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Establishing residency in a state with lower tax rates can result in significant tax savings for some individuals and trusts. But changing residency is not as straightforward as it might seem. Additionally, states have become aggressive in challenging residency changes to avoid losing out on tax revenue. This paper reviews the residency rules for individuals, identifies steps to establish new residency, and addresses residency audits. It also provides an overview of the residency rules for trusts.

The New Inflation Reduction Act (the "IRA") was passed with a simple majority vote in the U.S. The IRA would raise approximately $450 billion to pay for deficit reduction, clean energy, and climate investments.

Many parents enjoy witnessing the positive effect a significant gift can have on their children's lives. For example, asset transfer can help children buy a home, raise a family, or start a business. With meaningful benefits to transferring assets during a lifetime from a gift and estate tax perspective, intergenerational planning can be a win-win for those giving and those receiving. Your family's unique goals will determine which annual exclusion gifts strategy is best for you.

Families with complex assets, such as family businesses, as well as those who have portfolios managed by multiple advisors, may find trustees reluctant to administer their trusts. This is because, in many states, the trustees remain liable for the actions of delegated third-parties or even named advisors. Delaware directed trusts can alleviate this issue, and when drafted properly, can offer the settlor more opportunity for control, flexibility, and customization to accomplish the family’s financial and estate planning goals.

Over the years, many families and their advisers have come to find that the State of Delaware is a trust-friendly jurisdiction that promotes modern laws and attractive income tax advantages. This paper highlights the most significant legal and tax benefits for nonresidents, and their professional advisers, who may be considering whether to establish a trust in Delaware.

For the investors who like the tax benefits of Section 1031 (aka “Like-Kind”) Exchanges, they should consider a new option for sheltering real estate capital gains: Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds (QOZF). These funds have arisen as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which designated Qualified Opportunity Zones to promote investment in economically distressed areas. While 1031s remain a useful tool, QOZFs have many tax and other advantages compared with 1031s.

One of the most important, yet most forgotten, parts of estate planning is keeping track of who will benefit from those assets, including life insurance, which are not governed by your will. Providing for your family includes knowing which types of assets are not governed by your will; ensuring your assets are going to where you want them to go; and keeping your beneficiary designations updated.

A new U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Kaestner case means that more out-of-state residents will be able to fully realize the benefits of Tennessee's progressive trust laws and zero income tax on non-residents. Previously, many states relied on the residence of a trust beneficiary as one of the criteria for taxing a trust. In essence, the new ruling makes that criteria alone unconstitutional.

Every state has its own set of rules for assessing income tax against a trust. In some situations, a trust might be required to file tax returns in three or more separate states. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case that addresses how a state may tax a particular trust. We take a closer look at that decision and how it impacts state taxation of trusts—and possibly you. With careful thought, and the assistance of counsel, there are opportunities and tools available to draft trusts that can minimize, if not eliminate, state trust taxation.

As negotiations continue, the latest text of the proposed reconciliation bill, titled Build Back Better Act, is void of many of the prior proposed tax changes that would have upended estate planning.