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Irrevocable trusts are a great way to minimize estate taxes and keep more of your wealth in the family, but they require you to permanently give up ownership and control of the assets you place in them. For people who are hesitant about the irrevocable aspect of the trust, there is the spousal lifetime access trusts, or SLAT, that can be an excelle...

Drawing examples from HBO’s hit show Succession, where the members of the wealthy Roy family each vie for control of their family-owned business, attorney Stephanie Derks of Foley & Lardner’s Estate & Trusts Practice Group joins Brian Lucareli to discuss the importance of business succession planning. In this 10-minute interview, Stephanie ...

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 ...

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, signed into law by President Joe Biden on December 29, 2022, makes significant changes to the administration and taxation of retirement plans. It addresses many practical concerns that surfaced after the passage of the original SECURE Act in 2019 and during the pandemic. Some of the key changes, including the rules for s...

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...

In this 10-minute interview, attorney Jordan Bergmann of Foley & Lardner joins Brian Lucareli to discuss qualified business stock (QSBS). During the interview, Jordan defined QSBS and the tax benefits they provide and how family offices can take advantage of the QSBS as part of their wealth management and tax planning strategy.

The issue of concentrated low-basis holdings is a challenge that has vexed wealth managers and their clients for decades. Put simply, if a large majority of your wealth is concentrated in a single position, should you sell some of it and move the proceeds to a more diversified portfolio of investments? However, the sale position oftentimes carries ...

The importance of meeting U.S. tax and reporting deadlines cannot be overstated. With the IRS continuing to strengthen its efforts to enforce compliance with initiatives specifically targeting foreign information reporting, this U.S. reporting checklist by Kozusko Harris Duncan can help family advisers and trustees of foreign trusts determine what ...

With the new administration in the U.S. and its focus on various parts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the TCJA) and the estate tax, changes are expected amid the balancing of competing considerations. In this 10-minute interview, Jason Kohout, partner and co-chair of the Family Offices group at Foley & Lardner, and John Strom, federal lobbyist a...

For many art collectors, the allure of acquiring and displaying art often overshadows the effort required to manage it properly and plan for its eventual disposition. After all, upon death, you can’t take it with you. Estate planning for art collectors involves navigating a complex landscape of valuation, tax, and management issues. Without a strat...

Effectively transitioning a business to the next generation of owners through a business succession plan that incorporates estate tax planning will result in the most value being retained by the owners and their families. Whether the business is entirely family owned or has unrelated owners, each scenario comes with its own complications but with c...

With an unprecedented $80 billion additional funding allocated for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), there will be an expected 3,700 new agents hired as part of ramping up audits of the largest and most complex partnership returns and other tax enforcement initiatives. There will also be more focus on high income individuals, foreign bank account...

The most popular forms of equity-based compensation are stock options and restricted stock. It is not uncommon for these vehicles to compose a substantial portion of an executive’s net worth. Accordingly, it is important that executives fully understand the income tax treatment of options and restricted stock in order to maximize the after-tax valu...

By exploring the essence of legacy and its impact on business performance, this report brings together the detailed analysis, academic insights, and the firsthand experiences of family business CEOS to contribute to a deeper understanding of the importance of balancing tradition and innovation for long-term success in family businesses. From this r...

The concept of transferring ownership of a private business to a purpose trust was first popularized when the Patagonia transaction was announced—instead of “going public,” they were “going purpose” to allow the owner to monetize his stake in the business while at the same time ensure that the values of the business are preserved for future generat...