Grantor Trusts

By ldetzel | April 5, 2011

During “tax season,” I often hear tax professionals say…”it’s not a grantor trust, it’s irrevocable.” All of us who deal in the world of trusts need to be aware of the grantor trust rules. The lawyer who drafts the trust, the CPA who prepares the income tax return (Form 1041), the money manager who allocates…

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The Tax Relief Act of 2010: Three Estate Planning Themes

By ldetzel | February 7, 2011

My high school English teacher could never get me to find the themes of The Great Gatsby or The Red Badge of Courage (or anything else we read, for that matter), but apparently I am enough of a tax geek to see themes in the estate tax provisions of the Tax Relief Act of 2010….

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Fiduciary Accounting: Prepare it When You do the 1041 and Avoid a Lawsuit Later

By ldetzel | January 24, 2011

Most individual trustees are not aware of their obligation to provide beneficiaries with an annual trust accounting. Simply getting the trust’s income tax return prepared is not enough; that satisfies the IRS, but not the Florida statutory requirement of an accounting. A trust accounting, also known as a fiduciary accounting, is a detailed report of…

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