Advanced Estate Planning (Lesson 4) Flashcards
The ___ _____ of qualifying property left to the surviving spouse is included in the marital deduction
- Net value for marital deduction purposes equals the gross value of the qualifying property left to the surviving spouse less any taxes, debts, or estate administration expenses payable out of the spousal interest
What are the advantages of the unlimited marital deduction
- defers estate taxes until the death of the surviving spouse
- may fund the applicable estate tax credit of the surviving spouse
- ensures the surviving spouse has sufficient assets to support their lifestyle
What is the requirement to receive the unlimited marital deduction
- the decedent must have been married as of the date of their death
- surviving spouse must receive property through the estate
What are the two limitations that are put on the unlimited marital deduction
- property passing to the spouse must qualify for the marital deduction
- only the net value of qualifying property that is left to a spouse can be included as the martial deduction
What is the net value for use in calculating the marital deduction
- equals the gross value of the qualifying property left to the surviving spouse less any taxes, debts, or estate administration expenses payable out of the spousal interest
What are generally the three ways that property can be left to a spouse and qualify for the marital deduction
- outright transfers to spouse
- GPOA Trusts
- QTIP trusts (spouse only income beneficiary)
What are the three requirements for property to qualify for a martial deduction
- property must be included in the decedents gross estate
- property must be transferred to the surviving spouse
- interest must be a terminable interest unless it meets one of the exceptions
Does property qualify for the marital deduction if the deceased spouses will directs the executor to use property included in the gross estate to purchase terminable interest property for the surviving spouse
- Unlimited marital deduction is not available
What are the exceptions to the terminable interest rule that qualify for the unlimited marital deduction
- six month survival contingency
- terminable interest, either outright or in trust, over which the surviving spouse has a GPOA
- QTIP Trust
- CRT where a spouse is the only noncharitable beneficiary
Is a interest in a patent a terminable interest
- yes because a patent right terminates after a certain period of time
When will a outright bequest to a spouse not the best option
- spouse is not cable of managing assets
- may need protection from current and future creditors
What are the two types of trusts that qualify for the marital deduction
- General Power of Appointment Trust
- QTIP Trust
What is a general power of appointment trust
- known as a A Trust
- creates a terminable interest for a surviving spouse that will nevertheless require the unconsumed assets to be included in the surviving spouses gross estate and thus qualify the transfer of the property to the trust for the unlimited deduction
What is an A Trust
GPOA Trust
Does a trust that gives the surviving spouse the power to appoint the property only to their estate qualify for the unlimited marital deduction
- Yes referred to as an estate trust
- spouse must be the the only beneficial interest in the trust
What is a Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust
- Known as a C Trust
- Holds property for the benefit of a surviving spouse and make income distributions to the surviving spouse at least annually
- at the surviving spouse death the trust property will transfer to the remainder beneficiary as determined by the grantor of the QTIP Trust
What are the requirements for a QTIP trust to qualify for the marital deduction
- property must be in the gross estate of the first to die spouse and must transfer to the surviving spouse
- Surviving spouse is entitled to all of the trust income for life
- surviving spouse must have the authority to compel the trustee to sell nonincome producing investments and reinvest those proceeds in income producing investments
- During surviving spouses lifetime no one can have the right to appoint the property to anyone other than the surviving spouse
- transferor /executor must file an election to treat the trust as a QTIP Trust on the transferors gift tax return or the decedents federal estate tax return
If the surviving spouse is not a US citizen does the unlimited marital deduction available
- no there is a special annual exclusion amount of $159,000
What is the special annual exclusion amount for non US citizen spouses
- $159,000
What is one way that a non citizen surviving spouse can qualify for the unlimited marital deduction
- become a US citizen before the due date of estate tax return and maintain residency in the United states following the death of the decedent spouse
What is a way the the unlimited marital deduction is available for a non citizen spouse who does not want to become a US citizen
- create a Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT)
What are the requirements for a QDOT to qualify for the unlimited martial dedcution
- at least one of the QDOT trustees must be a US citizen or a US domestic corporation
- trust must prohibit a distribution of principal unless the US Citizen trustee has the right to withhold estate tax on the distribution
- trustee must keep a sufficient amount of the trust assets in the US to ensure payment of federal estate taxes or the trustee must have a minimum net worth sufficient to assure the payment of estate taxes upon the death of the non citizen spouse
- executor of the citizen spouses estate must elect to have the martial deduction apply to the trust
What happens if the surviving spouse does not use the deceased spouses unused exemption before they remarry
- the first to dies exclusion is wasted
What is a bypass trust used for
- used to ensure that an individual can make full use of their applicable estate tax credit amount
- Usually funded with an amount up to the applicable estate tax exemption
What does it mean when the estate is underqualified
- means that too much of the decedents property was subject to estate tax at the death of the first spouse due to a failure to make adequate use of the unlimited marital deduction
What does it mean when the estate is overqualified
when a decedents taxable estate is less than the applicable estate tax exemption
What is the formula for capitalized income approach used for estate life insurance needs
(Gross income - Adjustments)/ Riskless rate adjusted for inflation = Life insurance needed
What are some common objectives of life insurance
- Protect income stream for beneficiaries
- Source of funds for education
- Provide liquidity at death
- Source for retirement income
- Create or sustain family wealth
What is term life insurance
- a life insurance contract that states if the insured dies within the term of the contract, the insurance company will pay the stated death benefit
What is universal life insurance
- a term insurance policy with a cash accumulation account attached to it
What is variable life insurance
- are universal life insurance policies with one added feature the insured can choose how to invest the cash in the cash accumulation account
What is Whole life insurance
- provides guarantees from the insurer that are not found in term insurance and universal life insurance contracts
What is one of the advantages of a second to die policy
- that one of the parties (usually the spouse) can be uninsurable
Who is the owner of a life insurance contract
- is the person who has title to the contract
Who is the insured in a life insurance contract
- is the person whose life is covered by the contract
What is the transfer for value rule for taxation of life insurance contracts
- applies when the life insurance policy is exchanged for valuable consideration
- causes the death benefit that is received in excess of basis to be subject to income tax
When will the transfer for value rules not apply when there is a transfer of a life insurance policy
- If the transfer of the life insurance policy is to any of the following individuals:
- the insured
- partner of the insured
- a partnership in which the insured is a partner
- a corporation in which the insured is a shareholder or officer
- a transferee who takes the transferors basis in the contract
What is the surrender value of a life insurance policy
- is generally the cash value of the contract less a surrender charge which is governed by the contract or by state law
What happens if the owner of the policy surrenders the policy to the insurance company
- receives an amount that is greater than their adjusted basis in the policy will be considered Ordinary taxable income
What is a dividend that is received on a life insurance policy considered
- owners adjusted basis
Is there any tax consequence from taking a loan from policy
- no tax consequence results from taking the loan
What happens if a policy lapses when there is an outstanding loan
- the gain on the policy will include the outstanding loan and will be subject to ordinary income tax
A policy loan should generally not be taken unless
- they expect to repay the loan or
- if the loan will not be repaid the policy will remain in force until the death of the insured
Does a transfer of ownership for life insurance qualify for the annual exclusion
- yes because it is a present interest gift
What is the value for gift tax purposes if the life insurance policy is still in the premium pay status
- is the sum of the policy’s interpolated terminal reserve plus any unearned premium
What is the value for gift tax purposes if the life insurance policy is in paid up status
- is the replacement cost of the policy which equals the present cost charged by the insurance company to issue a similar contract
How can the gift of a life insurance premium held by a trust qualify for the annual exclusion
- if a Crummey power provision is included in the trust the gift will qualify for the annual exclusion
What is charitable deduction of a policy that is gifted to charity
- is ordinary income property
- net deduction is usually the adjusted basis of the property
- if the FMV is less than the adjusted basis the deduction is equal to the FMV of the property itself
- If policy is paid up deduction is equal to the replacement value
What is the charitable deduction of a policy that gifted to charity but premiums remain unpaid
- The deduction is equal to the interpolated terminal reserve
What happens if the owner of a insurance policy continues to pay premiums on a policy that is donated to charity
- the premium payments are an additional tax deductible charitable gift
What is the income tax deduction AGI limits for a gift of an existing life insurance policy to a charity
- limited to 50% of AGI public charity
- limited to 30% of AGI private charity
Naming a charity as a beneficiary qualify it for a tax deduction
- no ownership of the policy must be transferred to the charity irrevocably
What happens if the policy was transferred to the charity within 3 years of death
- the death benefit will still be included in the donors gross estate but will still be eligible for the unlimited charitable deduction on the estate return
Is the gift of a life insurance policy to a charity included in the adjustable taxable gifts for the estate calculation
- no because the annual exclusion applied and charitable deduction also applied
What happens if an individual dies owning a life insurance policy on the life of another person
- the value of the life insurance policy will be included in their gross estate
- value of the policy is terminal reserve plus any unearned premium
What is an incident of ownership that will cause a life insurance policy to be included an insureds estate
- the ability to exercise any economic right in the policy
What is the three year look back rule for including a policy in the owners gross estate
- if an individual gratuitously transfers ownership of a life insurance policy on their life within three years of death the death benefit will be included in their gross estate
- does not apply to sales of life insurance policies
Will a new life insurance policy bought within a ILIT subject to the three year look back rule
- No
What happens if a beneficiary dies with Crummey powers before they are able to lapse
- the GPOA (5x5) amount will be included in the power holders gross estate
What two provisions are used by a life insurance trust to provide liquidity to the estate without causing the death benefit to be subject to estate tax
- giving the trustee of the life insurance trust the right to purchase assets from the estate of the insured and
- giving the trustee of the life insurance trust the right to loan money to the estate of the insured
What are the two primary methods of utilizing life insurance to transfer ownership of a closely held business at an owners death
- Cross purchase agreements
- Stock redemption (Entity purchase) agreements
What is a cross purchase agreement for a closely held business
- consist of each owner owning an insurance policy on each of the other owners
- estate of each owner then commits to selling the ownership to the surviving owners typically for a predetermined cost (amount of insurance proceeds)