Alternative Minimum Tax Essay Example for Free

Alternative Minimum Tax Essay Good to hear from you Alex. Estate and gift tax can be a burden so let me help you clear the air and give you a fresh take on what to do. First I’m going to want to explain to you the estate tax formula. Then I will discuss the interplay between gift and estate taxes. I have a few strategies for you to minimize estate taxes that I can let you in on and will help you on the long run. I would also like to explain the generation-skipping transfer tax and its relationship to gift and estate tax, because this might relate to you. From all this I will give you my advice on whether to invest in your son and his business idea. I would like to explain the estate tax formula and how it is computed. The first step is to gather or compile the gross estate and that consists of all the property in which you have an interest in. This would be the total dollar value of all the property and assets you have at the time of your death. The gross estate figure will be before liabilities like debt and taxes are deducted. The next step will be to subtract all the debt, funeral, and administration expenses. This will give you the adjusted gross estate. We would then normally subtract the property passing to the surviving spouse. In your case, your spouse no longer plays a factor but that may come to play if you decide to remarry and include your possible future spouse in your will. After we have taken out these items we would come up with your taxable estate. We will have to add the adjusted taxable gifts. This would be the excess of $13,000 annual gift exclusion amount. Under some special circumstances, if the gift was included in the gross estate it would not have to be reported again. Once this is done we will have you estate tax base. We then can find your tentative estate tax from the tax table. Our next step would be to subtract gift taxes payable on gifts includible in the estate tax base. We also have to subtract the applicable credit amount. The applicable credit is also known as the unified credit. This credit applies to both the gift and estate taxes. In 2012 the maximum unified credit is at $1,772,800 and the applicable exclusion amount is at $5,120,000. If after all this is done and a tax is still payable we will subtract other possible credits. These credits would include state tax credits, the credit for prior transfers and the foreign tax credit. The final result would be the tax payable that is due with the estate tax return. Gift and estate taxes work together and there is a specific purpose to that. While you are alive, and gift transfers may be subject to the federal gift tax. After your death, the estate transfers (property and assets) may be subject to federal estate tax. The reason these two taxes work together is so at the time of your death you cannot avoid the estate tax by giving away your property. The one good thing is that they both have exclusions that we can take advantage to avoid taxes. A gift and estate lifetime exclusion can work together to allow you to transfer up to $5,120,000 of lifetime gifts. They both will not be imposed with gift or estate tax. Anything after this exclusion will be subject to the 35% tax rate and that goes for both gift and estate tax. Another way they are intertwined is that if you have to make large gift tax payments during your lifetime this would result in lower estate taxes. In some circumstances the combine total of the early gift taxes and the later estate tax would give you an even lower estate tax that you would have gotten with the estate tax alone. This would then allow you to pass on even higher values to your beneficiaries. There are a few estate tax strategies that I want you in on and that will eventually lower you estate tax. First is marital transfer, which neither lifetime gifts nor bequests at death to one’s spouse are subject to estate taxes. This type of transfer might be an incentive for you to remarry but don’t recommend that be your only reason for remarriage. Another strategy is lifetime gifts to children and grandchildren. An example of this is to give annual gifts of $12,000 to any number of persons. By giving this gift a husband and wife can give a collective amount of $24,000 per year per recipient without having to incur a gift tax. This can add up to a substantial amount over a number of years. Uniform transfer to minors is another option. You can accomplish this by gifting to the children that are still minors which is usually given to a custodian for the benefit of the child. This would be distributed to the child when the child reaches 18 and like other gifts would be subject to an annual exclusion for lifetime gifts. Irrevocable life insurance trusts are available for you to use. To do this you would be transferring small amounts of your estate that are equal to the amount of a life insurance premium to an irrevocable life insurance trust. When this is done, you will be reducing your taxable estate and creating a much larger asset outside of the estate. The life insurance proceeds are generally not taxable. A private annuity can be made to make a sale of an asset to a younger generation in exchange for an unsecured promise. This promise is to pay annual amounts to the seller for the seller’s lifetime. Furthermore, charitable transfers can reduce the size of the estate and thereby reduce the estate taxes. Lifetime gifts provide an additional benefit of an income tax deduction. This last one I think is one of your best bets for transferring your estate to your child or children. A family limited partnership can provide a valuable estate planning tool to assist your family in transferring ownership of family owned businesses. This would also help protect your family assets from creditors as an added bonus. Considering that you will be making larger amounts of money, this option permits taxation of partnership income at your child’s lower tax rates. This plan offers plenty of intriguing options but also the added features of the family limited partnership flexibility and revocability. With your son’s possible criminal record, this gives you control in case things don’t pan out like you wish. What is generation skipping transfer? A generation skipping transfer is shift of property by gift to a person who is two or more generations below that of you. For years wealthy individuals gave away their fortune or property to grandchildren without paying federal estate taxes. This tax was made to prevent people avoiding this tax by skipping generations. This tax is only due when a skip person receives amount in excess of GST estate tax credit. One good thing is that most people will never encounter the GST tax because the tax credit levels are pretty high. Currently taxpayers are entitled to a $5 million GST tax exemption. Leaving a dynasty trust offers two advantages to the GST exemption. One is that the trust will escape all transfer taxes when the child dies. I would then pass tax-free to the grandchildren. The trust can be protected from the claims of creditors and to some extent, money seeking ex-spouses. Overall I hope I have given you some ideas on what to do and how to avoid estate taxes. Estate taxes can be avoided and you don’t have to take it sitting down. There are plenty of tax loopholes that you can still take advantage of. Now for the matter of your son it is in my personal recommendation for you not to just give your child, Jackson, the gift of three million. As there will be a gift tax that will apply to it for this current year that can be avoided. Instead I hope you decide to make a family limited partnership as to give you control of that money and still give your son the opportunity to pursue his dream to make custom cabinets. Eventually you can leave the company to Jackson after you know that the felony charges will not affect him and he has shown promise in maintaining the company. This once again is my recommendation but you have the option to do as you see fit. You are not limited to this and we can always work together to find something that will fit your c hildren or family needs.