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Important IRS Update: Significant Interest Penalty Increase for Tax Underpayments

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has recently announced a critical change that could significantly impact taxpayers who underpay their taxes. This update is particularly relevant as we approach the next tax filing season. Previously, the IRS charged a 3% interest penalty on estimated tax underpayments. However, this rate has now been increased to a substantial

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Will Inflation Hurt Stock Returns? Not Necessarily

Investors may wonder whether stock returns will suffer if inflation keeps rising. Here’s some good news: Inflation isn’t necessarily bad news for stocks. A look at equity performance in the past three decades does not show any reliable connection between periods of high (or low) inflation and US stock returns. Since 1993, one-year returns on

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Maximize Your Charitable Impact with These Four Strategies

As the year draws to a close, it’s a perfect opportunity to rethink how you give to charity. This is important for managing how much tax you pay and how much help reaches those in need. Here are four effective strategies: Need Guidance? Reach Out to Us! These strategies are just a starting point. There

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Do I Need a Trust?

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Category: Estate Planning Estate Taxes Income Tax Planning Probate Trusts

As trusts have gotten more popular and evolved in type to appeal to a lot of people, so now you might be under the impression that you must have a trust. While it’s not for everyone, there are so many trusts out there that it’s very likely you could find one that will help you to meet your goals, including to protect your assets and minimize taxes.

Do I Need a Trust?

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Major liquid assets, setting up care for a child with special needs, and a variety of real estate ownership are a few of the reasons that people might initially turn to trusts. If you’re a resident of a state with a high state estate tax, income tax or probate costs, you’re likely to be concerned about the hit of taxes, too. This refers to situations where a federal estate tax is factored into your asset value, but an additional taxable event occurs at the state level. Without proper planning, you could find that the value of the assets you have worked so hard to build is extremely vulnerable to these taxes and costs.

Contact our offices today to learn more about how these trusts can help you. Send us a message at info@lawesq.net or call us 732-521-9455.

What is a Self-Settled Trust? Asset Protection & Tax Savings.

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Category: Asset Protection Planning DING Income Tax Planning NING

Right now, gift and generation skipping transfer tax exemptions, set at $5.34 million each, have caused a resurgence in interest regarding self-settled trust. As of now, only fifteen states allow for these types of trusts: Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. Several of these states, including Delaware and Nevada, tend to be popular locations for DING/NING trust establishment when the trust creator lives in a high state income-tax and capital gains tax environment.

What is a Self-Settled Trust? Asset Protection & Tax Savings.

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Under a self-settled trust, grantors may even be a beneficiary of an irrevocable trust that is established for their own family. As long as no assets are transferred fraudulently, no exception creditors, and no pre-existing arrangement between the trustee and grantor, a trust grantor can establish himself or herself as a beneficiary.

These trusts are most often used for domestic asset protection in four separate ways: a self-settled trust, spendthrift protection, modern discretionary trust protection, and the establishment of a limited liability company to shield and own trust property. In their most common form, self-settled trusts are used as an alternative to off-shore trusts. To learn more about trust creation and management that maximizes protection, email us at info@lawesq.net or contact us via phone at 732-521-9455.

Indian HSBC Client Found Guilty of Hiding Offshore Accounts

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Category: Asset Protection Planning Income Tax Planning

Offshore account taxpayer Ashvin Desai was recently sentenced to six months in prison in addition to six months of home confinement for not reporting foreign bank accounts on tax returns and FBAR filings. The medical device manufacturer had previously been convicted of hiding more than $8 million in foreign bank accounts.

Indian HSBC Client Found Guilty of Hiding Offshore Accounts

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In addition to being charged with tax evasion and tax perjury, he also pleaded guilty to failing to file an FBAR. The money from his offshore accounts were used to invest in CODs, where he earned interest rates up to nine percent. In addition to all the other charges and penalties for the efforts he took to hide the assets, he was also assessed a $14,229, 744.00 FBAR penalty. While these penalties may seem severe, he was actually very lucky in the sentencing, as he could have been facing 552 months in prison.

The government was forced to prove their case in court, but what sealed the deal was email proof that Desai was making efforts to conceal the money and how it was being transferred. While there are obvious lessons here about using email to share any kind of sensitive information, it’s also an opportunity to highlight the importance of proper FBAR filing. To ensure the proper compliance with FBAR, contact us today at info@lawesq.net or via phone at 732-521-9455.

When to Think About Charitable Remainder Unitrust Alternatives

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Category: Charitable Giving Income Tax Planning Taxes Trusts

For many individuals approaching estate planning, charitable giving is going to factor into the equation somehow. The most popular way of passing on assets currently is through a charitable remainder unitrust, but it’s not necessarily the best option for everyone, although last year nearly $90 billion was held in U.S. trusts of this type.

When to Think About Charitable Remainder Unitrust Alternatives
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Here are some of the most common reasons that you might want to use something other than this trust vehicle for your charitable giving:

  • Tax Savings Today: You want maximize your current tax deduction. A charitable lead trust could be a better alternative for this situation, since you get an immediate federal income tax deduction when the gift is made. The tax deduction equals the present value of the future income stream.
  • You want the gift to begin now: Under a charitable lead trust, the client will typically gift the assets directly to a charitable trust. That trust then makes regular payments for a specific number of years or for life. Under a remainder trust, though, the charity doesn’t get anything until the trust’s term is up.
  • You want to see regular payouts: This is there’s a difference between a charitable remainder annuity trust and a unitrust. The annuity trust guarantees equal payouts throughout the length of the term (such as every year), which gives the person setting up the trust confidence that payments are being made at regular intervals.

When it comes to charitable giving, you have options. Contact us today to learn more via email info@lawesq.net or 732-521-9455 to get started.

Saving Taxes: Is a DING Trust Right For Me?

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Category: Income Tax Planning Taxes

Like a lot of business planning strategies, it’s best that you meet with a legal professional to discuss the best tactics for your situation. One of those strategies might be a DING (Delaware Incomplete Non-Grantor Trust), a tool that is growing in popularity for managing and minimizing both federal and state income taxes. Especially for those individuals living in states with high income taxes, a DING trust is a powerful strategy for making the most of your assets without being so negatively impacted by taxes.

Saving Taxes Is a DING Trust Right For Me
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In a DING trust, a person can transfer assets (including some business interests) that produce a high level of income into a trust without triggering a state or federal gift tax. The state income taxes are actually transferred from the resident’s home state to a state where trust income is not taxed. There are several jurisdictions that have been used in the past for this purpose include Nevada, Delaware, and Alaska.

This type of trust is a great choice for someone who has significant portfolios that generate income or those individuals that live in a high tax state concerned about the tax implications of their assets. This form of asset protection gives peace of mind and confidence to those who use it. As of right now, New Jersey does not tax trust income if there are no resident trustees. Therefore, assets held in a DING trust may be exempted from high state income taxes (8.975% in New Jersey). For special tax planning, contact us for more details at info@lawesq.net or over the phone at 732-521-9455 to get started.