Preservation | Family Wealth Protection & Planning

This is the fifth installment in a blog series on opportunities for tax planning in the current low-interest rate environment. Read our previous installments here. Future installments will cover installment sales to defective grantor trusts and charitable giving.

This is the fourth installment in a blog series on opportunities for tax planning in the current low-interest rate environment. Read our previous installments here. Future installments will cover family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, installment sales to defective grantor trusts, and charitable giving.

This is the third installment in a seven-part blog series on opportunities for tax planning in the current low-interest rate environment. Read our previous installments here. Future installments will cover creating Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, installment sales to defective grantor trusts, and charitable giving.

This is the second installment in a blog series on opportunities for tax planning in the current low-interest rate environment. Read our overview in Part 1 here. Future installments will cover making or refinancing loans, creating Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, installment sales to defective grantor trusts, and charitable giving.

This is the first in a blog series on opportunities for tax planning in the current uncertain, low-interest rate environment. Future installments will cover one-time and annual gifting, making or refinancing loans, creating Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, installment sales to defective grantor trusts, and charitable giving.

Pursuant to authority granted to the Secretary of the Treasury by President Trump on March 13, 2020 in an emergency declaration, the Treasury and IRS have released a series of Notices postponing both the due date for filing Federal income tax returns, as well as making Federal income tax payments, from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020.

On March 27, 2020, the IRS published Notice 2020-20 postponing the deadline to file Forms 709, gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax returns, along with any associated gift and GST tax payments, from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. (see the blog discussing this in more detail here).

The Internal Revenue Service has released the Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for March 2020. AFRs are published monthly and represent the minimum interest rates that should be charged for family loans to avoid tax complications.

Here are the rates for March 2020: 

How many times have you prepared your income tax returns for the previous year, only wishing you knew then what you know now, so you could go back and make more advantageous tax decisions? In most cases, you are stuck with the decisions you made before the new tax year began, even though you may not have all the relevant tax information available to assist with those decisions until several months into the new tax year. Too bad for you, says the IRS, unless you are an estate or trust.

The Internal Revenue Service has released the Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for February 2020. AFRs are published monthly and represent the minimum interest rates that should be charged for family loans to avoid tax complications.

Here are the rates for February 2020:

The Internal Revenue Service recently published its annual inflation-adjusted figures for 2020 for estate and trust income tax brackets, as well as the exemption amounts for estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) taxes. These figures are adjusted annually for cost-of-living increases.

Below is a summary of the 2020 figures. The original news release from the IRS may be found here.