Estate Taxes Archives - Ross Law Firm Ltd.

When to sell your parents’ home: The tax consequences

11/05/202010/19/2020 by Report from Counsel

Let’s say you’ve known for years that you are inheriting your father’s home when he dies.

Hopefully, you also know that he has a will that indicates clearly that the house will go to you.

No federal estate tax on large gifts when exemption sunsets

11/05/202009/29/2020 by Report from Counsel

Taxpayers making large gifts no longer have to worry about big federal estate taxes coming back to bite them years from now. However, the State of Illinois does take into account large gifts (more than $15,000 per person per year under current laws in 2020) when assessing the Illinois estate tax payable at death on assets in excess of $4,000,000 that pass to children or another non-spouse beneficiary.

Is It a Gift or a Loan? Common Mistakes Parents Should Avoid

11/05/202009/21/2020 by Report from Counsel

Parents and grandparents often give children and grandchildren financial help to purchase a home or to carry them through hard times. It can be a wonderful, generous gesture with a lasting impact across generations of family members. But it can also create strife and intra-family conflict if parents fail to properly document the transfer as a loan. 

Should you amend or rewrite your revocable trust?

09/23/202004/03/2017 by Report from Counsel

It’s important to review a revocable trust regularly to see if any amendments are needed, such as when something changes in your life. Some examples are: you have had or adopted a child; your spouse or other beneficiaries have died; you have remarried; the value of your assets, including life insurance death benefits in most cases, will exceed your available estate tax exemption amount (under Illinois or federal law); or the law changes.

Business Loans Cannot Reduce Estate Taxes

09/23/202001/29/2010 by Report from Counsel

A section of the federal Internal Revenue Code authorizes estate tax deductions for qualifying interests in family-owned businesses. For the deduction to apply, the value of the interest in the business held by a person at the time of his or her death must exceed 50% of the total value of the person’s adjusted gross estate. This is known as the “50% liquidity test.”