Mon20

Donate to a good cause, reduce your tax liability. Here’s How:

Posted by on Apr 20, 2015 in estate planning, tax |

How to receive a deduction for your charitable donation.

How to receive a deduction for your charitable donation.

April 15 has come and gone, and you may have made a commitment that you will make better tax decisions for 2015; just like you promised for 2014. The time has come to introduce this resolution to your inner humanitarian, as you can make donations to a good cause, while reducing your tax liability. This year, be sure to find an organization that is qualified by the IRS, so you can make an itemized deduction on your tax return.

Use the following tips to ensure that you can receive a deduction for your charitable donation.

1. Itemized Deduction: First of all, you cannot make a qualified charitable deduction under the “standard deduction,” as they can only be reported through itemized deductions.

2. Determine whether your donation is qualified for a deduction: To receive a deduction for your donation, it must be made to a “qualified organization.” The “Exempt Organizations Select Check” is an online tool provided by the IRS to help you determine whether your donation was made to a qualified organization. If you don’t want to do the research, you can always count on larger charitable organizations like Red Cross.

3. Keep a record: When you make a charitable donation to a qualified organization, you must maintain a record in the form of a bank record or a written communication from the qualified organization containing name of the organization, the date and amount of the contribution. If your contribution has a value of $250 or more, you must get a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the qualified organization indicating the amount of the cash, a description of any property contributed, and whether your received a benefit in return (if so, it must include the estimated value of the benefit received).

4. Submit a Form 8283: If your charitable donation deductions exceed $500, you must submit a Form 8283 with your return. You can find the instructions for filling out this form here.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected? Wild Felice & Partners provides estate planning and probate administration in South Florida. Click here to learn more.

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Thu16

How To Reduce The Stress of Estate Taxes

Posted by on Apr 16, 2015 in asset protection, estate planning, Legal News, tax, Trusts, Wills |

With our favorite season almost coming to an end, it’s important to educate ourselves on estate taxes. Of course death is not our favorite topic to discuss nor is it something that we want to think about when receiving our tax return, however planning for the future is never a bad idea.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “In this world nothing can be certain, except death and taxes.”  This quote draws on the actual inevitability of death to highlight the difficulty in avoiding tax burdens. But, if you plan ahead and use the proper resources, estate taxes will not be too much of a burden.

Estate tax is known to be a tax on your right to transfer property after death. This tax consists of an accounting of everything you may own or have certain interests in at your date of death. The fair market value of these items are used which then becomes your gross estate. Once your gross estate is accounted for, certain deductions such as: mortgages and other debts, estate administration expenses, property that passes to surviving spouses, and qualified charities are allowed in arriving at your taxable estate.  After the net amount is calculated, the value of lifetime taxable gifts is added to this number and the tax is computed. The tax is then reduced by the available unified credit. Being that I just bombarded you with estate tax lingo and probably lost you after I said the word “death”, let’s talk about how to reduce estate taxes.

Setting up a QTIP trust, and no I don’t mean a piece of cotton, and a Bypass Trust can postpone the payment of taxes until both spouses in a marriage have died. If you die first but want to determine who receives the trust property after your spouse dies, you may want to consider setting up a Qualified Terminable Interest Property trust, or as we like to call it, a QTIP trust. This trust allows you to put property into the trust however, YOU, not your spouse, can specify who receives the remaining property in the trust after your spouse dies. A QTIP trust enables you to designate what happens to the leftovers of the trust instead of leaving it to the option of your spouse.  This may be a great option if you’re on your second marriage. Let’s say that you and your current spouse are both on your second marriage and each have children of your own from the first marriage. To put it nicely, you aren’t too fond of your spouse’s children and the word “freeloaders” comes to mind when their names come up in conversation. But, your spouse of course thinks of them as angels. In this situation, do you really want your spouse to decide what happens with any leftovers from your estate upon his or her death? I’m not thinking so.

Another option would be setting up a Bypass trust, also known as a “B” trust.  This trust shelters property from estate taxes and “bypasses” the property from your spouse to someone else, such as your child or children. But, guess what? Your spouse can still benefit from the trust.  Even though the trust is for the sole benefit of your child, your spouse, while living, can still benefit from the trust assets. Being that your spouse never actually takes possession of the property, he or she is never considered to be the property owner. This means that he or she never has to include the property in his or her estate.

So, as Franklin once said, death and taxes are inevitable but here at WFP law we can ensure you that we can help reduce the burden of estate taxes. It’s a wild world and if you don’t prepare your trusts properly, the IRS may not honor them. So, the real question is; are you protected? Come in today for a free consultation!

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.

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Wed25

Don’t Spoil Your Green Beer, But Do Pour-Over Your Trust

Posted by on Mar 25, 2015 in Trusts |

Last Will & Testament, Special Trusts, Trust, Revocable Trust

Every St. Patrick’s Day enthusiast is aware of the cardinal rule: spilling your green beer is a celebratory taboo, that of which can only be recovered through another round of green beer. In the world of wealth preservation, however, we encourage the act of spilling all of your property into a trust, through the use of a “pour-over” Last Will & Testament.

The pour-over will effectively takes all of the property that passes through the will, and funnels it into a revocable living trust. That property is then distributed to the trust beneficiaries pursuant to the terms of the trust. “Separate share trusts” are used to provide that all of the property in your trust will preserve all of its protections, by requiring that all distributions continue in trust for your beneficiaries.

Consider the pour over will to be a tap of green beer. The tap pours the contents into a pitcher, ordered by you, the Grantor. The pitcher is like a Living Trust. Once the pitcher makes it to your table of beneficiaries (aka, the Grantor is deceased), it is poured into separate glasses. These glasses are considered the separate share trusts, as they continue to hold the contents for the benefit of the beneficiaries.

Whether it is green beer, or your wealth, be sure to take the necessary precautions to ensure maximum preservation. It’s a Wild World – is your Green Beer Protected?

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Wed25

The Final Four isn’t your only key to your Child’s College Education

Posted by on Mar 25, 2015 in 529 Plan |

Florida 529 Special Plans, College Planning

It’s that time of year: you’ve got your 2014 NCAA tournament bracket set up, and you’ve determined your final four. While the function of college sports is high on the charts for education selection, that’s only half of the battle. What’s left? Funding. Fortunately, if you start planning early, you can ensure that the top four selection is your child’s greatest concern when it comes to a college education. Consider the following estate planning resource as a means of both providing for your child’s college planning, while maximizing tax savings.

The Florida 529 Savings Plan allows any U.S. citizen to contribute to a savings account for the benefit of any other. The account is then managed by a professional fund manager who will invest according to your investment option of choice. All federal and state income taxes are then deferred until a withdrawal is made from the account. If such withdrawal is made for a “qualified higher education expense,” there are no income tax consequences. There is no set time for using the plan, and it can be rolled over from one beneficiary to another. Not only does the plan allow you to make monthly payments that are invested to create tax exempt income; you can also use it as a strategy to decrease your gross estate, and avoid gift and estate taxes.

The 529-Plan allows the owner to maintain complete control over the account, including the right to terminate and withdrawal, while removing all of its contents from the owner’s taxable gross estate. As a result, it is an incredibly useful tool in reducing taxes, while maintaining control and investing in the future of a loved one

It is important to consult with an estate planning attorney and/or financial advisor, as there are a variety of wealth management strategies associated with this plan, and it is important to ensure that such strategy compliments each estate plan.

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Fri20

Protect Your Pot of Gold

Posted by on Mar 20, 2015 in asset protection |

Asset Protection Plan

The month of March brings leprechauns dancing, rainbows and the color of green vomit everywhere…or that could be because you drank too much. Nevertheless, March is also a time to think about your pot of gold and how to protect it.

It would be nice to simply find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but this is not the case. People work very hard to accumulate that wealth and spend little time protecting it.

At Wild Felice & Partners, we put together an asset protection plan to ensure your pot of gold stays in your possession. We do this through estate planning. For years, many associated estate planning with a will. While an estate plan does accomplish those goals, an estate plan does far more. Here’s how:

When your assets are in an estate plan, in some type of trust, they are protected from creditors, litigation, bankruptcy, divorce or greedy leprechauns. A trust allows you to create a Separate Share Trust Fund for each of your beneficiaries that you are able to control and protect from beyond the grave for up to 360 years.

In addition to protecting and controlling your assets, a trust may also limit your estate tax burden. It may double your tax-free distributions, which could save your family thousands of dollars. Think of it as another pot of gold for you and your loved ones.

Lastly, having a trust gives you privacy. A trust is a completely private document that prevents other from reinstating how you want your pot of gold to be divvied up after your passing.

You work hard to accumulate that post of gold, and Wild, Felice & Partners works very hard to protect it. To learn more about how you can protect your assets, visiting our website at www.wfplaw.com

Michael D. Wild is a Florida attorney specializing in the areas of estate planning, asset protection and probate administration. To learn more about estate planning, please contact the South Florida law firm of WFP Law at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation. It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?

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