$13.6M
Unified Credit Tracking
The unified credit and exemption thresholds change often, so an estate plan drafted once and left in a drawer stops working. A wealth transfer strategy that spans generations needs regular review and adjustment as the rules move.
We work at the intersection of federal gift and estate tax, trust income tax reporting, and multi-state wealth transfer rules. Before any distribution, gift, or transfer, we model its effect on the whole plan, so nothing gets given away that costs the family more later.
How we deliver this service.
A rigorous, phase-driven process ensures nothing is missed and every position is defensible.
Wealth Inventory & Basis Audit
We inventory all assets and establish current tax basis, unrealized appreciation, and any state or foreign exposure.
Transfer Goal Modeling
We model transfer scenarios, including direct gifting, trust funding, and charitable lead structures, to make the best use of your unified credit.
Trust Architecture Review
We review your governing documents from a tax perspective against the requirements of IRC § 2036, § 2038, and § 2042.
Tactical Gifting Strategies
We design and run structured gifting programs using annual exclusions and valuation discounts for family limited partnerships.
Strategy Implementation
We work with your legal counsel to put the chosen structures in place and set up the required reporting and document retention.
Compliance & Monitoring
We handle the annual filing of Form 709 and Form 1041 and keep each year's filings consistent with the estate's overall tax strategy.
Generational Strategy
Making the unified credit work harder.
The current unified credit (exemption) allows large wealth transfers with no current tax cost. But the real value is not the initial transfer. It is moving the future appreciation of assets out of the taxable estate. Tools like Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs) and Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs) freeze today's values and pass the growth to the next generation tax-free.
Our modeling includes step-up in basis analysis, because a gifting strategy can cost your heirs more in capital gains tax than it saves in estate tax. We weigh those two against each other before recommending any transfer.
Transfer focus: GRATs, IDGTs, ILITs, family limited partnerships (FLP) valuation discounts, and IRC § 1014 basis step-up optimization.
Tailored for every client profile.
Compliance Standards
Form 709 matters more than it looks.
Every gift above the annual exclusion must be reported on Form 709. That return is the formal record of your lifetime credit usage, and it starts the statute of limitations on valuation. Errors on a gift tax return are a common trigger for estate audits decades later.
We prepare gift tax returns with the required disclosures for Crummey power notices, valuation appraisals, and split-gift elections. Deemed gifts and unusual transfers get adequately disclosed too, so your lifetime transfers become final and stay that way.
Reporting focus: Form 709 split-gifting, adequate disclosure standards, Generation-Skipping Transfer (GST) tax allocations, and Crummey notice documentation.
Trust Reporting
Keeping trust income tax under control.
Trusts and estates pay some of the highest tax rates in the country, with top rates kicking in at very low income levels. Good trust planning means managing the distribution deduction carefully and deciding where income should be taxed: at the trust or with the beneficiaries.
We handle the accounting required under IRC Subchapter J, including the allocation of capital gains to fiduciary accounting income (FAI). The goal is the lowest overall family tax bill while still meeting each beneficiary's needs.
Fiduciary focus: Form 1041 income tax prep, DNI (Distributable Net Income) modeling, fiduciary accounting income reconciliations, and Grantor trust status maintenance.
Ready to put your estate plan in order?
Wealth built over decades can be lost to a single reporting misstep. We make sure every credit and election works in your favor.
Specific deliverables, precisely documented.
“Passing wealth between generations comes down to two things: knowing IRC Subchapter J cold, and using the unified credit deliberately.”
Technical clarifications.
Answers to the most frequently asked questions about how this service works in practice.
Assets held until death typically receive a new tax basis equal to fair market value at the date of death. That 'steps up' the basis and can eliminate capital gains tax for the heirs. We weigh estate tax savings from gifting against the loss of this step-up before recommending transfers.
No. You only need to file Form 709 if your total gifts to a single person exceed the annual exclusion (currently $18k per recipient) or if you want to split gifts with a spouse or allocate GST exemption to a trust. We help monitor these thresholds.
A GRAT transfers the *appreciation* of an asset to heirs at near-zero gift tax cost. You transfer the asset and receive an annuity back over a set term. If the asset grows faster than the IRS 7520 rate, the excess passes to your heirs tax-free.
If a trust distributes its income to beneficiaries, the beneficiaries pay the tax (the 'distribution deduction'). If the trust keeps the income, the trust pays tax at highly compressed brackets. We model both to minimize the total tax the family pays.
Portability lets a surviving spouse take over any unused estate tax exemption from their deceased spouse. It requires a timely filed Form 706, even when no tax is due. We manage this election so the family's unused credit isn't lost.
Related services.
Two Tax Systems, One Team
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