The current uncertainty regarding federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes presents both estate and financial planning opportunities and challenges. Despite legislative uncertainty, individuals may have a once in a lifetime opportunity to transfer wealth before January 1 at a gift tax rate and under a favorable transfer tax system that may never exist again. On December 2, Senator Max Baucus introduced legislation which contained significant transfer tax provisions. The Baucus Bill failed to garner sufficient votes to be considered by the Senate. Because Senator Baucus is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a member of the working group formed to reach a compromise on tax legislation, it is possible that some form of the Baucus Bill could be enacted before the end of 2010, bringing more certainty to the transfer tax area while severely curtailing a popular planning estate planning technique (the short-term GRAT).
McGuireWoods’ white paper 2010 Year-End Estate Planning: Taking Advantage of Legislative Chaos discusses the current legislative situation, the estate planning opportunities for individuals and families, and the need to respond quickly to make the best use of those opportunities before they are eliminated by Congress.
McGuireWoods Private Wealth Services
Our Private Wealth Services Team stands ready to help clients and their advisors obtain estate planning results that benefit themselves and their families from tax and non-tax perspectives. The team is ranked by Chambers and Partners, the international rating service for lawyers, as one of two top-band private wealth services practice groups in the country. Our professionals throughout the United States and in London are dedicated to estate planning and the analysis of related tax and fiduciary issues. Click here for a full listing of our lawyers and their locations.