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Trusts have grown enormously in popularity since the mid-1990s as a result of the development of modern trust laws, the dramatic increase in wealth and evolving family needs and goals.

The Trump Administration recently released its "Unified Framework for Fixing our Broken Tax Code" to flush out its tax reform priorities for individuals and businesses. The nine-page document is similar to the single-page bulleted outline the Administration rolled out in April, and it reiterated its position that taxes on corporations and individuals are too high. There is a lot of work ahead to come up with a tax bill that can ultimately be passed and signed into law. It’s a process that will take months and could very likely extend in to 2018.

In this collection of tax alerts and articles, we provide legislative and regulatory insights to help family offices address their concerns in the following areas: estate and gift tax, charitable giving, partnerships, tax planning for non-resident entering the U.S. tax system, and tax treatment in the financial services industry.

Now that the 2016 tax year is over, it’s not too early to think about planning for 2017 taxes and making tax planning a year-round activity. This year’s tax planning guide addresses potential strategies to consider amidst the uncertainty in the tax landscape, highlights important deadlines, discusses the related changes being proposed in the Trump administration and GOP House plans, and more for 2017. With this in mind, planning with flexibility is key to putting yourself in a positive position.

Many successful individuals and prominent families do not realize the full benefits of strategic financing or leverage, especially when it comes to wealth and estate planning. In fact, an estate or succession plan that includes appropriate borrowing strategies can help preserve a family’s legacy and enable more efficient transfer of wealth from one generation to the next—and beyond.

In light of the portability opportunity and the recent proposal by President Trump to eliminate the estate tax, many people may believe trusts no longer serve a useful purpose in their estate plan. However, trusts still may play a critical role in taxable estates and those estates under the taxable threshold. There are also many non-tax benefits of trusts that should be considered, including asset protection, marital property protection, and a suitable management structure for inherited assets.

President Trump’s recently released “core principles” for tax reform and simplification initiates the beginning of what is sure to be a heated debate over the future of U.S. tax policy. The announcement was short on policy details and far from enacted legislation. Also, the legislative process is complex and slow, particularly for tax legislation. The few details that were provided in the administration’s announcement have the effect of moving the Trump plan closer to the House Republican Plan, known as “A Better Way.”

Tax positions of a candidate are aspirational, and the newly-elected president will need to work with Congress to implement tax changes. In a summary comparing the outline of the tax reform proposals the Trump administration released on April 26, 2017 and the proposal the House GOP put forth in June 2016, it addresses the topics that are most relevant to high income and high-net worth taxpayers. As stated at the April 26 press conference, the Administration’s proposals are at the beginning stage of a process to develop a detailed tax plan.

On April 26, 2017, President Donald Trump presented the core principles of his proposal to significantly overhaul the Tax Code, including reducing individual tax brackets from seven to three, lowering corporate and individual tax deductions, and eliminating the alternative minimum tax. If key elements of the administration’s tax reform proposal were passed, what aspects of your wealth plan might be affected?