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When considering the various aspects of managing family wealth from a tax perspective, it’s useful to have a list of “tax Do’s and Don’t’s” on hand to help ensure that no tax planning opportunities nor implications are missed. In this summary of tax items that are commonly overlooked or misunderstood, it can serve as your checklist and a good starting place for deeper conversations with your tax advisors.

Large transactions have increased as real estate megafunds place bets across real estate sectors and investors bet their capital on the operational knowledge of seasoned fund managers. But it’s not all about megafunds—middle market funds will also be taking advantages of opportunities in the marketplace where rates are normalizing and repricing is becoming clearer. For families seeking new investment strategies to increase their cash flow and achieve long-term appreciation, more investments in real estate makes sense.

Minimizing taxes is a critical challenge for higher-income taxpayers subject to higher tax rates and certain additional taxes, as well as tax-break phaseouts. To meet this challenge, this year-end tax guide focuses on key considerations to help you stay compliant with the tax laws while maximizing your tax benefits in 2024 and beyond. This guide includes tax-saving strategies on income and deductions, executive compensation, investing, real estate, business ownership, charitable giving, family and education, retirement, and estate planning.

State legislatures faced a growing number of budget shortfalls to begin fiscal year 2025 as lower tax collections and a slowing economy curtailed the pandemic-era revenue boom. However, tax increases were rarely in the discussion. Budgets were balanced, and some states still have managed to cut taxes. Regardless of what occurs in statehouses, taxpayers need to prepare for both unforeseen economic changes and the potential for federal tax reform to trickle down to the states.

More than six years have passed since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) brought sweeping changes to the U.S. international tax landscape. Congress continues to balance taxpayer demands for long-overdue guidance on how to address the Pillar Two initiative of the Organization for Co-operation Development. Moreover, taxpayers continue to litigate Congress’ rulemaking authority in courts. While the fiscal environment remains unclear, taxpayers should prepare for an increase in their global effective tax rate and tighter reporting stand over the next couple of years.

Businesses in 2024 continue to contend with unfavorable U.S. tax law changes and reconfigured deductions from the last few years. Meanwhile, the IRS has strengthened its enforcement capabilities by upgrading its technologies and building its workforce, underscoring the importance of compliance and accurate reporting. Against this backdrop, the transition into 2025 is shadowed by uncertainty about potentially transformative tax legislation under a new administration and new Congress. But there is risk to sittling idle.

This tax planning guide was developed to help you think through opportunities and other considerations for you and your family during the remainder of 2024 and into 2025. The guide will help you evaluate and optimize the tax impact of changing market conditions and new policy developments. For additional tax planning guidance and insights, see:

For family offices, providing the highest level of service to their family clients includes ensuring the staff in their homes are not only skilled and qualified, but also trustworthy and ethical. However, the vetting process at every level—from housekeepers to directors of residence—has become more challenging as more applicants misrepresent themselves or falsify information on their applications, resumes, and reference lists. To help families and the family offices that serve them, here are some best practices to mitigate the deceptive and fraudulent behavior among job applicants.

The top-line findings in this Report may sound familiar. Costly cancer claims. Widespread cardiovascular and metabolic health concerns. Unmet mental health and wellness needs and medical trend pushing up costs. But behind these enduring issues, a lot is changing—employers’ and insurers’ responses to these well-acknowledged themes cannot remain static. The trends and employer actions outlined in this Report will help employers deepen dialogue with their advisors and insurers.

In the quest to generate positive social change, family philanthropies face diverse and sometimes competing perspectives. They also must sort through an overwhelming amount of information to make good decisions—and often, that information is too general or limited to be useful. With this research report, clear and focused data goes a long way toward helping families make confident decisions for their family foundations and at each inflection point in their philanthropy.