy individuals in the U.S. will find it easier to cut their estate-tax bill as a result of a provision for using their deceased spouses’ exemption credit. Everybody has a gift and estate-tax exemption of up to $5 million this year and next. For people who...
by Arthur Geffen | Aug 10, 2011 | Estate Planning, Estate Planning Solutions, Estate Tax
With the current $5 million federal estate tax exemption, you may not be thinking much about estate planning. After all, there’s no way your estate would owe the tax if you happen to die between now and 2013. So no worries, right? Wrong Make This Estate...
