How Bill Gates Can Completely Avoid the Estate Tax

It's no secret that Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest people on the planet. You would think that the IRS will mop up when he dies, collecting billions in estate tax to be redistributed in whatever way our government distributes it - that's another story.

However, there is little doubt that he will take advantage of two "often little known" tax rules to minimize or completely avoid federal estate tax. While I'm speculating that Bill has several trusts to avoid probate and make things simple, here are the two tax rules that Bill will take advantage of:

1.    The Unlimited Marital Deduction. If Bill dies before his wife, Melinda, he will leave his estate in a way so that $0 estate tax will be paid when Bill dies. You can leave an unlimited amount of assets to your surviving spouse when you die, and no estate tax will be due (the idea is that the tax is due after the surviving spouse dies);

2.    The Estate Tax Charitable Deduction. After both Bill and Melinda die, they will leave the bulk of their estate to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Anything you leave at your death to a charity escapes the federal estate tax.

Voila! No estate tax. The richest man in the world will take advantage of two often misunderstood tax principles to avoid a tax that is specifically designed to tax the rich.

If Bill ever calls, I'm sure we'll have a discussion about this. Moral of this story? Make sure you take the necessary actions to protect your estate from the government. Be like Bill!

Will My Family Have to Pay Estate Tax?

I get asked the following question often "will my family have to pay estate tax when I die?" For 99% of the population, the answer to that question is no. An individual can pass up to $5.25 million in 2013 Estate Tax Free. In 2014, each person has a credit of up to $5.34 million. Furthermore, as of last year,  spouses may combine their unused individual credit amounts and pass on up to $10.68 million at the death of the second spouse (In 2014, current law is $10.5 million), assuming none of the credits were used during their lifetimes.

To calculate the value of an estate to see if it is above or below that threshold (again, only about 1% of people exceed the threshold), take the fair market value of the items (generally at the date of death), not necessarily what you paid for them or what their values were when you acquired them. The total of all of these items is your "Gross Estate." The includible property may consist of cash and securities, real estate, insurance, trusts, annuities, business interests, and other assets.

Once you have accounted for the Gross Estate, certain deductions (and in special circumstances, reductions to value) are allowed in arriving at your "Taxable Estate." These deductions may include mortgages and other debts, estate administration expenses, property that passes to surviving spouses, and qualified charities. The value of some operating business interests or farms may be reduced for estates that qualify. 

Estates in excess of the exemption can utilize advanced planning techniques to address the potential estate tax liabilities.

For those of us that do not have potential estate tax problems the basic benefits of estate planning are as significant as ever, if not more so when considering the back log of probate courts. Probate is generally a very costly, inefficient and unnecessary way to transfer property. And don't even get me started on Conservatorships (living probates), which is what happens when someone loses mental capacity without having a proper disability plan documents (generally powers of attorneys and living trusts) in place. 

Basic Estate planning allows you to control your property while you are alive and well, provide for the handling of your affairs if you become disabled, and give your property at death to who you want, when and how you want to leave ot to them. It is a necessary part of any financial plan. If you have life insurance, or a home, or a child, your family needs and deserves a proper estate plan.

Why Not Just Repeal the Estate Tax?

In a Stanford Law Review Article, Professor  Edward J. McCaffery wrote an interesting piece discussing  Estate Tax (Death Tax) Reform and had the following to say:

"neither Obama nor any other Democrat is going to call for a stronger tax, for the simple reason that he or she would be tarred and feathered by the upper-middle class mobs who, in a time of falling stock markets and evaporating home equity, would suddenly be hearing from every business reporter that they just had to go see a lawyer or other planner to avoid this deadly tax. 

Why not just repeal the tax then, as Republicans have been seeking for decades by now? Because if that ever happened, the spigot would turn off, and the money from campaign contributions would dry up. It is important to understand that TRA 2010 had a very big winner—the financiers who perpetuate “Dynasty” and “Perpetual” trusts. A 2005 study estimated that such trusts held roughly $100 billion in assets, mainly in South Dakota, an early mover in eliminating the rule against perpetuities (okay, so some good might be coming from this story). These trusts are set up to limit distributions and to last for a very long time. Who benefits? For one, a very large class of trust companies and other financial intermediaries. Take a small piece of that enormous pie (say, 1% or 0.5% per year) in fees for assets under management, then lock the underlying assets up into perpetuity, and you will do very well for yourself. The increase in the current gift tax exemption to $5 million greatly helped this group of financiers. Wealthy families, like those of the Facebook founders, can get the dynasty-trust game going now, using their families’ $5 to $10 million in exemptions. The rich setting up dynasty trusts are willing to pay their advisers for the privilege of avoiding transfer taxes forever. Those advisers and financial intermediaries, in turn, are willing to pay Congress to keep the fear of a death tax—and hence their lucrative business model—alive (forever). Congress is happy to cash the checks.

On the estate tax, then, it is easy to predict what will happen: not much. We will not see a return to year 2000 levels, and we will not see repeal. The one cautionary note I must add is that, going back to the game, something has to happen sometime, or the parties paying Congress and lobbyists will wise up and stop paying to play. But that has not kicked in yet, decades into the story, and it may not kick in until more people read this Essay, and start to watch the watchdogs. Fat chance of that happening, too, I suppose. In the meantime, without a meaningful wealth-transfer tax (the gift and estate taxes raise a very minimal amount of revenue and may even lose money when the income tax savings of standard estate-planning techniques, such as charitable and life insurance trusts, are taken into account), one fundamental insight of the special interest model continue to obtain. Big groups with small stakes—that is, most of us—continue to pay through increasingly burdensome middle class taxes for most of what government does, including stringing along those “lucky” enough to be members of a special interest group. It’s a variant of a very old story, and it is time to stop keeping it secret."

The Article is Available online at http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/online/dirty-little-secret-estate-tax-reform.

Succession Planning in Uncertain Times

These are challenging times for analyzing potential estate tax burdens. Last year, individuals could pass $3.5 million in assets upon their death free of federal estate taxes. Now in 2010, there is no federal estate tax whatsoever (maybe). Next year, current law would revert the exemption back to $1 million.

The impact of a $1-million estate tax exemption is significant. Many more Americans will potentially be faced with a maximum estate tax rate of 55%. Whether the law will change at this point is uncertain. A bill was recently introduced that would increase the exemption to $3.5 million retroactively back to Jan. 1. Unfortunately, the reality is that we simply do not know what will happen.

Whether a new estate tax law is enacted, or we revert to a $1 million exemption, the best approach is to put a sound, well thought-out estate plan in place now. This article outlines various tools available to reduce or even eliminate the estate tax burden, regardless of the exemption amount.

1. Properly drafted living trusts

Living Trusts have become an increasingly popular technique for avoiding lengthy, expensive and public court processes such as probates and conservatorships in the event of a person’s death or mental incapacity. Probate avoidance alone can mean large savings in the cost of estate administration.

Beyond saving estate administration costs and maintaining privacy, a properly drafted Living Trust can also mean substantial estate tax savings. For example, suppose Husband and Wife, with a taxable estate of $2 million, have a simple Living Trust that directs the transfer of all of their property to the other upon the first spouse’s death, and equally to their children thereafter. Assume Husband dies first, leaving everything to Wife. On Husband’s death, no estate tax will be owed because of the unlimited marital deduction, which defers estate taxes until a surviving spouse’s death. When Wife dies, however, she will only be able to pass the exemption amount in the year of her death before triggering an estate tax. Therefore, assuming an exemption of only $1 million when Wife dies, the children would receive approximately 50 cents on the dollar for all assets in excess of $1 million.

A better plan for Husband and Wife would have provided that an amount up to the exemption would be left in a tax-sheltered trust, frequently referred to as a “bypass trust,” for Wife’s benefit. Wife could then use the bypass trust to support herself during her lifetime, with the bypass trust going to the children free of estate taxes upon Wife’s death.

2. Planned gifting beyond the living trust

For wealthier individuals, basic Living Trust-based tax planning is not enough. In those situations, consider reducing the size of the estate through techniques such as those discussed below.

A. Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust

Suppose Husband and Wife were unable to totally avoid estate taxes despite the use of a bypass trust. In those cases, serious consideration should be given to preparing a specially designed trust commonly known as an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, or “ILIT.” If an ILIT is used to purchase life insurance, death benefits are kept out of the estates of both Husband and Wife (and therefore not subject to estate tax). The difference between having Husband or Wife own the policy, as opposed to having it owned by an ILIT, is staggering. For example, a $1 million life insurance policy kept out of the parents’ estates can prevent the children from having to pay roughly $500,000 of those proceeds for estate taxes. That means the full $1 million can pass to the children income and estate tax free.

B. Family Limited Partnerships (FLP’s) and Family Limited Liability Companies (FLLC’s)

Think of these entities just as you would any business, except they are owned by members of the same family. Parents initially contribute certain assets into a partnership or LLC in a manner that allows them to retain full control over those assets (just as any general partner or managing member would). The power for estate tax reduction comes from giving interests in these entities to the next generation during the parents’ lifetime. Since the gifts typically involve minority interests, the gift tax value can be discounted to reflect lack of marketability and control.
In many cases, these types of gifts have been discounted 40% or more. A 40% discount on a family entity could potentially provide for a gift-tax-free transfer of over $1.3 million more than could be achieved without the use of such an entity. Further, all income and appreciation flowing from the gifted property escapes both income and estate taxation at the parents’ generation. It may be important to act quickly with this type of gifting strategy, as there is a significant threat of legislation greatly reducing or even eliminating these discounts.

C. Charitable Giving

Where one has true donative intent, charitable contributions through gifts made outright or in trust may reduce the taxable estate. Private foundations are also becoming a popular tool for charitable giving. These arrangements are beyond the scope of this article, but merit consideration for the charitably inclined.

Conclusion

Planning for the worst in these uncertain times is critical. Regardless of estate size, proper planning will reduce both time and expense in estate administration, and leave loved ones with the clarity they deserve.

Eliminating Capital Gain on Real Estate Owned By Married Couples: A Simple Yet Critical Strategy

How do you hold title to your home? Odds are, if you are married and purchased real estate with your spouse, you elected to hold the property as Joint Tenants. This has been the common practice recommended by many real estate agents, lenders, and attorneys for quite some time. The advantage to holding property in Joint Tenancy is that when the first spouse passes away, the deceased spouse’s one-half interest in the property automatically passes to the surviving spouse with little to no transfer cost. Provided that such a transfer of ownership was the couples’ objective upon the first spouse’s death, holding property as Joint Tenants seems like a no brainer.

Here’s the downside: If you hold real estate in Joint Tenancy with your spouse, you are missing out on significant tax benefits that are available under another method of holding title (which has all of the benefits of Joint Tenancy discussed above) that we’ll discuss in just a moment. First however, we need to understand the basics of calculating capital gain for tax purposes under the traditional Joint Tenancy method. Here’s how it works … when the first spouse passes away, the surviving spouse receives a “step up” in cost basis equal to 50% of the market value of the property at the time of the first spouse’s death (cost basis is, essentially, what you paid to purchase the property). The remaining 50% of the property retains the surviving spouse’s original basis. This concept is best illustrated through an example:

Max and Marge bought a house and took title as Joint Tenants. They paid $200,000 for the home (their cost basis for the purposes of calculating capital gain is therefore $200,000). Thirty years later, Max passes away. At the time of Max’s death, the property has increased in value to $1,150,000 (this assumes an annual appreciation of 6% over a 30 year period). Since Marge gets a “step up” in cost basis to 50% of that amount ($575,000), her new cost basis is $775,000 (her initial basis of $200,000 + Max’s stepped up basis of $575,000). Assuming that Marge chooses to downsize and sell the family home immediately, she will have capital gain in the amount of $375,000 ($1,150,000 sales price – her new $775,000 cost basis). At best (assuming Marge had lived in the home for 2 out of the last 5 years), she will have $250,000 of that $375,000 exempt from capital gains tax. But she’s still left subject to capital gains tax on $125,000 when she sells. This will result in a pretty hefty tax bill.

Fortunately, there is a better option. Since July 1, 2001, married couples have been able to take title to real estate as Community Property with Right of Survivorship. The “Community Property” designation will entitle the surviving spouse to a “double step up” in cost basis equal to 100% of the market value of the property at the time of the first spouse’s death. Therefore, in the example above, Marge’s new cost basis will be the full market value of $1,150,000, and she will be able to sell the property for zero capital gain. Moreover, if she chooses to remain in the residence (or even rent it out for a few years), she will still be able to rack up an additional $250,000 in appreciation and sell it tax free down the line.

It is important to note the significance adding the of the “with Right of Survivorship” language to the Community Property designation. That is what enables the surviving spouse to automatically inherit the deceased spouse’s one-half interest in the property with little to no transfer cost (the same benefit of Joint Tenancy that is often so appealing to married couples). If the property were only taken as Community Property without the “with Right of Survivorship” language, a court process would be required to transfer the deceased spouse’s one-half interest over to the surviving spouse. Therefore, if the couples’ objective is for the survivor to receive full ownership and control over property, opting for the “with Right of Survivorship” designation makes perfect sense.

If you are buying a new home or refinancing and would like to take advantage of taking title as Community Property with Right of Survivorship, it is as simple as checking the appropriate box in your closing documents. If you already own a home in Joint Tenancy and would like to change how you hold title, no problem. You can simply sign a new deed transferring your property from yourselves as Joint Tenants, to yourselves as Community Property with Right of Survivorship. Ask your title company or a competent attorney to assist you.

Trusts in 1 Minute (Video)

The video below provides a helpful overview of how trusts differ from wills and demonstrates how they are superior planning vehicles.

http://video.about.com/wills/What-Is-a-Will-.htm