‘Tis the season to consider giving, and here is some food for thought:
- For many people giving to family reduces the amount that will go to the government, and keeps those hard-earned assets in your family instead. There may be the added benefit of being able to see that money working while you are still alive; possibly when it’s more needed.
- With new tax law changes, you may not get a tax deduction for charitable gifts next year. So, you may want to accelerate gifts ahead of the new year, or even open up a charitable gift account.
- Gifting appreciated stock to charity, and certain family members, can reduce your tax burden, and may even provide some neat tax arbitrage. For example, giving appreciated stock to grandchildren could then potentially be sold by them with no taxes due.
Currently non-reportable gifting limits allow one to give $14,000 to an individual, and $15,000 in 2018. This means one person can give another $14,000 without any reporting requirements. Or one couple can give another couple (14,000*4) or $56,000. Gifting doesn’t have to be limited to these amounts either, in many cases it makes sense to give more.- Minnesota’s current estate tax starts at $2.1 million per person and is scheduled to be $3 million by 2020. Federal estate taxes are less of a problem for all but a very few at $5.49 million per
person, and may double next year.
With all of this, please consult with your CPA to make sure all the t’s are crossed, and the
We're happy to brainstorm with you about what I like to call “optional taxes” as well.
Thanks for taking a look!
Tom