On Friday, March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act” or “Act”). The Act was one of several Congressional responses to the COVID-19 emergency and it covered many areas, including the tax benefits related to charitable giving.

Generally, there are limitations on deductions for charitable contributions for both individual and corporate taxpayers based on the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income (“AGI”), in the case of individuals, and taxable income, in the case of corporations. The CARES Act increases the limit on individual taxpayers’ deductions for cash contributions to public charities from 60% of the individual’s AGI to 100% of the individual’s AGI. This increase effectively suspends the limit for individuals in 2020.  For corporate taxpayers, the CARES Act increased the income limits on the deduction for charitable cash contributions from 10% of the corporation’s taxable income to 25% of the corporation’s

As a strategy to help combat the economic effects of COVID-19, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin announced on Monday, March 16th, that taxpayers are getting a 90-day extension for paying their 2019 income taxes.  The goal is to free up $300 billion in liquidity and to lessen the cash-flow burdens facing the country as businesses are temporarily forced to close or slash their workforce.

What does this mean?

While the deadline to file your taxes is still April 15th, 2020, tax payments that are made by July 15th will have no interest or penalty.  As of today, individuals can defer up to $1 Million, while C corporations get an extension up to $10 million.  The $1 million deferral for individuals is to help

The 7520 rate for September 2019 decreased to 2.2%.

The September 2019 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

The 7520 rate for July 2019 decreased to 2.6%.

The July 2019 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

When a celebrity’s death hits the newswires, it’s often immediately followed by reports of the size of the deceased’s estate and the identity of the beneficiaries.   In addition, not infrequently public battles among the beneficiaries ensue.  Some disputes are the result of the simple (yet, significant) error of dying without an estate plan, as in the Prince estate.  Others provide specific lessons demonstrating the need for attention to detail when creating an estate plan, such as in Tom Petty’s estate.

Tom Petty was a historically-acclaimed singer-songwriter and record producer, who performed as a solo artist and as the lead singer for the Heartbreakers.  Upon his death in October of 2017, his trust directed the trustee, his second wife, to establish an entity to be used to hold and control Petty’s sizable and valuable music catalog.  The terms of the trust ascribing control of the entity provide, as follows:

The 7520 rate for April 2019 has decreased to 3.0%.

The April 2019 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

A recent New York case, Estate of Swezey (NYLJ, 1/17/19 at pp. 23, col. 3) highlights the confusion in the laws of many states regarding the administration and distribution of digital assets at a decedent’s death.  In this case, decedent’s executor asked Apple to turn over decedent’s photographs stored in his iTunes and iCloud account.  No provision in decedent’s Will specifically authorized the executor to access decedent’s digital account.  The Court relied on the relatively new section 13-A in the New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (“EPTL”), Administration of Digital Assets which provides for different procedures for the disclosure of electronic communications, in contrast to the digital assets.  To disclose electronic communication specific user consent is required or a specific court order for an identifiable reason.  Other digital assets, such

The 7520 rate for January 2019 has decreased to 3.4%.

The January 2019 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

Estate tax transcripts can now be accessed online through the IRS website.

“The ability to access those transcripts online is a significant milestone in the Internal Revenue Service’s effort to reduce the number of estate tax closing letter requests and lessen its workload,” said Catherine Hughes, of the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy.

Before June 1, 2015, the IRS issued an estate tax closing letter for every estate tax return filed.  For returns filed on or after that date, the IRS issues a closing letter only at the request of the estate.

In Notice 2017-12, issued in January 2017, the IRS stated that in lieu of closing letters, executors, local probate courts, state tax departments, and others can request an account transcript—a computer-generated report that includes the date on which

The 7520 rate for May 2018 will remain at 3.2%.

The May 2018 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.