What he wants to accomplish vs. what he needs to accomplish…

As the United States rings in a New Year, it also welcomes a new president. All eyes are trained on Washington in anticipation of what President-elect Donald Trump will tackle in his first 100 days in office. Trump’s initial success will depend on how well he defines his own agenda and how he navigates the difference in details between his goals and the policy priorities of Congressional Republicans. Trump will also need to divide his political capital between the things his administration wants to do versus what it needs to do in the New Year.

Click here to read the Alert by David C. Russell and Miguel Rodriquez.

The 7520 rate for January 2017 has increased to 2.4%.

The January 2017 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

While there is considerable uncertainty among wealth planners and tax professionals regarding how the incoming administration will impact the federal tax code, nearly everyone agrees that change is imminent. With that in mind, we have assembled this chart, which compares current tax rates with President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tax plan, and the House Republicans’ Blueprint plan (released in June, 2016).  Click here.

Bryan Cave’s Private Client Group was recently recognized by US News & World Report’s 2017 “Best Law Firms” as a “National Tier 1” practice in the Trusts and Estates category.

The 7520 rate for November 2016 has remained at 1.6%.

The November 2016 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.

Both presidential candidates have proposed changes to the estate tax regime.  Coming as a surprise to nobody, the proposals are quite different.

Based on the Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period ending August 31, 2016, Thompson Reuters Checkpoint has released their projected inflation-adjusted Estate, Gift, GST tax, and other exclusion amounts for 2017, as follows:

Effective September 2, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service formally put into place amendments to regulations that define who is married for tax purposes.   The new regulations finalize proposed regulations issued in 2015, with only a few minor changes.  The IRS Regulation states that it will interpret the term “husband and wife” as any two people who are married to each other, even if they are a same-sex couple.

In the recent decision, Pfannenstiehl v. Pfannenstiehl, the Massachusetts Judicial Supreme Court overruled the appeals court decision and concluded that assets held in a discretionary trust created by a third party, where the husband is but one potential beneficiary of the trust, is not a marital asset to be divided on divorce.

The 7520 rate for August 2016 has decreased to 1.4%.

The August 2016 Applicable Federal Interest Rates can be found here.