Rich families in the United States are hearing from their consultants that they must act now or risk losing millions of dollars.
▪ If the Democratic Party regains the White House and the majority in the Senate in the November elections, substantially higher taxes for the wealthy, including eliminating ways to escape a 40% tax on big fortunes might be introduced.
▪ The wealthy can now take advantage of the generous tax rules for inheritances that were introduced by President Donald Trump and transfer their assets to the next generation. “It is the golden age of inheritance planning for may people. There may not be anything like that again” said Jere Doyle, inheritance planning strategist a BNY Mellon.
▪ Biden has not yet released a detailed tax plan, but he has already proposed several ways to increase revenue. Most measures are aimed at wealthy individuals and large corporations – in order to cover extra spending on health, infrastructure and the fight against climate change.
▪ The idea of donating much of the assets to children and grandchildren worries some millionaires. A popular alternative among these clients is the permanent access fund for spouses, known by the acronym SLAT. SLATs allow an individual to transfer their wealth, but allows the wife or husband to have access to the money.