Estate Planning Tools & Techniques Self-Study Webinar

To guide CPAs and other tax practitioners through complex estate planning issues and strategies designed to maximize tax-saving opportunities. The self-study webinar will provide you with a level of comfort when advising on the use of proven tools and techniques for handling estate and gift taxes.

DETAILED LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Recognize the limitation of the marital deduction

• Recognize the current maximum transfer tax rate

• Identify the steps necessary for a surviving spouse to utilize the deceases spousal unused exclusion (DSUE)  

• Recognize the benefits of making a taxable gift above and beyond the donor’s lifetime exemption, requiring payment of gift tax

• Recognize the window of opportunity for the use of the “alternate valuation date” for estate assets

• Identify the IRC Sections specifying estate assets includible in the decedent’s gross estate

• Identify the characteristics of grantor trusts 

• Identify the IRC Sections specifying income includible in a grantor’s taxable income

• Recognize the circumstances under which family loans can produce tax savings

• Identify the interest rate applicable to loans to family members

• Recognize the circumstances under which installment sales to family members can produce tax savings

• Recognize the estate tax ramifications of a remainder interest in property

• Identify the estate and income tax ramifications of a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT)

• Identify the maximum allowable annual increase in a GRAT annuity 

• Recommend potential disadvantages of GRATs in estate planning 

• Identify the minimum GRAT term under current proposed legislation 

• Recognize the income tax ramifications of an intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT)

• Identify the recommended term of an IDGT promissory note to insure status as debt and not equity

• Identify potential risks with the use of an IDGT in estate planning

• Identify common characteristics of buy-sell agreements

• Recognize specific issues to consider when using buy-sell agreements in succession planning

• Recognize the tax ramifications of the use of IRC Section 754 adjustments 

• Identify taxation similarities between S Corporations and LLCs 

• Identify how to determine an owner’s basis in entity stock under IRC Section 358 or membership interest under IRC Section 722 

• Identify the tax treatment of current partnership (LLC) cash distributions

• Recognize the tax ramifications of the sale of an LLC interest taxed as a partnership 

• Recognize the payment option upon the sale of a business that requires the seller to recognize the gain “up-front”

• Identify examples of income in respect of a decedent (IRD)

• Gift Tax Issues
• Inclusions in the Federal Gross Estate
• Life Insurance as an Estate Planning Tool
• Succession Planning
  – S-Corporations vs. LLCs
  – Entity operations
  – Pass-through taxation
  – Federal income tax issues
  – Section 754 election
  – Distributions for consideration
  – Sale by S Corporation
• Selected Issues in Buy-Sell Agreements
  – Differences from an asset sale
  – Section 754 election
• Aftermath of the Connelly Case
• Death of a Business Owner Who Has No Formal Agreement Regarding Business Continuation
• Advising Fiduciaries
• Grantor Trusts
  – Federal Estate Tax Statutory Framework
  – Federal Income Tax Statutory Framework
  – Sections 671 thru 678
  – When grantor trust status is desirable