The Benefits of Lifetime Giving.
A number of techniques are available, but it is significant to point out most of them are based on lifetime gift programs, often including using trusts created during your lifetime! After a person is deceased, the planning opportunities are much more limited. Significantly, gift taxes paid during your lifetime are generally not included in your gross estate, but the gift tax is not a deduction in determining the estate tax after your death. In other words, you receive an estate tax reduction of up to 60% of the gift taxes you pay for transfers during your lifetime.
Caution!
If you need to keep your assets in order to maintain your standard of living and to provide for contingencies such as long-term car, you probably shouldn’t pursue an aggressive lifetime giving “wealth preservation” program.
In some cases, receiving significant gifts can corrupt the beneficiaries, eliminating their motivation to work. Don’t let the “tax tail” wag the dog! Maybe a charitable giving program makes sense in this situation. (Outright bequests to charities are not subject to estate or gift taxes.) To view and download this full PLR article, you must be logged in. Registration is completely free. Once you create your account, you will be able to browse, search & downlod from our PLR articles database of over "1,57,897+" on 1,000's of niches and 200+ categories without paying a penny. Click here to signup...
