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.

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.

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

The 7520 rate for July 2016 has remained at 1.8%.

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

The Department of the Treasury has released the Treasury Green Book  for Fiscal Year 2017, which provides explanations of the President’s budget proposals.  One such proposal (remember…these are just proposals, not actual changes in the law) that may affect your estate planning, if passed, is found on page 252 of the Green Book and is re-printed here for your convenience:

CONSOLIDATE CONTRIBUTION LIMITATIONS FOR CHARITABLE DEDUCTIONS AND EXTEND THE CARRYFORWARD PERIOD FOR EXCESS CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION DEDUCTION AMOUNTS

Current Law

Current law limits the amount of charitable contribution deductions a donor may claim to a share of the donor’s contribution base (the taxpayer’s AGI computed without regard to any net operating loss carryback for the taxable year). An individual taxpayer may generally deduct up to 50 percent of his or her contribution base for contributions of cash to public charities, and up to 30 percent for cash contributions to

The Department of the Treasury has released the Treasury Green Book  for Fiscal Year 2017, which provides explanations of the President’s budget proposals.  One such proposal (remember…these are just proposals, not actual changes in the law) that may affect your estate planning, if passed, is found on page 240 of the Green Book and is re-printed here for your convenience:

REFORM EXCISE TAX BASED ON INVESTMENT INCOME OF PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS

Current Law

Private foundations that are exempt from Federal income tax generally are subject to a two percent excise tax on their net investment income. The excise tax rate is reduced to one percent in any year in which the foundation’s distributions for charitable purposes exceed the average level of the foundation’s charitable distributions over the five preceding taxable years (with certain adjustments). Private foundations that are not exempt from Federal income tax, including certain charitable trusts, must

The Department of the Treasury has released the Treasury Green Book  for Fiscal Year 2017, which provides explanations of the President’s budget proposals.  One such proposal (remember…these are just proposals, not actual changes in the law) that may affect your estate planning, if passed, is found on page 164 of the Green Book and is re-printed here for your convenience:

REQUIRE NON-SPOUSE BENEFICIARIES OF DECEASED IRA OWNERS AND RETIREMENT PLAN PARTICIPANTS TO TAKE INHERITED DISTRIBUTIONS OVER NO MORE THAN FIVE YEARS

Current Law

Minimum distribution rules apply to employer sponsored tax-favored retirement plans and to IRAs. In general, under these rules, distributions must begin no later than the required beginning date and a minimum amount must be distributed each year. For traditional IRAs, the required beginning date is April 1 following the calendar year in which the IRA owner attains age 70½. For employer-sponsored tax-favored retirement plans, the

The Department of the Treasury has released the Treasury Green Book  for Fiscal Year 2017, which provides explanations of the President’s budget proposals.  One such proposal (remember…these are just proposals, not actual changes in the law) that may affect your estate planning, if passed, is found on page 189 of the Green Book and is re-printed here for your convenience:

EXPAND APPLICABILITY OF DEFINITION OF EXECUTOR

Current Law

The Code defines “executor” for purposes of the estate tax to be the person who is appointed, qualified, and acting within the United States as executor or administrator of the decedent’s estate or, if none, then “any person in actual or constructive possession of any property of the decedent.” This could include, for example, the trustee of the decedent’s revocable trust, an IRA or life insurance beneficiary, or a surviving joint tenant of jointly owned property.

The Department of the Treasury has released the Treasury Green Book  for Fiscal Year 2017, which provides explanations of the President’s budget proposals.  One such proposal (remember…these are just proposals, not actual changes in the law) that may affect your estate planning, if passed, is found on page 187 of the Green Book and is re-printed here for your convenience:

SIMPLIFY GIFT TAX EXCLUSION FOR ANNUAL GIFTS

Current Law

The first $14,000 of gifts made to each donee in 2016 is excluded from the donor’s taxable gifts (and therefore does not use up any of the donor’s applicable exclusion amount for gift and estate tax purposes). This annual gift tax exclusion is indexed for inflation and there is no limit on the number of donees to whom such excluded gifts may be made by a donor in any one year. To qualify for this exclusion, each gift must

The Department of the Treasury has released the Treasury Green Book  for Fiscal Year 2017, which provides explanations of the President’s budget proposals.  One such proposal (remember…these are just proposals, not actual changes in the law) that may affect your estate planning, if passed, is found on page 186 of the Green Book and is re-printed here for your convenience:

MODIFY GENERATION-SKIPPING TRANSFER (GST) TAX TREATMENT OF HEALTH AND EDUCATION EXCLUSION TRUSTS (HEETS)

Current Law

Payments made by a donor directly to the provider of medical care for another person or directly to a school for another person’s tuition are exempt from gift tax under section 2503(e). For purposes of the GST tax, section 2611(b)(1) excludes “any transfer which, if made during the donor’s life, would not be treated as a taxable gift by reason of section 2503(e).” Thus, direct payments made during life by an older generation donor