One of the cornerstones of asset preservation planning is getting assets out of your name and out of harms way, which often leads to the question, “Will I have to pay gift tax?”
This is a valid question. As part of the planning, assets may be moved into a trust, which is a great way of protecting them, and this moving of assets legally constitutes a gift. Well, the good news is unless you are worth more than 11 million dollars, you don’t have to worry about gift tax at all.
In this Elder Law Minute, Wes Coulson, O’Fallon Illinois and St. Louis Missouri Elder Law attorney, discusses another topic from the video series Asset Preservation Planning and explains the gift tax limits.
Does Gift Tax Affect Me?
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Wes Coulson from Dent-Coulson Elder Law, with offices in St. Louis, Missouri and O’Fallon, Illinois, and this is your Elder Law Minute. This is another of our series of videos on long-term care asset preservation planning.
One of the cornerstones of the planning is getting assets out of your name, out of harms way. Anytime you do that, whether that’s directly to someone else or whether it’s into a trust, by the way the much better option because that keeps the money safe, that legally constitutes a gift. So, one of the very common questions I get is, “Well, what about gift tax? I’m going to have to pay gift tax and I’ve heard that you can only give away, what used to be $10,000 is now $14,000 a year, is that the limit?”
Well, good news for you. Unless you are worth more than 11 million dollars, you don’t have to worry about gift tax at all. The exemption that people have sort of heard about is an annual gift tax exemption, which if you’re filthy rich that comes into play in your planning. For the rest of us, you should know that the much larger number I gave you, that people think of as that estate tax exemption, is actually the unified estate and gift tax exemption. So, what that means is that’s the amount of money that you can either give away when you die, give away during your lifetime, or some combination of the two. So, unless you are sitting on more than 11 million dollars, when it comes to gift tax, don’t worry about it. Thanks.
For more information on asset preservation planning, visit these articles:
- Retirement Income vs. Long-Term Care Costs: A History Lesson
- Do I Have to Cash in My Investments to Put Them in an Asset Preservation Trust?
- IRAs and Asset Preservation Planning
“Your Trusted Advisor on the Elder Care Journey”
Dent-Coulson Elder Law is dedicated to providing families in the St. Louis area with their Elder Law needs. Our practice areas include Asset Preservation Planning, Veterans Benefits, Medicaid Eligibility, Alzheimer’s Planning, Special Needs Planning, Estate Planning and more. We understand the financial challenges you may face as you and your loved ones grow older. At Dent-Coulson Elder Law, our clients’ well-being is our number one priority. For immediate help, call (618) 632-7000 or (314) 567-9292, or Contact Us and we will get in touch as soon as possible.
