Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Clients,
Congress approved the debt ceiling bill and on August 2, 2011 President Obama signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 (Senate Bill 365, as amended). This calls for a new Joint Committee to weigh year-end tax legislation.
Many of the widely used tax reduction tools and strategies will be under review by the Joint Committee. If you may benefit from entity discounts, GRATs, intra-family sale transactions, dynasty trusts or a host of other planning benefits that have been previously discussed for restriction or elimination, you should consider acting now.
November 2011, not December 31, 2012 might be the new deadline. New changes might be proposed, not just those in the Budget Control Act. Some might be effective from date of proposal. If you haven’t completed your estate and income tax planning, you are encouraged to act now in considering using some or all of these tools and finally make the appointment with your tax, legal and financial advisers on a regular basis through these fluid, and potentially dangerous financial times.
Jeffrey M. Verdon Law Group, LLC