Federal Estate And Gift Taxation In A Nutshell

"This comprehensive guide can serve either as a course supplement or as a refresher for members of the bar. Expert commentary summarizes the law and offers critical perspectives on the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, including lifetime and testamentary transfers, joint-and-survivor tenancies, life insurance, annuities, and powers of appointment; inclusion and valuation; exemptions and exclusions; deductions; and tax liabilities. Additional chapters cover basic tax and estate planning concepts, reform proposals, and fundamental alternatives to the current transfer tax system."--publisher website

Wealth Transfer Taxation; Constitutionality; The Federal Estate Tax, Gift Tax and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Outlined; Unification of Transfer Taxes; Gratuitous Transfers; Transfers During Life; Donative Intent; Consideration; Property; Transfer; Inclusion in the Gross Estate; Alternative Valuation Date; Liability for Tax; Incomplete Transfers; Transfers in Contemplation of Death; Retained Interests or Powers; Revocable Transfers; Special Valuation Rules and "Estate Freezes; " Jointly-Owned Property; Community Property; Property Settlements; Life Insurance; Annuities; Employee Death Benefits; Powers of Appointment; Inclusion; Valuation; Exemptions; Exclusions; Future Interests; Deductions (Charitable, etc.); Marital Deduction; Split Gifts; Unified Credit; International; Estate Planning; Reforms and Fundamental Alternatives.

Wealth Transfer Taxation; Constitutionality; The Federal Estate Tax, Gift Tax and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Outlined; Unification of Transfer Taxes; Gratuitous Transfers; Transfers During Life; Donative Intent; Consideration; Property; Transfer; Inclusion in the Gross Estate; Alternative Valuation Date; Liability for Tax; Incomplete Transfers; Transfers in Contemplation of Death; Retained Interests or Powers; Revocable Transfers; Special Valuation Rules and "Estate Freezes; " Jointly-Owned Property; Community Property; Property Settlements; Life Insurance; Annuities; Employee Death Benefits; Powers of Appointment; Inclusion; Valuation; Exemptions; Exclusions; Future Interests; Deductions (Charitable, etc.); Marital Deduction; Split Gifts; Unified Credit; International; Estate Planning; Reforms and Fundamental Alternatives.

The Estate and Estate Planning; Transfer of Property at Death by Will and Under Intestate Law; Survivorship Interests; Community Property; "Simple" Wills; Insurance; The Estate Arising From Status: Social Security; "Private" Pensions; Workers' Compensation; Veterans' Benefits; Trusts: An Introduction; Future Interests: An Introduction; Using Private Express Trusts; Charitable Trusts; The Rule in Shelley's Case; Doctrine of Worthier Title; Rule Against Perpetuities; Rule Against Accumulations; Some Aspects of Fiduciary Administration; Federal Estate and Gift Taxes.

Understanding Estate and Gift Taxation is designed primarily for use by law students taking a course on the United States transfer tax system, i.e., a course on the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. The book consists of 26 chapters, each addressing one of the basic topics typically covered in a course on the transfer tax system, including the computation of estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes; the gift tax annual exclusion; the estate and gift tax marital deductions; and the estate and gift tax implications of transfers with retained powers or interests. Because the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations are the primary source materials for the transfer tax system, the book includes numerous excerpts of those provisions. Each chapter also includes summaries of the leading cases and IRS rulings, plus examples of how this area of the law applies to common fact patterns. The new third edition is designed primarily for law students, but it is also intended to be useful to practitioners, including generalists who need a relatively brief summary of an estate and gift tax topic, beginning lawyers who intend to specialize in estate and gift taxation and estate planning, and experienced lawyers who wish to expand their practices into estate and gift taxation and estate planning. The book would also be useful to accountants who practice in these areas.

"This comprehensive guide can serve either as a course supplement or as a refresher for members of the bar. Expert commentary summarizes the law and offers critical perspectives on the federal income taxation of estates, trusts, and beneficiaries, including the decedent's final income tax return; classification of estates and trusts; income in respect of a decedent; distributable net income; simple and complex trusts; distributions; grantor trusts; charitable trusts; and foreign trusts. Additional chapters cover basic income, gift and estate tax concepts, accumulation distributions, and specially treated trusts."--

Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues, they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes, along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions, saving behavior, the distribution and level of wealth, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.

A comprehensive and accessible account of the U.S. estate tax, examining its history and evolution, structure and inner workings, and economic consequences. Governments have been levying some form of inheritance tax since the ancient Egyptians did so in the seventh century BC. In the United States, the federal government experimented with various forms of inheritance taxes, settling on an estate tax in 1916 and a gift tax in 1932. Despite this long history, there are few empirical studies of the federal estate tax. This book offers the first comprehensive look at U.S. estate and inheritance taxes, examining their history and evolution, structure and inner workings, and economic consequences. Written by David Joulfaian, a veteran economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the book provides accessible accounts of such topics as changes in tax laws, issues of equity, the fiscal contribution of the estate tax, and its behavioral effects. Joulfaian traces the evolution of U.S. inheritance taxes from 1797 to the present, noting that the estate tax rate and base expanded through 1976, then began to decline. He describes the tax itself, explaining that it currently applies to estates and gifts in excess of $11.18 million, and outlines applicable deductions and credits. He sketches a profile of taxpayers and their beneficiaries; surveys the revenues from estate and gift taxes; and discusses the effect of estate taxation on labor decisions, saving and wealth accumulation, charitable giving, life insurance ownership, and other economic activities. Finally, he addresses criticisms of the estate tax and analyzes its shortcomings. Accompanying tables present a wealth of data gathered by Joulfaian in his research and not available elsewhere.