Proposition 19, a California ballot measure, modifies Proposition 13 (which limits increases of real property tax to two percent per year unless reassessed due to sale or transfer) and Proposition 58 (which allows property owners to transfer their primary residence to their children at the preferential property tax assessment and up to $1 million of assessed value of other real property, with a later proposition extending the benefit to qualifying grandchildren).

A grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT) is an advanced estate planning tool used to reduce an individual’s taxable estate by passing assets to trust beneficiaries free of estate and gift tax. However, like any advanced estate planning tool, GRATs can be complicated and must be structured properly to be beneficial. Dive into the following questions and answers to develop a better understanding of how GRATs work and how they may be useful for estate planning clients.

Author: James G. Blase, CPA, JD, LLM, Blase & Associates, LLC, St. Louis, Missouri

Many clients are scrambling to implement significant gifting plans and trusts before changes are potentially made to the current estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax laws by a new Congress and president. Regardless of the outcome of the election, planning will need to take place before 2026, when the current $11.58 million lifetime gift and GST tax exemptions are scheduled to sunset, potentially being reduced to their previous $5 million levels, adjusted for inflation. For many high net worth married couples, the goal is to double the amount of this current gift to up to $23.16 million.