How Could Tax Reform Impact Estate Taxes?

Oklahoma City elder law lawyers provide help to families in creating estate plans to protects their legacies. To ensure your legacy is able to provide for the people you love, you need to do everything possible to minimize risk of loss in value when assets are transferred from one generation to the next. 

Many different things can cause the value of an inheritance to decline, including choosing the wrong executor and mismanagement of assets. One reason why heirs or beneficiaries inherit less than the full value of an estate is a the Federal estate tax collected by the government. Estate tax is charged on larger estates. It is paid from the estate assets and can be a substantial amount of money.

If you don’t want the wealth you have worked for all of your life to be diverted to the government upon your death, you need to plan in advance to avoid losing assets to estate tax. Parman & Easterday provides help with this tax avoidance planning, which includes strategic ways to transfer assets both during your lifetime and after your death, so your estate will not be hit with federal estate tax.

We only know what the tax laws are today.  Tax reform could mean this is no longer an issue. Or it could mean it is a problem for an even larger percentage of the U.S. population.  It is important to monitor changes in law applicable to estate planning so you can make informed choices about the legal tools needed in your comprehensive plan. Most people do not want to have to closely follow developments in tax and estate laws, so hiring an attorney to advise you is the best way to ensure your estate plan makes financial and tax sense for you and your loved ones. Give us a call today to find out how our Oklahoma City elder law lawyers can advise you on the effective use of legal tools in an estate plan that makes sense.

Will Tax Reform Eliminate Estate Taxes?

President Trump has expressed excitement about reforming the tax code and providing what he believes will be the largest tax cut in history. Among the many changes President Trump wants to make is the elimination of the federal estate tax. Currently, estate tax is charged on estates which exceed $5.49 million (as of 2017), although no estate tax is charged on assets that transfer to a spouse.

If President Trump is successful with tax reform and the estate tax is eliminated, there will no longer be a big tax bill that must be paid by an estate after a person with substantial assets has passed away. When estate taxes are paid, they are assessed on money that was already taxed and on assets on which taxes were likely paid when the assets were acquired. Some find this alleged double taxation unfair, and tax reform to eliminate estate tax would mean no family need worry about the government taxing assets upon their death.

The future of tax reform is uncertain.  If the Republican party uses a process called reconciliation to pass tax reform, they will not need any Democratic votes to get their reform bill through. This means there is a possibility that tax reform could happen and the federal estate tax could be eliminated. Then people would only need to worry about tax planning during their estate planning process if they live in a state which imposes its own estate tax.

Getting Help from Oklahoma City Elder Law Lawyers

Oklahoma City elder law lawyers can advise you on how to avoid estate tax if you are worried that the law will not be changed or because you are concerned that you could pass away before these tax laws are modified and the estate tax eliminated. Our legal team can advise you about all the different estate planning tools you can use, not only to reduce the potential loss due to estate tax but also to protect against other sources of loss.

To find out more about how estate taxes work and how estate planning can protect your wealth, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call today at (405) 843-6100 or contact us online to get personalized legal advice for your situation. Call now to get started.