A Gift to a Married Couple is a Gift to Both of Them
It’s not uncommon for family members to make a gift to a married couple. Usually, when a generous family member contemplates the couple, they assume that the marriage will continue. It also allows for a doubling of the annual gift tax exclusion amount (the well-known $15,000 figure). But sometimes the gift was really intended to […]
Want to Help Loved Ones? Know the Rules
We’ve seen the headlines: hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, millions have filed for unemployment, the economy is getting slammed. Chances are, someone you know and love is suffering, too. Considering the wide-spread coronavirus damage, you may want to help ease the pain. If you find that you want to help, there are rules around […]
New Estate Tax Limits Highlight Need to Plan
Every year, the IRS announces inflation-adjusted numbers for all kinds of tax-related things. Estate and gift tax limits are among them, and the 2020 numbers are here. The new estate tax limits will be $11.58 million per person, up from $11.4 million. The same figure applies to lifetime gift tax exclusion, as well. That means […]
Why You Aren’t Really Limited to $14,000 in Gifts Each Year
APRIL 27, 2015 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 16 There is so much misinformation (and misunderstanding) around gift taxes, that we thought we would take a few moments and try to straighten out the confusion. Let’s start at the end: if you live in Arizona, and are not fabulously wealthy, you probably don’t actually care very much […]
Gift Tax Limit Will Rise to $14,000 in 2013
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 42 Here’s the headline: the annual gift tax exclusion amount, which has been set at $13,000 per year since 2009, will increase next year by $1,000. That means you can give up to the higher figure ($14,000) to any one other person without having to file a federal gift […]
Disclaimer Ineffective When Signed After Accepting Benefit of Property
AUGUST 13, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 31 A recent Arizona appellate court decision gives us an excuse (not that we really needed one) to write about an arcane planning technique: disclaimer. How do you disclaim an interest in property, and why might you want to? We’ll see if we can give you an introduction to […]
New Tax Law Will Mean More Planning Is Necessary, Not Less
JUNE 18, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 51 Last week Elder Law Issues predicted that the principal effect of the federal government’s estate tax repeal would be to make most people revisit their estate plans (and their attorney) more often. Because of the automatic “sunset” of the repeal measure in 2011, any plan addressing the changes […]
What Estate Tax Repeal Means For Most Taxpayers: Not Much
JUNE 11, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 50 On June 7, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Despite extensive media coverage of tax reform, and especially of estate tax repeal, over the past six months, you may have been left wondering what it means. It turns […]
