CHARITABLE GIFT PLANNING

No one likes to pay taxes but most of us understand that to enjoy the lives we lead as Americans we must contribute our share. Many of us feel that even though we enjoy a great public wealth we are personally asked to give too much, in areas we don’t support. A skillful CPA will see to it that you never pay one penny more than you are legally obligated to from your income. But the taxes that many successful people feel are just downright unfair are transfer taxes. Transfer taxes eat away at the assets you have earned and saved and already paid income taxes on.

Today there is uncertainty as to whether one tax, the Estate Tax, is going to go away. We don’t know, and won’t know until Congress acts or fails to act on this tax. Actions by Congress cannot be predicted. Inaction by Congress does have a known result. If Congress fails to act, prior to the sunset of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief and reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) the estate Tax exemption will return to where it was prior to the act $1,000,000.00 per individual or $2,000,000.00 per married couple. We just don’t know if Congress will fail to act.

In the event that Congress acts and restores the Estate Tax with the exemption at a higher level, fewer people will have to worry about Estate Tax; if they don’t act more people will have to worry.

This long introduction is to introduce a concept which will allow you to do two things, lower your taxes and direct where money which would have been taxed, will go. Charitable giving by individual tax payers allows for reducing Income, gift and estate taxes, while providing for family members and providing for the organizations that we feel do the most important work in our communities.

If you feel that not enough is spent on the parks in your city you can set up a charitable gift through a Charitable Trust or Foundation to spend money on the parks in your city. This is an area of extreme importance as Non-profit and Charitable Organizations are able to serve many essential community needs with greater speed, accuracy and compassion than government agencies.

Please feel free to contact us with your questions about charitable giving. Simply go to the Contact Page and send us your question.

CHARITABLE TRUSTS PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS

PRACTICE AREAS

SENIORS AND THE LAW | You as a senior have many rights and with those rights, protections. You need to know what your rights are and you need to how and when to assert them. We can help you.

ESTATE PLANNING | Your successor Trustee wants to complete the process as quickly as possible, while minimizing family disharmony.

RETIREMENT PLANNING | Maximize the benefits you have earned while preserving transferability, stretch, principal.

HEALTH CARE DOCUMENTS | You need a power of attorney for health care, a HIPAA declaration, and a living will. Without them your preferences during incapacity will not be followed.

ASSET PROTECTION PLANNING | Keep your assets out of the hands of creditors, predators, and the public treasury, ethically and legally.

ESTATE & GIFT TAX PLANNING | Effective tax planning will not only lower income taxes while you’re alive by implementing optimal tax deferral and other strategies, but it will also free up cash for investment, business, or personal purposes.

POWERS OF ATTORNEY | Perhaps the most flexible tool in an estate plan most people including many attorneys do not understand what can be accomplished using this device.

BUSINESS PLANNING | From years of planning experience, we have developed a systematic process that is both practical and client-friendly.

CHARITABLE GIFT PLANNING | Most people work to better not only their family's situation but the community they live in and the world in which their community is a citizen. We will help you transfer values as well as assets. Perhaps the most flexible tool in an estate plan most people including many attorneys do not understand what can be accomplished using this device.

PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS | Some families and individuals are charitably minded and interested in directing their gifts to charities over an extended period of time. These people often find Foundations the right choice to accomplish this goal.