Jennie Phipps, who has been reporting on retirement for six years, recently spoke with McManus & Associates Founding Principal John O. McManus about estate and retirement planning strategies and based an article for Bankrate.com on the conversation.
In her story, titled “Are these tax proposals fair?” Phipps highlights five estate and retirement planning strategies at which the Obama Administration has taken aim, according to McManus. As she notes in her piece:
Some of the people who are using these strategies as they approach retirement have lots of money to manage. But those using these approaches also include small-business owners and farmers eager to pass their enterprises on to their children without burdening them with a huge tax bill, McManus says.
Phipps summarizes what the government proposes to do to collect more taxes from money passed down via estates and tasks readers with deciding whether the proposals are fair. She calls out the following:
- Lower the estate tax exemption.
- Retool intentionally defective grantor trusts.
- Tax grantor retained annuity trusts, or GRAT.
- Limiting generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions to 90 years.
- Taxing grantor trusts when Dad still manages the money.
Phipps’ article expands on all five; read more here: http://www.bankrate.com/financing/retirement/are-these-tax-proposals-fair/
The story closes with thoughts from John:
McManus says he believes that taxing estates at 45 percent is unfair and counterproductive. “We are proposing to penalize hardworking people who aren’t making millions. Having to pay a punitive amount in taxes takes away the motivation to start up a business.”
Please give our office a call at (908) 898-0100 if we can help with questions.
⟩
⟩
⟩
⟩
⟩
⟩