Estate, Gift And Trust Tax Services

The administration of an estate can begin as a very personal endeavor but, without expert support from financial planning and tax specialists, can quickly become a complex and technical one. State estate taxes, income taxes and other elements of estate planning must be considered to achieve the most beneficial outcomes for trustees and beneficiaries.

Other considerations include determining who will receive one’s property, investigating the benefits of donations before death, understanding the impact of estate taxes on assets that remain for beneficiaries and developing a strategy to maximize the property that remains for minors after liabilities have been paid out.

The orderly transition of assets to current and future generations requires the skills of competent financial advisors to guide you through the intricacies of estate taxation.  Our accountants will guide you through the pros and cons of life-time giving versus post-death distributions of one’s estate, and counsel with you and your estate tax attorney in getting your financial affairs in order.

While smaller cash gifts to individuals can be tax-exempt annually, larger contributions require annual reporting and potential utilization of an individual’s unified transfer tax credit or actual payment of gift tax.  Our tax professionals work closely with your estate team to properly file Form 709 and the related disclosure documents relating to gifts to ensure compliance with IRS rules and regulations.

Trusts are an effective vehicle of preserving the assets provided for the short-term or long-term objectives of a transferor of wealth to beneficiaries.  We advise you and prepare the annual Form 1041 reporting for simple and complex trusts, to ensure compliance with trust agreements and computing taxable income and tax attributes allocable to both the trust corpus and trust beneficiaries for both federal and state purposes.

The final wrap-up of an estate requires the filing of the IRS Form 706, and the computation of unified tax credits utilized during one’s lifetime and at date of death.  Our tax professionals will assist the executors and/or trustees in the decision-making process to minimize tax exposure and maximize the wealth passed on to one’s beneficiaries.