Recent Articles

Top State Income Tax Rates

Bryan Howard
March 06, 2012 22:01

Tax Foundation has published a map showing the top income tax rates in all 50 states. There are seven states that have no income taxes at all: Alaska, Washington, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Texas, and Florida. Tennessee and New Hampshire only tax dividends and interest. Except...

The Great 2012 Gifting Opportunity - Part 2: Can You Afford to Make a Large Gift?

Bryan Howard
March 06, 2012 00:44

This is the second article of a series designed to provide guidance for those individuals who are considering making a large gift in 2012 to take advantage of the $5.12 million federal gift tax exemption that will expire at the end of the year. For the first article in the series, see Part 1:...

Tennesseans Against Death Taxes

Bryan Howard
March 05, 2012 20:34

A group known as Tennesseans Against Death Taxes is lobbying the Tennessee government to repeal Tennessee gift and inheritance taxes. Tennessee is one of only two states that charge gift taxes. Our state gift tax roadblocks a lot of good estate planning that could otherwise be done, with...

The Great 2012 Gifting Opportunity - Part 1: Use It or Lose It

Bryan Howard
February 27, 2012 23:52

In the calendar year 2012, individuals can give away as much as $5,120,000 without paying federal gift taxes. This amount is reduced by taxable gifts that were made in prior years. The gift tax exemption will decrease to $1 million on January 1, 2013, unless Congress changes this...

IRS Grants Extension for Making Estate Tax Portability Election

Bryan Howard
February 17, 2012 23:04

Portability allows a surviving spouse to benefit from his/her spouse’s unused federal estate tax exemption. A portability election is made by filing a federal estate tax return within 9 months after the decedent’s death, or within 15 months after the decedent’s death if...

President's Budget Proposal Would Significantly Increase Estate and Gift Taxes

Bryan Howard
February 14, 2012 23:59

If you ever want to find out the estate planning techniques that are saving the most estate taxes, take a look at a Democratic President’s wish list for making changes to estate and gift taxes. President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget proposal recommends numerous changes that...

Comparison of Asset Protection Trust Statutes

Bryan Howard
February 07, 2012 18:40

Dave Shaftel has prepared a detailed comparison of the various Domestic Asset Protection Trust statutes. He analyzes 33 different aspects of the statutes. Tennessee’s laws stack up very well in terms of protection from creditors. You can see from the enclosed map that Tennessee is...

Groundhog Day: A Good Reminder to Make Gifts Before the Sun Shines

Bryan Howard
February 03, 2012 17:51

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Nashville. Supposedly, that means we’re in for six weeks of miserable weather. Whether or not we receive all of this dreary weather, we expect the sun to be shining bright in spring and summer. Like the groundhog, a lot of our clients are able to...

Tennessee: Third Best State for Taxes

Bryan Howard
January 24, 2012 18:10

Bloomberg has published an article which concludes that Tennessee has the third lowest taxes of any state in the country. It is somewhat surprising to me that the two states that are ahead of Tennessee both have a state income tax. Mississippi has a 5% income tax, and South Carolina has a...

40 Tennesseans Paid Federal Estate Taxes in 2010

Bryan Howard
November 26, 2011 21:02

Citizens for Tax Justice has published an article which lists the number of residents of each state who paid estate taxes between the years 2000 and 2010. In 2000, there were 662 Tennesseans who paid estate taxes. This represented 1.2% of all the Tennesseans who died during the preceding...