Estate and Income Tax Planning in the New Age of Certainty

Family offices and multi-family offices still grappling with Dodd-Frank are now faced with changes in gift and estate tax, personal income tax and business taxes from The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. In this session Thomas Abendroth and Robert Pluth Jr. of Schiff Hardinbrings provided insights into the implications of these changes and how recent interpretations from the courts may impact your office.

Key takeaways include:

• No longer living with the specter of laws about to sunset. Now know what the rules are and congress would need to act to change the laws.
• It is time to evaluate estate plans in light of higher exclusions
• Still a disconnect between state and federal law on same-sex marriage after the DOMA decision.
• Still no answers on same-sex couples who marry in one state and move to a state where same-sex marriage is not recognized

• 1411 tax is a whole new tax regime. May be mitigated but you may not be able to avoid it.
• Self-employment tax went up to 3.8%
• State residence is increasingly important in income tax planning