Tuesday Tax Tidbit: Give and Receive with a Charitable Remainder Trust

Would you like to benefit charity while reducing the size of your taxable estate yet maintain an income stream for yourself? Would you also like to divest yourself of highly appreciated assets and diversify your portfolio with minimal tax consequences? Then consider a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT). Here’s how it works:

• When you fund the CRT, you receive a partial income tax deduction and the property is removed from your estate.
• For a given term, the CRT pays an amount to you annually.
• At the term’s end, the CRT’s remaining assets pass to charity.

If you fund the CRT with appreciated assets, it can sell them without paying tax on the gain and then invest the proceeds in a variety of stocks and bonds. You’ll owe capital gains tax when you receive CRT payments, but much of the liability will be deferred. Plus, only a portion of each payment will be attributable to capital gains. This also may help you reduce or avoid exposure to the 3.8% net investment income tax and the 20% top long-term capital gains rate.

For more ideas on tax-smart gifts to charity, minimizing estate taxes, maintaining an income stream or diversifying your portfolio tax efficiently, contact us.

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