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A client in Rego Park once called me the week after her father passed, certain his estate was well under New York’s exemption. It wasn’t. A brokerage account she had not fully accounted for pushed the estate just over the line, and because New York offers no gradual phase-out, the entire estate became taxable rather than just the overage. That single miscalculation cost the family far more than a modest gift to charity would have.
The Mistake Families in Forest Hills, Rego Park, and Kew Gardens Keep Making
Most people assume estate tax works the way the federal system does, where only the amount above the exemption gets taxed. New York’s rule is harsher: cross the threshold by more than 5% and the exemption vanishes entirely. I have advised families throughout Forest Hills, Rego Park, and Kew Gardens who discovered this cliff only after it was too late to plan around it.
Where Charitable Giving Fits In
A qualified charitable gift is deducted from the taxable estate before New York calculates what is owed, which means a well-timed bequest can sometimes pull an estate back under the exemption entirely rather than simply reducing the bill. My office structures several versions of this for local clients, including charitable estate tax planning strategies built around a family’s specific asset mix, and no two situations call for exactly the same approach.
Two Tools I Use Most Often
A “Santa Clause” provision directs any amount above the exemption to a charity automatically, without asking an executor to make that call later under pressure. A charitable remainder trust suits clients who want to keep income from an appreciated asset, like real estate or a stock position, while still pulling its value out of the taxable estate. Both rely on New York’s Estates, Powers and Trusts Law and need careful drafting to survive review once an estate is settled.
That is why I advise clients in this part of Queens to review their numbers well before a health crisis forces the issue. The families I have helped avoid the cliff are almost always the ones who started planning while there was still time to structure the gift properly, not after.
If your loved one left behind an estate that may be approaching New York’s tax cliff and needs to be reviewed for charitable giving strategies, contact Roman Aminov today for a free phone consultation.
Contributed by Dan Rose, a local business writer specializing in estate tax planning services in New York City.
Roman Aminov Estate Law firm of Queens
147-17 Union Tpke, Kew Gardens Hills, NY 11367, United States
P59P+93 Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, NY, USA
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