Happy New Year to you and your family! As the new year begins, it is a good time to review your existing estate planning documents.  The most common reasons for updating documents include: (i) law changes, (ii) changes in financial circumstances, (iii) children getting older, and (iv) changes in personal relationships with people that are appointed in various positions in existing documents. Although no major estate tax law changes have been announced for 2019, I want to provide a few small updates… For an estate of any decedent dying during calendar year 2019, the applicable exclusion is increased from $11.18 million to $11.4 million.  This change increases ...

A common misconception is that estate planning, and in particular, the creation of trusts is only something that applies to wealthy individuals and families.  This myth has been exacerbated by the increase in the estate tax exemption (i.e. the amount of wealth that can be transferred to the next generation before incurring an estate tax) over the past several years.  When I started practicing law in 2001, the Federal estate tax exemption was $675,000, and the Federal estate tax rate topped out at 55%.  Since that time, the exemption has increased several times and currently sits at $11.18 million per ...

One of the questions that keeps popping up from my business owner clients is… Should I change my entity to be a C-Corporation?  This question has been brought on by the recent passing of the 2017 Tax Act (i.e. the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017).  One of the provisions of the 2017 Tax Act reduced the tax rate on C-Corporations from a top rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%.  Income from pass through entities such as S-Corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies continue to flow through to the tax return of the owner or owners ...

Earlier this year, we discussed the broad highlights of President Trump’s plan to reform the tax system.  As discussed back then the plan was very skeletal in nature.  Earlier this month, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Kevin Brady (R-TX), introduced a 429-page “Tax Cuts and Job Act” that would make major changes to the taxation of businesses and individuals.  Most of the changes would be made effective beginning after 2017.  Below is a summary of a few of the proposed changes… Corporate Tax Rate – The top rate of 35% would be eliminated and corporate income would generally be taxed at 20%.  ...

Now that summer is here and we are approaching the end of the first half of the year I think it makes sense to take a look at what big tax news may be coming our way in the second half of the year.  One thing on President Trump’s agenda has been tax reform.  In late April, the Trump administration outlined the broad strokes of what the President was looking to accomplish.  Here are some of the highlights of the plan that was referred to as the “Biggest Individual and Business Tax Cut In American History”: Simplify the tax codeReduce ...

If you live in New Jersey you may have noticed that gasoline prices rose substantially this week.  This is the result of a transportation funding bill signed into law by Governor Christie on October 14, 2016.  This bill also included the repeal of the New Jersey Estate Tax.  Here is a summary of the new laws that include several tax cuts and the one tax increase. Gasoline Tax:New Jersey increased its gasoline tax by 23 cents a gallon to 37.5 cents a gallon. The 23-cent gas tax hike, along with increases in diesel fuels and non-motor fuels, is expected to ...