SecondCor521
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Hi all,
Does anyone have any thoughts on reasonable ways to minimize estate taxes?
The current exemption is about $11.58M, scheduled to drop to ~$6M in 2026, and there is the potential for the law to be changed in various ways to make the estate tax more aggressive (lower exemption amount, higher rate, changes to step-up).
I include the word "reasonable" in my question because I'd like to avoid aggressive or shady things that might be suggested to me by Facebook sponsored posts or the wilds of the Internet. I figure y'all are relatively reasonable folks who may have considered the question or have experience with it.
Assume no spouse. Assume kid/grandkid heirs. Assume ~25% federal marginal tax bracket.
Specific but still general questions:
1. How do you plan around such wide potential changes in the law? Someone with $3M today is probably pretty relaxed unless the exemption drops to $1M, but that change would result in a ~$800K tax bill, which is more than two Chipotle burritos.
2. Does the law in this area change with enough advance notice to where reasonable strategies can be implemented fast enough to make an appreciable difference?
3. If you're facing this question, how are you approaching the issue regarding tradeoffs between (a) income taxes now vs. estate taxes later, (b) retaining enough money to support the person vs. avoiding estate taxes, (c) tax rates of the owner vs. tax rates of the beneficiary, (d) other tradeoffs I may not have thought of.
4. How likely do you think it is that this area of the law will be changed and when and why? (Yeah, yeah, broken crystal balls. I know.)
Please avoid political and moral discussions and stick to strategies.
Thanks.
Does anyone have any thoughts on reasonable ways to minimize estate taxes?
The current exemption is about $11.58M, scheduled to drop to ~$6M in 2026, and there is the potential for the law to be changed in various ways to make the estate tax more aggressive (lower exemption amount, higher rate, changes to step-up).
I include the word "reasonable" in my question because I'd like to avoid aggressive or shady things that might be suggested to me by Facebook sponsored posts or the wilds of the Internet. I figure y'all are relatively reasonable folks who may have considered the question or have experience with it.
Assume no spouse. Assume kid/grandkid heirs. Assume ~25% federal marginal tax bracket.
Specific but still general questions:
1. How do you plan around such wide potential changes in the law? Someone with $3M today is probably pretty relaxed unless the exemption drops to $1M, but that change would result in a ~$800K tax bill, which is more than two Chipotle burritos.
2. Does the law in this area change with enough advance notice to where reasonable strategies can be implemented fast enough to make an appreciable difference?
3. If you're facing this question, how are you approaching the issue regarding tradeoffs between (a) income taxes now vs. estate taxes later, (b) retaining enough money to support the person vs. avoiding estate taxes, (c) tax rates of the owner vs. tax rates of the beneficiary, (d) other tradeoffs I may not have thought of.
4. How likely do you think it is that this area of the law will be changed and when and why? (Yeah, yeah, broken crystal balls. I know.)
Please avoid political and moral discussions and stick to strategies.
Thanks.