Gift & Estate Planning

Click the appropriate button for a One-Life or Two-Life presentation. Selecting One Life will cause the Second Person and the associated name and age fields to be hidden from view for that run.

Select the current federal income tax rate of the donor. This will be used to project possible income tax savings. If you are not certain about the correct rate, you may choose one of the middle rates. For many people, this will be close to the actual income tax rate.

Enter the amount of cash or the fair market value (FMV) of the assest(s) used to fund the trust. For assets such as real estate, closely-held stock and other hard to value assets, the FMV would be the appraised value of the property on the date of the gift.

Enter the cost basis of the asset being used to fund the trust or annuity. If the asset is cash, the cost basis is equal to the gift amount. If it is appreciated property, the cost basis will most likely be the amount you originally paid for the property. The cost basis is used to determine the capital gains tax which will be bypassed as a result of selling the asset. If the cost basis is not known or cannot be proven, the IRS assumes the cost basis to be $0. If cash funds the gift annuity, enter the same value as "Value of Property."

Enter the current return return or yield of the asset(s) which will be used to fund the gift agreement. For example, if the trust will be funded with public-traded stock which is currently paying a dividend of 3%, the current return yield is, in turn, 3%. If the gift is funded with vacant land or a personal residence (assuming the property is not leased), the current return would be 0%.

Enter the percent income payout to the donor. You must select a trust percent payout of 5% or more.

Enter the amount of cash you wish to receive from the sale of the asset(s) that will be used to fund the trust. This amount of cash will not go into the trust.

Select either monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual income payments to the beneficiary(ies) of the income. The choice of payment frequency does affect the amount of the charitable deduction as the more frequent the payment (i.e. monthly as opposed to annually), the smaller the donor's tax deduction.