Now that the federal estate tax and gift tax equivalent has been “permanently” increased to $5.43 million per individual ($10.86 million for a married couple) for decedents dying in 2015, and the top tax rate is 40% rather than the previous maximum rates reaching 55%, many of the complex A/B Trust and Reduce to Zero estate plans previously implemented can be simplified and new plans can be prepared without all the focus on minimizing transfer taxes. But does that mean all the tax planning issues have been resolved? Not by any means. Under the old planning methods, the focus was on getting the assets out of the estate before death so that the taxable estate at the time of death was as small as possible. But by doing so, the transferee was not receiving a “step up” in basis of the asset which means that highly appreciated assets would ... [Continue Reading]