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It may seem that there will always be time to address estate planning. However, a unique opportunity to maximize the amount of wealth that can be tax-efficiently passed to heirs will expire at the end of 2025. Furthermore, legislation could curb lifetime exemption limits even sooner. The opportunity is even more pressing because the current market downturn represents an especially advantageous time to optimize your taxable estate before markets eventually recover.

For families with substantial diversified portfolio investments, costs are an important consideration when devising an overall wealth management strategy. While there are a range of cost estimates drawn from real world examples, each family’s wealth management cost formula is different when analyzing it through a framework and analysis of four parts: the evaluation of costs; factors that can cause costs to fluctuate; key questions to ask when evaluating wealth management costs; and best practices.

U.S. tax and information reporting obligations have become an increasing concern for international families and their succession planning structures. Missed or late filings can result in steep penalties, even when no tax is due. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is alerting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to income and accounts held by U.S. citizens and green card holders (U.S. persons). To help bring delinquent individuals into compliance, the IRS offers streamlined filing compliance programs.

Residents in 43 states pay state income tax, with the highest rate being 13.3%. When combined with the top federal marginal tax rate and the net investment income tax, residents subject to the highest state income tax rate could face a total levy of 54.1% of income. As a result, those residents are interested in finding ways to mitigate the tax. An incomplete gift non-grantor trust (ING trust) could be the answer.

With more business families going global, it’s imperative that family businesses consider the tax implications as well as the business and personal factors when planning a family business transfer. In this report, KPMG offers two case studies on taxing family business transfers and the significant disparities between tax regimes. The report also compares the vastly different tax implications of transferring the family business through gifting during the owner’s lifetime (including on retirement) and through inheritance across 57 countries, territories, and jurisdictions worldwide.