As everyone knows, a major tax reform bill was approved by Congress on December 20, 2017.  It is expected to be signed into law by the President on or before January 3, 2018.  The bill contains many changes to the income tax laws, as well as changes to the federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer (“GST”) tax law.  Below is a summary of the changes to the estate, gift and GST tax laws, and a few other items included in the bill that will affect the counsel we provide to our clients in our practice.  Please call us if you would like to discuss how these changes affect your plan.

Federal Estate, Gift and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax

The current federal gift and estate tax exclusion of $5,000,000, which, with indexing for inflation, has increased to its 2017 level of $5,490,000, is increased to $10,000,000, indexed for inflation from 2011.  This would make it $11,200,000 in 2018.  This means each person may transfer, either during lifetime via intervivos gifts, or upon death via testamentary bequests, a total of $11,200,000 to family, friends, or other intended “objects of their bounty.”

The GST tax exclusion, which allows a donor to transfer assets, either directly to beneficiaries who are two or more generations younger, or in trust in such a manner as to avoid the estate tax on wealth transfers from children to grandchildren, is likewise increased to $10,000,000, indexed for inflation, or to $11,200,000 in 2018.  

The annual gift tax exclusion, which is $14,000 in 2017, is not affected by the new law, and will increase as expected to $15,000 in 2018.  The unlimited marital deduction remains unchanged.  The “portability” election, made on the first of married spouses’ deaths to preserve the deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount, also remains unchanged.  Charitable bequests are still deductions offsetting the estate tax.

When considering these new transfer tax provisions, there are three issues to remember:

∙    Those of us living in Illinois still have to be mindful of the Illinois estate tax on estates over $4,000,000 (first dollars over exemption amount are taxed at 28%).

∙    After 2025, the changes to the federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax law will revert back to $5,000,000, indexed for inflation.

∙    No tax law is permanent....


A few of the Income Tax Law Changes

Charitable income tax deductions remain unchanged, with an increase of the limit on the annual deduction from 50% of AGI to 60% of AGI.

The Qualified Charitable Rollover, whereby a taxpayer may roll his or her IRA annual required minimum distributions up to $100,000 directly to a charitable organization, remains available to taxpayers over the age of 70-1/2.

by Kim Coogan

Part 5 of a 5 part series

Just like many business owners who are “too busy with their businesses” to think about planning for its succession, I am guilty of getting 80% through the process of writing this series on business succession planning, and then putting aside the task of writing the final chapter, while I was busy attending to my clients’ needs.  Part 1 of this series emphasized the importance of starting the process of business succession planning well in advance of your anticipated exit date, since the transition of both ownership and management will ideally take place over an extended period of time.  In Part 1 I suggested having an emergency plan in place, in the event your timeline doesn’t roll out exactly as you would have hoped.  Part 2 raised the issue of identifying not only those who will own the business, but also those, who may not be the future owners, who will manage the day-to-day operations, as well as continue to develop the company’s long-term strategy and guide the future direction of the business.  Part 3 discussed entering into a written buy-sell agreement among the owners, which memorializes the terms under which ownership interests may be transferred, whether by sale, upon death, or otherwise.  Part 4 laid out various options for funding the buy-out of an ownership interest.

A business owner may decide that once he or she has made it through steps 1 through 4, they can put their shiny new plan on the shelf, and go back to what they would rather be doing, i.e., running the business.  But it is important to pull out the business succession plan on a regular basis-perhaps annually-to determine whether changes have occurred such that the plan that made sense last year may need to be adjusted this year.  You may have a clearer perspective as to how those individuals you had identified as successor owners and/or managers or directors are performing.  You may have had a change in health or lifestyle that precipitates the need to accelerate your timeline for the business transition.

Using time to your advantage is a key to a successful business succession plan.  If you plan to transfer ownership to family members, you want to do so in a tax efficient manner, perhaps taking advantage of annual gift tax exclusions, or your lifetime gift and estate tax exclusion.  There are many options available to get a bit more “bang for your buck” from your gift tax exclusions.  Transferring non-voting and/or minority business interests enables you to take a discount on the value of the transferred interest, as reported to the IRS on a gift tax return.  Engaging in systematic annual gifting over many years not only gives you the opportunity to maximize use of your annual gift tax exclusions, but also gives you a chance to see whether your original plan remains in line with your intentions year after year, or if adjustments to your future gifting may be desired.

On the other hand, perhaps you’re ready to transfer a larger portion of the ownership interest.  A gift to a grantor retained annuity trust might make sense if you prefer a method that uses very little or none of your gift tax exclusion.  Or you may consider an installment sale of a portion or all of the business to a grantor trust for your family members, enabling you to defer, or perhaps eliminate, the capital gain you might otherwise have to recognize and take into income as a result of a sale transaction.  If you’ve concluded that the best succession plan is to sell while you’re still in control of the business, then an outright sale of the business might be more appropriate.  The process of hiring the right broker, and locating the right buyer, willing to pay the right price, can take considerable time and patience.

Regardless of which method of ownership and management transition of your business best fits your situation, I know one thing for sure, without even having met you yet-you need to start now, or if you’ve started, you need to continue, to develop a business succession plan.  Gather your team of professional advisors, and get the ball rolling.  Whether you plan to work forever, or are dreaming of days on the golf course or beach in the not-so-distant future, you’ll rest easier knowing your succession plan is in place for a smooth business transition whenever the time comes.

by Kim Coogan

The latest from Hinsdale Hospital Foundation's series on gift and estate planning topics.

Top Ten Ways to Simplify Your Estate Plan

Things change. Your circumstances and those of your family may have changed over the past several years. And estate tax laws have certainly changed. Our Planned Giving Council's Kimberly Coogan, Esq., offers the following suggestions to help you keep up with these changes and, most importantly, make things easier for your surviving spouse or family members. Here's her "Top Ten List" of opportunities to simplify your estate plan:

Quick and Easy

10. Update your Executor and Trustee appointments. Things do change. Avoid unnecessary cost and wasted time later by making sure these parties are you're the parties you'd choose today.

9. Review your Powers of Attorney. Perhaps your children are now old enough to be named to make financial and health care decisions for you if you become unable to act for yourself.

8. Confirm your IRA beneficiaries. If your children were younger the last time you signed IRA beneficiary designation forms, or if you named your trust as the beneficiary of your IRA, you may need to change the wording so your beneficiaries can take advantage of the inherited IRA rules with the fewest number of "hoops" to jump through to achieve the most income tax advantage.

7. Revisit your asset titling to ensure your assets pass as simply as possible to your beneficiaries. If you have a trust, make sure your after-tax accounts and real estate are titled in the trust. If you don't have a trust, you might consider ways to keep your estate out of probate. This will save time and money for your beneficiaries.

A Little More Detailed

6. Learn about the new estate tax laws, and how they affect your estate plan. If your estate is $4.0M or less, the tax formulas used in your old documents may result in unnecessary complication after your death. (Look at these changes over past 14 years: The federal estate tax exclusion amount was $675,000 in 2001; it is $5.34 million in 2014. Illinois passed its own estate tax in 2003; currently it applies to estates over $4.0 million.)

5. Would a TODI work for you? A "Transfer on Death Instrument" is a document that names a beneficiary to whom your primary residence will pass upon your death. This is a new Illinois law, providing an alternative for keeping your residence out of probate.

4. Consider using disclaimers to keep it simple. Providing for everything to pass to your surviving spouse unless he or she signs a "disclaimer" after your death, is one way to build flexibility into your estate plan and yet keep things simple for the surviving spouse. Your Will or trust agreement would provide that the disclaimed portion be held for the surviving spouse's benefit, but the disclaimed portion will not be subject to estate tax on the second death.

3. Does portability help in your situation? Portability, a provision of the 2010 federal tax act, allows the surviving spouse to file an election to retain any unused estate tax exclusion amount from the predeceased spouse's estate. Consult an attorney before relying on portability, since it does not apply to the Illinois estate tax, and presents certain other potential pitfalls.

2. Does generation-skipping transfer tax ("GST" tax) planning still make sense for you? If your old plan includes GST exemption planning, you may want to revisit it. The GST exclusion was much lower years ago, so avoiding estate tax in your children's estates may not be a priority now.

Easiest of All: Doing Good

1. Consider lifetime gifts to charity if your estate is potentially subject to estate tax. You'll make a difference for the charity of your choice and might be able to get the value of your estate below the estate tax exclusion amount. That means not only avoiding the tax, but saving your beneficiaries from having to file your estate tax return. If your age is over 70 ½ , you may roll your annual IRA required minimum distribution over to a charity, thereby avoiding paying any income tax on your IRA RMD.

These are just a few suggestions for ways in which the new estate tax laws, and other new developments in the law, afford you the opportunity to simplify your estate plan. Please contact your attorney for more detailed information as it applies to your personal situation.

by Kim Coogan

Part 4 of a 5 Part Series

You know you need to establish a succession plan for your business; you've identified and continue to develop individuals to whom the management, executive decision-making, and ownership of your business will pass. You recognize the importance of documenting your intentions for the future ownership of your business using a "buy-sell agreement."

Now you have to ask yourself the not-so-simple question, "If I pass away or retire and my interest is sold, how will I, or my family, be paid?" Or, "If my partner dies or wants out, how will I pay him or her, or his or her family, if I have to buy out his or her interest?" The answers to these questions will be different if the buyout occurs during lifetime as opposed to upon the death of an owner.

The buy-sell agreement should set forth the terms of payment of the purchase price, which will be determined in accordance with the valuation provisions of the agreement. In the event of the departure, retirement, disability or other lifetime buyout event of an owner, typically the agreement will allow for a promissory note evidencing the obligation to pay the purchase price over time. The term of the note may be principal and interest payments over 5, 10, or more years. The interest rate will be set at the time of the buyout, based on an index, e.g. prime rate, or the applicable federal rate, as published by a specific source. The note will most likely be secured by the pledge of the business interests being purchased.

Upon the death of an owner, the buyout may be funded either in the same manner as a lifetime buyout, or more commonly, with the proceeds from a life insurance policy on the life of the deceased owner. If the buy-sell agreement is a redemption agreement, whereby the business entity buys out the interest of the deceased owner, then the business entity will own the life insurance policies on the lives of the business owners. Upon the death of an owner, the business entity will pay out the agreed purchase price to the business owner's estate, or trust, depending on how the business interests were owned. The business interests will be transferred by the deceased owner's successor in interest to the business entity.

If the buyout is a cross purchase, then the surviving business owners will pay the agreed purchase price to the deceased owner's successor in interest. If there are two owners, then each would own a life insurance policy on the life of the other. In the case of a business with multiple owners, insurance can become more complicated. For example, with three owners, each would have to buy life insurance on two other owners. In total, there would be six life insurance policies. This can become somewhat cumbersome. An alternative might be a trusteed buy-sell agreement, whereby one life insurance policy on each of the owners is owned by an escrow agent (or "trustee"). Upon the death of an owner, the trustee collects and pays out the insurance proceeds to the deceased owner's successor in interest in exchange for the shares in the business. The escrow agent then allocates the shares among the surviving owners.

Congratulations! You've consulted with your professional advisors; you've done the hard work of considering who will carry on your vision for your business after you step away from it; you've laid the groundwork for management, leadership and ownership succession; and you've documented all of this in a well-written buy-sell agreement. You've obtained the proper life insurance or other mechanism to fund a potential buyout. You are doing great! But your work isn't done. It's a work in progress. You should revisit your business succession plan annually, and re-evaluate your management and leadership to ensure your plan is on track, and make any necessary adjustments. Your attorney, accountant, and insurance professional should work together with you to make sure your plan is the best it can be for you and your business.

by Kim Coogan

by Carrie Buddingh

Crisis averted!  Well, for the time being at least.  As you probably know, on January 1, 2013, Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“ATRA-2012"), which prevented our nation from going over the “fiscal cliff.”  You may now be thinking, “What does this new law mean to me and my estate?”  “Has anything changed at the state level?”  Or even, “I thought the gift and estate tax law just changed in 2010.  What changed this time?”  You are in luck! Below please find a concise description of the current changes in the law that took effect January 1, 2013:

• The estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (“GST”) tax exemptions have been permanently increased to $5 million (adjusted for inflation).  That means that the exemption amount for 2013 is now $5.25 million.  However, the top estate, gift and GST tax rates have also been increased to 40%.
  
• For decedents who pass away in 2013 or later, the Illinois estate tax exemption has been increased to $4 million.  Please note that Illinois does not currently tax any gifts (regardless of their size) made by an individual during his or her lifetime.
  
• The "portability" provisions introduced under the 2010 Tax Relief Act have become permanent as well.  Portability allows a surviving spouse under certain conditions to elect to use the unused portion of the predeceased spouse’s federal exclusion amount for estate or gift tax purposes.  Please note, however, that no such provisions apply under Illinois law.
  
• ATRA-2012 extends the provisions that allow individuals age 70 ½ and older to make tax-free IRA distributions directly to a charity up to $100,000 in lieu of taking a required minimum distribution (“RMD”) in such amount and paying the resulting income tax.  This is often called qualified charitable rollover (“QCR”).
  
•  In addition, for a limited time, Congress is allowing individuals to reclassify gifts made to a qualifying charity as a 2012 QCR if such gift is made prior to February 1, 2013.  Thus, for example, if an individual took an IRA distribution after November 30, 2012 and then paid it to a qualified charity before February 2013, then the individual can claim such payment to the charity as a QCR for 2012.
  
• Not part of ATRA- 2012, but effective January 1, 2013 under the pre-existing gift tax law, the gift tax annual exclusion is $14,000 per donor per donee. The GST tax annual exclusion is also $14,000 for “direct skip” outright gifts to grandchildren or others more than one generation removed from the donor.
  
• The “step-up” upon death of the cost basis of a decedent’s assets continues to apply.
  

by Kim Coogan

by Kim Coogan

Part 1 of a 5 Part Series

As a business owner, you have at least a half million things to focus on at any given moment. Somewhere down the list is creating a plan for the succession of your business upon your eventual retirement or death. Who will run the business when you decide to step back? Who will succeed to the ownership of your business when you're gone? These are tough questions that need to be carefully considered, and it will likely take some time to work through and develop answers.

It can take years to develop an organization that is well-situated to carry on the business effectively, after you- the founder, the visionary, the source of the elbow grease that has built the business into the successful entity it is today-decide it is time to enjoy the fruits of your labor by pursuing other meaningful endeavors that perhaps have had to take a back burner while you ran the business.

Some of the key issues involved in business succession planning are:

• Transition of day-to-day management of operations to knowledgeable, key personnel in the organization;
  
• Transition of executive decision-making power to one or more competent, decisive leaders who will navigate through short- and long-term changes in the business, industry marketplace, and economy;
  
• Transfer of ownership, both control and economic value, to key employees, next generation of family members, or a third party.
  

Family business owners have the additional challenge of determining whether members of the next generation have the skills and inclination to continue the business successfully. Sharing common genes does not necessarily mean sharing the same interests, aptitudes and vision.

In a perfect world, you would be assured the luxury of time to map out and execute your business succession plan. Whether you decide that the best solution is an outright sale to a third party, or transition of the business to certain employees or family members, you will need time to implement your plan. The groundwork necessary to accomplish this should be laid over several years prior to your anticipated exit date. This will make the transition of the business as successful, tax-efficient, and seamless as possible. Planning ahead will also maximize the potential return to your family from the many years of sweat equity you have invested to make it the successful business it is today.

Since our world isn't always perfect, until the business transition is complete, you should have an emergency plan that may be implemented in the event of an unforeseen event such as your untimely death or disability. Your emergency plan should be communicated to your trusted advisors, giving them guidance as to how to proceed to assist your family and key employees with the business transition in such a situation.

The most important step is the first one-contacting an attorney to start the business succession planning discussion. Your attorney and other business advisors will be able to listen to your goals and concerns, and present you with options for your succession plan. It may take some time for your ideas to take shape, but taking the time to contemplate the future of your business after your departure will be well worth it in the long run.