SOUTHERN ARIZONA ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS CLOSED - WE'LL SEE YOU THERE!

11:45 - 12:45 - Sign-In and Reception Lunch with Exhibitors
12:45 - 1:00 - Welcome/Introductions
  1:00 - 2:45 - 'Buy-Sell Agreements; Life Insurance; and Estate Planning Transfers'
  2:45 - 3:00 - Break with Exhibitors
  3:00 - 4:35 - 'Income Tax Exit Strategies'
  4:35 - 5:15 - Reception with Exhibitors
  5:15 - 6:00 - Buffet Dinner
  6:00 - 8:30 - 'Tricks and Traps for Trusts Holding Pass-Through Entities' & 'Current Developments'

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Programs Descriptions

'Buy-Sell Agreements; Life Insurance; and Estate Planning Transfers'

We will discuss fundamental principles of buy-sell agreements, then review tax traps and legal tools when using life insurance to fund buy-sell agreements.  We will conclude with protective valuation measures used when selling one’s business to trusts.

'Income Tax Exit Strategies'

We will compare and contrast income tax exit strategies from C corporations, S corporations, and partnerships, focusing on cash flow issues rather than technical details.  We will evaluate a structure that avoids excessive self-employment tax and net investment income tax, maximizes opportunities for inside basis step, and minimizes income tax exit costs.  We will review income tax strategies to transition a business to key employee.

'Tricks and Traps for Trusts Holding Pass-Through Entities'

Passing S corporations and partnerships through trusts can create cash flow issues and tax traps, but sometimes creating a business entity can yield pleasant surprises in managing a trust’s income tax.

'Current Developments'

Materials will include a very significant list of recent developments in estate planning from the most recent year.  To the extent that tax reform occurs, we will discuss strategic and tactical issues in responding to those changes.  Recent developments in portability and basis step-up strategies provide more effective tools.  We will discuss other trends and planning opportunities.

About the speaker

Steve is a nationally recognized practitioner in the areas of estate planning and the structuring of privately held businesses. Lawyers, accountants and business owners regularly look to Steve for fresh, highly knowledgeable insights into the best possible tax and estate planning approaches to their transactions.

Steve crafts estate plans for individuals, keeping in mind their financial security and desire to save income and estate tax. In his work for businesses, Steve helps owners plan for the eventual sale (to co-owners, employees, or third parties)or transfer (to family members), and provides a legal framework for an orderly transition while strategically saving income, transfer, and FICA taxes.

Drawing on his background as an accountant — and his still-current CPA license and Chartered Global Management Accountant credential — Steve structures businesses to achieve business objectives and save income or estate tax. He has helped fledgling businesses organize, thriving businesses restructure to save hundreds of thousands of dollars of income tax when planning a transition to the next ownership group, and mature multi-million or billion-dollar businesses plan tax-saving transfers to the next generation.

Over the course of his 30-year career, Steve has amassed a deep knowledge of nearly every aspect of tax strategy for privately held businesses and freely shares that knowledge with others in the field. His quarterly newsletter, Business Succession Solutions," is considered essential reading for hundreds of CPAs and attorneys, who describe it as "a fantastic contribution to the field." Steve also maintains a blog, Business Succession Solutions, intended to help business owners — and those who advise or support them — consider smart tax strategies.

Steve is a highly visible member of the ABA's Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section and the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, which regularly directs its members to Steve's quarterly newsletter. He has represented both groups in comments to the IRS, the U.S. Treasury, and tax lawmakers.

More about Steve here