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There has been a lot of speculation and confusion about the impacts of the most recent tax reform, with many asking if they have to pay more taxes. Unfortunately, the answer is, “it depends.” With this in mind, the tax impact is demonstrated by looking at potentially real scenarios for five different types of taxpayers: trust beneficiaries, unretired company executive, company shareholder, family business owner, and family business employees.

For the majority of Americans, the tax overhaul has altered or reduced many of the financial incentives for making charitable donations. But charitable giving is rarely driven solely by the desire to trim tax bills. In fact, most individuals and families give for a variety of reasons and support organizations in whose missions they believe. Still, 18 percent of donors primarily make gifts to receive tax benefits. As this new tax era ushers in, it is an ideal time to examine why you give as well as the vehicles you use to give.

Words committed to paper, stories shared in print or video, and family histories portrayed in a personal documentary can contribute to your legacy. But how can you be confident the planning strategies used in estate and trust plans, as well as the fiduciary appointments made to carry them out, accurately capture your legacy goals and objectives?

The new tax laws have answered many of the concerns and wishes of the business community—reducing corporate tax rates, providing business deductions, and fine tuning business-related sections of the tax code. They will likely create opportunities, along with some challenges, over the coming months and years which may require businesses to make decisions in a number of different areas.

Now that the new tax reform is in place, it’s time to consider the impact it may have on you and your family and determine what steps may be appropriate based on your specific financial goals and circumstances. While the key provisions contained in the new tax law presents nine planning opportunities—including the increased gift tax exemption, shifting income to a pass-through entity, and allocation of assets—they may also create additional tax burdens and other challenges.

In December, President Trump signed a new tax bill into law that is the largest tax overall since 1986. Learn how the new bill may affect your employee benefits programs. Watch and listen to Compliance Officers and Employee Benefits experts discuss the impact of the 2018 tax reform on employee benefits, as well as proposed regulations on Association Health Plans, the ACA Play or Pay Mandate, ACA reporting, and other compliance obligations.

Life insurance can play an important role in helping achieve the legacy and financial objectives of an individual or family—especially those with significant taxable estates and illiquid assets such as privately held businesses and real estate.

More than any other segment of the population, the wealthy understand the power of leverage in today’s environment. Borrowing against an investment portfolio not only has the possibility of boosting returns, but it can also provide liquidity in a tax-efficient way. With relatively low current interest rates, investors may want to consider borrowing against their investment portfolios to fund major purchases and improve investment returns. Margin loans and non-purpose lines of credit are two effective ways to do this.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced income tax rate for C corporations from 35 percent to 21 percent in 2018. No sooner was the ink dry on the new law before owners of pass-through entities began to work with their advisors to determine if it made sense to convert their entities to C corporations. As is often the case with sophisticated tax planning, conversion of a pass-through, whether an S corporation, limited liability company (LLC) or partnerships, to a C corporation, is a multi-faceted prospect.