Trust Services

A trust is a legal entity that owns assets transferred by a grantor and managed by a trustee for the benefit of another party. If you wish to place property in trust, Mitchell & Watters, CPAs can discuss the short- and long-term estate, gift and income tax ramifications of your decision. In addition, we will review existing trusts to help you consider whether your estate planning goals are being met. When you meet with our team to discuss your trust needs, we will:

• Review the trust document - this includes consideration of trust distribution requirements and whether the estate planning goals are being accomplished.

• Coordinate with the grantor or beneficiary, attorney and investment manager, if necessary.

• Calculate net income of the trust and allocate net income to beneficiaries of the trust according to trust requirements.

• Prepare the annual federal and state fiduciary income tax returns.

Gift Planning

A lifetime gifting strategy will help diminish your estate while providing assistance to your family now and should be a part of the overall estate planning process. Estate and gift planning can be a huge task. You'll want to work with professionals with the highest level of expertise to ensure compliance with the law and minimization of tax consequences. Our team understands the challenges and opportunities of proper estate and gift planning, and will assist you with your annual and lifetime gift planning and reporting.

There are annual gift exclusions whereby you can give a gift of a pre-determined amount per person to any number of recipients in a calendar year without paying a federal gift tax. A married couple can gift up to twice the amount of the annual gift exclusion without making a taxable gift. (However, a tax return may be required to report the "split" gift, so such gifts should always be discussed with your tax preparer.) Any amounts above the gift exclusion amount are taxable. Keep in mind, spouses may make unlimited lifetime gifts to each other. In addition, gifts to qualified charities and gifts of tuition or medical expenses that you pay directly to the qualified institution are not taxable.

Many families wish to consider a plan that accomplishes both their charitable giving goals and their tax objectives. We can work with you to devise different gifting options and to consider the tax ramifications of the different scenarios you choose.