Seminar Details

Next Seminar:  “PASSING IT ON” Friday, August 23, 2013

Registration and Breakfast at 9:00am

Seminar begins at 9:30am-11:15am

 

Seminar Details:

The Income Tax and Estate Tax Obstacles

The current income and estate tax laws impose substantial challenges to the accumulation and passing of wealth for both the moderately wealthy and the very wealthy. The maximum income tax rate of 39.6%, maximum tax rate of 20% on capital gains and qualifying dividends, and new Medicare tax of 3.8% on some investment income, are detrimental to the accumulation and transfer of wealth. In addition there is the unlimited Medicare tax of 1.45% on earned and self employment income, a new 0.9% Medicare tax on earned and self employment income above $200,000 or $250,000 (depending on marital status), phase out of itemized deductions, and phase out of personal exemptions. The combination of these taxes and phase outs challenges wealth accumulation and legacy creation not only for you, but also for your children who are trying to build their own retirement funds and wealth. When you couple the increased income taxes with the new 40% estate tax rate, you can see how difficult it will be to transfer significant wealth to your family without the right type of planning and financial products.

The Very Wealthy

For people of substantial wealth, the estate tax rate has always been more important than the estate tax exemption. The new estate tax rate is 40%, up from 35%, and it may not be over yet. Obama came out with his 2014 Fiscal Year Revenue Proposals in April, 2013, and estate tax increases are clearly on the table. In addition to lowering the estate tax exemption, lowering the gift tax exemption, lowering the generation skipping tax exemption, and raising the estate tax rate, his revenue proposals shut down tried and proven techniques that wealthy people and planners have relied upon for years. With many moderately wealthy people’s estates now below the current exemption amounts, who will care enough to be concerned whether the wealthy pay a higher estate tax rate and lose the benefits of proven planning techniques? It may be open season on the very wealthy. It was not long ago that the estate tax rate was 55%, and for some size estates 60%.

The Masses of Moderately Wealthy

For the masses of moderately wealthy people, who may not be subject to estate tax under current law, the game has changed dramatically. While you may think you are out of the woods as far as the estate tax goes, things can change quickly and you may be caught off guard and unprepared – just look at Obama’s 2014 revenue proposals, which will pull the estates of many moderately wealthy people back into the estate tax net. The new focus for the masses of wealthy, those who may not be subject to the estate tax, is to maximize their financial legacy by avoiding the newer higher income tax rates and Medicare tax, basis step-up for asset dispositions subsequent to death, leveraging wealth and avoiding income taxes with tax-advantaged life insurance products, asset protection, simplified planning, and reducing the need for exorbitant and never-ending legal and accounting fees.

Long Term Trusts

Many long-term trusts, especially asset protection trusts, may be hammered by tax going forward. The combined income tax and Medicare tax rate of 43.4% on most types of investment income, and the combined income tax and Medicare tax rate of 23.8% on capital gains and qualifying dividends, kicks in for those trusts with a meager $11,950 of undistributed income. This will require people to rethink the cost/benefit of retaining assets in long-term trusts.

Life Insurance

Life insurance is moving to the forefront for building wealth and creating legacies. The most appealing characteristic is its simplicity when compared to complicated financial structures that tie up your money, take control over your money away from you, take access to your funds away from you, and that in the end might be contested by the IRS.  Life insurance cash values grow in a tax-free environment, the death benefit is normally received income tax free, and when properly structured may not be subject to estate tax. The insurance industry has been busy creating cash accumulation products that avoid the new higher income tax rates and Medicare tax, with the potential for tax-free access to policy values through a combination of withdrawals and policy loans. Creative policy design can allow a policy to be structured with emphasis on tax advantaged cash accumulation, emphasis on tax free death benefit, or somewhere in-between.

You Need To Attend This Workshop

Are you tired of the constant and inevitable changes in the tax laws? Do you want a simple program that will work regardless of future tax law changes? If so, you need an approach where the focus is on achieving goals and where the estate tax merely becomes an obstacle to achieving your goals, not the goal itself.  You need a practical way to think about your legacy that will stand the test of time and change.

All seminars will be held at The St. Regis Resort Aspen in Aspen, Colorado .  Registration and a complimentary breakfast will be served at 9:00am and includes free valet parking. This is an estate planning seminar; not a product presentation. There will be no discussion of investment products. We do not manage money, take custody of funds, or act in any fiduciary copacity. We concentrate on one thing; Wealth Transfer. We are serious people addressing serious problems.  Breakfast will  be served at 9:00am, 30 minutes prior to the seminar starting time. Please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to seminar starting time.  Click on the blue button below to register for the 17th Annual Aspen Colorado Estate and Charitable Planning Workshops 2013.

17th Annual Aspen Estate Planning and Charitable Planning Workshops will be held at the St. Regis Resort Aspen in Aspen, Colorado.
315 East Dean St. Aspen, Colorado, 81611

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Internal Revenue Service Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to Internal Revenue Service Circular 230, we hereby inform you that any tax advice set forth herein with respect to U.S. federal tax issues was not intended or written by E. Brian Singer, Shaun Singer, EBS Group, EBS Responsible Wealth, or EBS Business & Investment Group, Inc., to be used, and cannot be used, by you or any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed on you or any other person under the Internal Revenue Code. 

Our role is to help you evaluate planning techniques that can reduce your future estate tax and gift tax, and increase the wealth transferred to your family. Brian Singer is not an attorney. Although he is a CPA (Inactive-California), it is not his intention to become your CPA. He no longer engages in the practice of public accounting. This and any other analysis or discussion is not meant to address all the issues and risks as you might find in a technical legal analysis. That task, if necessary, and if you are willing to pay the fee, is the responsibility of your attorney. Brian Singer attempts to take complicated tax principles and reduce them to understandable techniques for the layperson, in plain English. Any discussion and/or written analysis are meant to give you an overview of the anticipated benefits to be derived by employing specific techniques.  Final responsibility for the tax aspects rests with the attorney of your choosing. All techniques require careful drafting by a highly competent tax attorney with specialized knowledge.  A concept that might work when competently drafted, could fail as a result of mistakes made in the documents prepared by an attorney not proficient in these areas. The appreciation rates, investment earning rates, tax rates, valuation discounts, and other factors are hypothetical assumptions.  The benefits from implementing any technique will ultimately be better or worse than described depending upon variation from the assumptions. There are no guaranteed results; either in an economic analysis or in application of the tax law. We hope you will decide to use our services. Any planning we propose is incidental to the purchase of insurance. Since insurance is used to pay estate tax, the less tax you will owe, the less insurance required. The planning is essential in the determination of your insurance needs. You are in no way obligated to purchase any insurance. If it makes sense for you, then buy it; if it doesn’t make sense for you, then don’t buy it. You are not expected to do anything that you feel is not in your best interest. We may choose to disengage at any time.

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