What Effect has the State and Federal Elections had on Your Estate Planning?
May 23, 2007

Answer: Last year's election results have had a huge impact on people's perspective regarding their estate and business tax planning. The calls keep coming and client comments are fairly uniform. The general public is beginning to realize that the Federal Estate Tax is likely to not just go away and may well capture more of their assets than expected. The majority of lawmakers at both the state and federal levels have verbalized an intent to increase taxes and that has created angst. By way of example, for estate planning, closely held family business entities are often created to plan for management transition and for tax reasons. These are bona fide business purpose entities and must register with the SDAT and file a personal property tax return each year. Currently the fee for annual filing is $300. The Maryland Legislature has proposed an increase to $1,000 per business, effectively a tax increase of $700 per business entity. Ouch! The best recommendation is to contact your tax professional and plan for the future today. A wait and see approach is likely to catch you short.

If you have questions, please contact:
Charles B. Jones, Esquire

cjones@tandllaw.com
(443) 927-2111