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Estate Tax Calculator
See how much the new estate tax laws benefit you
How-To Guides
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How to Write a Will
There's no better time to start than today.
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How to Rollover a 401(k)
To get a clearer picture of your money, consolidating old workplace accounts to an IRA or your next employer plan makes a lot of sense.
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How Facebook's Elite Skirt Estate Tax
WSJ.comInvestors are focusing on Facebook's offering price as the company prepares to go public as soon as next week. Tax specialists are paying attention to something else: how half a dozen of the firm's luminaries, including founder Mark ...
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Joining Church and Estate; Passing on your religious beliefs to heirs can be a tricky business
WSJ.comFor many people, estate planning isn't just about financial assets and other practical concerns. It's also about honoring their religious beliefs and passing those values on to family members.
Mega Millionaires' Big Tax Bills; Bischoff: Winners of the recent Mega Millions jackpot face some serious tax hits. Here's the breakdown.
SmartMoney.comYou hear it all the time: the rich don't pay their fair share in taxes. Baloney! For proof, consider the daunting tax bills that will be faced by winners of the recent Mega Millions jackpot. Here's the true story.
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Inherited IRAs: a Sweet Deal; A Generous Benefit for Families Survives a Senate Challenge
WSJ.comInherited individual retirement accounts made news earlier this year when the Senate Finance Committee proposed to make heirs empty them within five years of the benefactor's death.
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What's the Fate of the Estate Tax?
WSJ.comQ:Is there any recent information on the federal estate-tax law scheduled to expire after 2012? P.R., Coronado, Calif. A: Nobody knows what will happen to the federal estate tax after this year.
Tax Tips for Same-Sex Couples; Bischoff: For tax purposes most same-sex couples are still considered single. But in some cases, that's a good thing.
SmartMoney.comThere have been developments regarding federal income tax filing issues for same-sex couples. I'll tell you what you need to know, but let's first cover the necessary background information.
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The Wise Canadian Intergenerational Tax
WSJ.comThe case for abolishing estate taxes, articulated in your editorial "Death Tax Defying" (March 24), makes me think about why Canada did this 40 years ago. Your analysis resonates with the logic and socioeconomic and political ...
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I'm Not the Problem On Death Tax Reform
WSJ.comRegarding your editorial "Death Tax Defying" (March 24): In early January I proposed legislation to raise the exemption level on Tennessee's estate tax from the current rate of $1 million to the federal exemption level of $5 ...
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Death Tax Defying; Estate tax repeal gains momentum in the states.
WSJ.comWhile Washington continues to debate what to do with the federal death tax—the top rate is now 35% and is scheduled to rise to 55% next year—states are starting to recognize that their high estate taxes are a good way to chase away wealth ...
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The Rush to Avoid Gift Taxes; How to Make Sure You Don't End Up With 'Donor's Remorse'
WSJ.comAs the deadline approaches for taking advantage of the government's $5 million gift-tax exemption, estate planners are dealing with the fear of "donor's remorse." Families are looking to set up so-called irrevocable ...
Gimme Tax Shelter; With talk of tax hikes in the air -- and pressure on the U.S. to pay off its debt -- many advisers say now's the time to prepare.
SmartMoney.comIt has been said that nothing is certain but death and taxes. How much those taxes will be, ironically, is among the biggest uncertainties there are these days. Indeed, with the Bush-era tax cuts and higher exemption limits for the estate ...
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The Art of Passing Along Art
WSJ.comFamilies who bought art in the 1950s and '60s are running into an unanticipated problem: collections that have appreciated so much that they now make up a large chunk of their estates.
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To Live and Die in Tennessee; Governor Haslam now endorses death-tax repeal.
WSJ.comMore good news from the states. After our Saturday editorial on states eliminating the death tax, Tennessee Govenor Bill Haslam called to say he has seen the light and favors doing the same in the Volunteer State. He had campaigned in 2010 ...
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Why You May Need A "Trust Protector"
Barrons.comIt used to be that you would write out your will, name some trustees and hope for the best for all of eternity. But, increasingly, folks aren't leaving it to luck. They're appointing a "trust protector," someone given ...
Estate Planning Update for Singles; Here's what unmarried individuals need to know about recent tax changes.
SmartMoney.comThe 2010 tax cut extension package made beneficial changes to the federal estate and gift tax rules for 2012. That's good news, but your estate plan may need an update to take advantage of the benefits. Here's what unmarried ...
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The Tax Mess Deepens
WSJ.comEpic failure in Washington is causing epic uncertainty for taxpayers. This week, Congress's special 12-member deficit-cutting committee failed to agree on even a broad outline for addressing the U.S.'s fiscal woes. It marked the ...
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Federal Wealth Tax Would Certainly Change the Game
WSJ.comProf. Ronald McKinnon's suggestion ("The Conservative Case for a Wealth Tax," op-ed, Jan. 9) that a modest wealth tax can be a conservative policy tool is mistaken. Governments use new tools of taxation to grow spending, the ...
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By Kelly Greene; Who Gets the Vacation Home?
WSJ.comIs there a way to hand off a vacation home to the next generation so that everyone still wants to spend time together there? Tensions often mount when a family figures out what to do with a property that could be a lightning rod for sibling ...
Good Will Hunting; Wills aren't just vehicles for the wealthy or the morbid. If you've got a family and a home, you should definitely have one.
SmartMoney.comIf you're a long-time reader of SmartMoney.com, chances are you've spent plenty of your free time thinking about the money you'll have available at retirement. But what have you done to plan out your estate? The sad truth is ...
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Beat the Clock, Win Some Tax Breaks
Barrons.comWealthy taxpayers have had a heck of a run over the past 10 years. Tax cuts under President George W. Bush dropped the top income tax rate from 39.6% to 35%, and the long-term capital- gains tax rate from 20% to 15%. Dividends, which had ...
Closing Down the Estate; Being named the executor of someone's will is tricky tax business.
SmartMoney.comWhen a loved one dies, somebody must step up to the plate to handle all the resulting tax issues. This person may be identified in the decedent's will as executor of the estate. If there isn't a will, however, the probate court ...
Estate Tax Tips for Married Couples; The generous $5.12 million exemption for individuals who pass away in 2012 has thrown some new twists into estate-tax planning for married couples.
SmartMoney.comThanks to the generous $5.12 million exemption for individuals who pass away in 2012, the assets of relatively few people in the United States will be exposed to the federal estate tax over the next few years. To see if you and/or your ...
When to File Gift Tax Forms; Steps to take if you think gifts, payments or transfers to family members may run afoul of federal gift tax rules.
SmartMoney.comGenerally speaking you only need to file a gift tax form when you exceed the annual $13,000 tax-free gift limit. But it's also prudent to send in that Form 709 every time you make a transaction with a family member over $13,000 - even ...
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This Adviser Enjoys Friends in High Places
WSJ.comSometime around 2006, when Facebook Inc. was little more than a collection of T-shirt-clad 20-somethings in a sparsely populated office, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. private-client adviser Divesh Makan showed up to add a dash of formality.
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Holding Back the Inheritance
Barrons.comFor children of the rich, the gravy train is starting to take a little longer to reach the station. A growing number of parents are shunning the time-honored practice of handing big inheritances to their children when they turn 21. Instead, ...
Start Giving It Away Early; Should you start giving it away early? It can be a wise estate-planning move to bequeath your IRA to charity and other assets to loved ones.
SmartMoney.comThere are three basic things to remember when getting started with estate planning: The Estate-Tax Exemption For 2011 and 2012 you can leave bequests (gifts to other individuals upon your death) worth up to $5 million free of any federal ...
Can These People Teach Financial Planning? Why classroom experience may not pay off on Wall Street.
SmartMoney.comIt's a scene that has the nervous-perspiration intensity of a training session at a cutthroat brokerage. Attorney Mitzi Lauderdale is drilling her charges on the aspects of estate planning, peppering them with questions: How do you ...
Retire Here, Not There: South Carolina; Scores of retirees have discovered Hilton Head Island. Here are four less expensive options.
SmartMoney.comFor the more than 36 million Americans who will turn 65 in the coming decade, the best cities and towns to retire in now have a much higher bar to clear: They can't just be great places -- they have to be affordable. Each week, ...
Passing Your Home to Heirs; There are nearly half a dozen ways to give a home to your child. And a couple are tax-free. Here's a rundown of your options.
SmartMoney.comBefore the days of estate taxes, children simply moved into the family home and took over the master bedroom after their parents died. Unfortunately, it's not that easy anymore.
Why Most People Need an Estate Plan; If you have some assets (maybe just a car and some nice furniture) or minor children, you still need an estate plan--even if taxes are not an issue.
SmartMoney.comThanks to the $5.12 million federal estate tax exemption for those who die in 2012, most folks are not exposed to the federal estate tax right now. However, if you have some assets (maybe just a car and some nice furniture) or minor ...
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Romney's Unorthodox IRA
WSJ.comLike many Americans, Mitt Romney has an individual retirement account. Unlike most Americans, Mr. Romney has between $20.7 million and $101.6 million in it, a big chunk of his fortune.
Estate Planning With a Roth IRA; Congress probably didn't plan it this way, but it's one of the best estate-planning tools around.
SmartMoney.comWhen it comes to saving for retirement, many investors already know how well the Roth IRA fends off Uncle Sam. But what they may not realize is that it's equally effective as an estate-planning tool. Seniors who convert a regular IRA ...
Check Your Life Insurance; We reveal some secrets of the American Dream.
SmartMoney.comMost people don't realize it, but unless you plan carefully, there's a chance the federal government will end up as a major beneficiary of your life insurance policy. While it is true that life insurance death benefits are paid ...
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Heiring Grievances; Leaving your kids different amounts of money could make perfect sense. But it also could have unintended consequences.
WSJ.comIf you're a parent with multiple heirs, here is a bit of advice from estate-planning professionals: Before making any decisions about who gets what, think carefully about the emotional legacy you want to leave behind.
The Grandparent Tax; Here's how to avoid the bite of the rapacious generation-skipping transfer tax before it takes a bite out of your grandchild's gift.
SmartMoney.comLeaving lots of money to grandchildren, and skipping the generation in between, used to be a nifty way to beat estate taxes. That way, the money was subject to estate tax just once, when the grandparent left it to the grandchild. Otherwise, ...
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When Estate Plans Fail; Many People Overlook Arcane Issues, from Pets to the Unborn
WSJ.comIn the rush to button down an estate plan, people often spend most of their time focusing on the big questions and overlook small—but increasingly crucial—details.
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Gained in Translation
Barrons.comHere's to you, Mrs. Gallenstein, for showing that neither the tax code by itself, nor the code with the official regulations and other pronouncements of the IRS, are always reliable guides to tax obligations.
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California Court Gives 'Rogue' Wills More Validity
WSJ.comCutting somebody out of a will may just have gotten a little easier. (Or, depending on where you stand, contesting a will may just have gotten a little harder.)
The New Rules of Estate Planning; Best moves for getting your estate in order, after the Tax Relief Act of 2010.
SmartMoney.comYou have to hand it to Congress: It's doing its best to turn one of the more wearying parts of retirement planning -- getting your estate in order -- into something of a party. The challenge for you and me is to stay clearheaded.
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The Five Biggest Ways To Bungle a Trust
Barrons.comTrust and estate planning often comes down to three questions: Who gets what? How do you minimize taxes? And, once a trust has been set up, who is in control? Unfortunately, it's easy for a family to bungle any one of the three. ...
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Taking Care of Disabled Heirs; When Loved Ones Need Help, Estate Planning Can be Tricky
WSJ.comDeciding how to leave your assets to your kids is tricky enough. If your adult child has a chronic disability, the task is much more complicated.
How to Write a Will
SmartMoney.comToday is always the best time to compose your Last Will & Testament, because, well, you know what they say about tomorrow. According to a December 2010 survey from FindLaw.com, roughly 55% of Americans don't have a will, which ...
Low Interest Rates Can Be a Boon to Taxpayers; Why low rates can cut your tax bill.
SmartMoney.comHere is one surprise benefit of low interest rates: They can help reduce taxes. Every month, the Internal Revenue Service resets the interest rates it allows for private loans and various estate-planning transactions carried out that month. ...
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Survivors' Biggest Mistakes; Widows and Widowers Often Lose Money Needlessly; the IRA Rollover Penalty
WSJ.comA larger share of people's savings is winding up in IRAs—even as estate-tax rules are getting trickier and the markets are growing more volatile.
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A Tough Call for Heirs
WSJ.comFor all the hoopla surrounding December's estate-tax overhaul, heirs and executors of people who died in 2010 are still struggling to make sense of the changes.
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Would Your Estate Pay a Death Tax, Given a Choice?
WSJ.comDale Butland clearly does not appreciate the irony of his statement that the Ohio House Speaker "chose to eliminate a tax on the top 2% and require the bottom 98% to pay for it" ( Letters, July 12 ). The "it" he refers ...
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Unholy Matrimony: How to Fight Back
WSJ.comIt is difficult enough to entrust an elderly parent's care to someone you hire. But what do you do when that worker secretly marries their charge—and claims a chunk of your inheritance?
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Financing Your Future; Taking Charge of Your Assets; Estate planning today calls for an early start, knowledge of your state's laws—and lots of flexibility
WSJ.comMany of the emails we receive from readers touch upon estate planning, a source of confusion and concern. With that in mind, we recently spoke with Rachel Emma Silverman, an editor and reporter at The Wall Street Journal and author of a new ...
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How Volatility Eases Estate Planning
WSJ.comMarket volatility may be tough on the nerves, but it could be a boon for wealthy families looking to shelter assets from taxes while helping their children.
How to Choose a Beneficiary
SmartMoney.comChoosing a beneficiary is the cleanest and clearest way of leaving someone money after you're gone. But the process also requires consideration of both the amount of money at stake and the beneficiary's ability to handle a ...
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Goodbye, Family Fortune
Barrons.comThe Top Wealth Management Firms After his mother died, John Mecom Jr. was supposed to make sure her money was preserved for his four children.
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Book Excerpt; Need to Know: Life Insurance 101
WSJ.comLife insurance is one of those financial products that can give people the heebie-jeebies. It can sound confusing and complicated, and it involves thinking about a very scary proposition: death.
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Amazon's Sales Tax Jungle Receives Little Sympathy
WSJ.comAs a staunch economic conservative and owner of a small Arizona online retail company, I find it unconscionable that Amazon continues to cling to a Supreme Court ruling, which was put into place during the earliest days of e-commerce, in ...
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The Federal Estate Tax
WSJ.comQ: There was no federal estate tax in 2010. But in certain cases, when someone died in 2010, Internal Revenue Service Form 8939 was supposed to be filed on behalf of that person by the same date as the decedent's income-tax return ...
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Estate Executors: An Honor...and a Pain
WSJ.comBeing asked by friends or family to be executor of an estate is a big honor, but the warm feelings can vanish once the job starts. A long list of tasks comes with the chore of handling an estate after someone dies. There can be legal ...
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Ohio Shows the Way on Death Tax Repeal; A 2008 study by the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services named the estate tax the primary reason wealthy residents left.
WSJ.comOhio Gov. John Kasich made good on a major campaign promise Thursday, killing the state's estate tax in the process of enacting the 2012-13 budget. He also managed to kill off an $8 billion deficit without raising taxes—a model for ...
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The 25 Documents You Need Before You Die
WSJ.comIt isn't enough simply to sign a bunch of papers establishing an estate plan and other end-of-life instructions. You also have to make your heirs aware of them and leave the documents where they can find them.
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Headaches for Same-Sex Couples
WSJ.comSame-sex couples can get married in five states and the District of Columbia—and in New York starting July 25. But the happily-ever-after part doesn't necessarily extend to their personal finances.
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The GOP Candidates Square Off on Taxes; The proposals range from modest to bold. All include lower rates, which will stimulate growth.
WSJ.comThe 2012 election is shaping up as a historic confrontation over the proper size and scope of government spending, taxes, deficits and debt. After three years of the Obama presidency, the Republican presidential candidates are offering ...
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IRS Clarifies Estate Rules
WSJ.comThe Internal Revenue Service last week clarified a provision of the estate tax affecting people who die in 2011 and 2012. The good news: The paperwork process is now clearer for surviving spouses. But the new rules could pose problems for ...
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Crummey Trusts Still Smart, Say Advisers
WSJ.comThere's nothing crummy about a Crummey trust—even in a period of higher exemptions for estate and gift taxes. The trusts, which got their name from a Methodist minister who won a fight with the Internal Revenue Service in the 1960s, are ...
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How the Death Tax Hurts the Poor; It encourages the rich to pick extra fruit, leaving the trees a little barer for the rest of us.
WSJ.comI'm sure there's a lot to be said for rich people, but they sure do consume a lot of resources. I wish they'd leave more for the rest of us. That's why I oppose the death tax.
Make This Estate Planning Move Now; Failure to take this action can have dire consequences.
SmartMoney.comWith the current $5 million federal estate tax exemption, you may not be thinking much about estate planning. After all, there's no way your estate would owe the tax if you happen to die between now and 2013. So no worries, right? ...
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The Sad Death of Ohio's Death Tax
WSJ.comOhio House Speaker Bill Batchelder and his co-authors Jack Boyle and Dick Patten omit a few important facts in " Ohio Shows the Way on Death Tax Repeal " (Cross Country, July 2), like how their primary rationale for repeal was ...
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Wills: How to Give One Child Less
WSJ.comIt is one of the toughest questions parents face when drawing up a will: Should they leave an equal share to each child? No two members of a family are exactly alike—and parents may well take that into account when drawing up an estate plan. ...
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The Quest for the Right Bequest
WSJ.comMany people want to use part of their estate to help charities they believe in—leaving a legacy of helping out the less fortunate, nurturing the arts or supporting other important causes.
Tax Tips for Harvey Golub (and Other Millionaires); The former CEO says he is paying more than 80% in taxes. We can fix that, writes Brett Arends.
SmartMoney.comHey, Harvey Golub -- I'm sorry to hear about your tax problems! In a rebuttal to Warren Buffett's call for higher taxes on the super-rich, you wrote in Monday's Wall Street Journal: "Of my current income this year, I ...
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How to Keep the Kids
Barrons.comMost financial advisors hope to build strong, trusting relationships with their clients over many years. Yet most fail to address the single most important thing to their clients: family.
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Beware the Beneficiary Form; Naming the wrong people or failing to update documents can create a mess for your heirs
WSJ.comThink your estate planning is done once you've gone to the trouble of making a will? Think again. All your hard work can be undone with a stroke of a pen when you open a bank, brokerage or retirement account.
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PINs That Needle Families
WSJ.comTaking 15 minutes now to jot down your online passwords could save your family hours of frustration after you are gone. As we all know, large chunks of our lives, both financial and personal, are lived online—bank statements, stock trades ...
10 Things Your Parents Won't Tell You; Good news: Mom and Dad are loaded. Bad news: They love your brother best.
SmartMoney.com1) "We're rich." Andrew and Warren K. Johnson knew their dad Warren W. collected coins, but it wasn't until after he passed away in April that they discovered the full scope of his hobby. Stored away in boxes on shelves ...
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Real Estate Tax Rules
WSJ.comQ: My husband and I have owned a beautiful lakefront property in northern Wisconsin for over 17 years. It has no building on it. We would like to sell this property but have heard there are some stiff tax consequences: 30% on the increase ...
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The IRS Political Contribution Grab
WSJ.comAside from creating full employment for all CPAs, the Internal Revenue Service's latest initiative of applying "gift" tax regulations to donors of 501(c)(4) organizations is another example of an out-of-control government on ...
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Does Your Trust Need a Tune-Up?
WSJ.comFamilies can now shelter a far greater amount of their assets from estate and gift taxes. But they may need to revisit their estate plans. The tax law that Congress enacted in December upped the amount individuals can leave their heirs, or ...
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How Does Confiscation Encourage Wealth Creation?
WSJ.comRobert Rubin and Julian Robertson's "Bring Back the Estate Tax Now" (op-ed, Sept. 1) is similar to the view of many that our incomes belong to government and we are fortunate to be allowed to keep some of the fruits of our ...
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Paying Grandkids' College Bill
WSJ.comRecent tax-law changes are making it easier for families to help pay education bills for multiple grandchildren and even future generations. But grandparents have to make some tough decisions first.
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Tax Wars; Washington Is Bracing for a Historic Battle Over U.S. Tax Law. Here's What You Should Do Now
WSJ.com(Please see Corrections and Amplifications below.) Not since the Great Depression has Congress had so much tax work to do in so little time. From the income tax to the estate tax, from the alternative minimum tax to levies on capital gains ...
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Power Grab! Signing Over Power of Attorney to a Loved One Has Never Been Trickier. Here's What You Need to Know.
WSJ.comA time-tested method to protect assets as people age is starting to blow up on baby boomers. The "power of attorney," a legal arrangement that helps older people turn over management of their finances or other business matters to ...
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What Will Happen to the Federal Estate Tax?
WSJ.comQ: In reading about what will happen to the Bush tax cuts in 2011, the federal estate tax is never mentioned, in my experience. Why so, and what should we expect?
How to Avoid Taxes on Life and Disability Insurance; With some advance planning, you and your heirs can be better off.
SmartMoney.comHaving enough life and disability insurance should be a key element of your personal financial game plan. Hopefully, with some advance planning, you can collect life and disability insurance proceeds free of taxes. Here's how.
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The Future of the Estate-Tax Law
WSJ.comQ: What is your gut feeling on what is going to happen to the estate-tax law for 2011? S.M., Yorba Linda, Calif. A: The murky outlook for the estate tax has grown even more murky lately.
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'Consumers Are Paralyzed' Over Tax Doubt
WSJ.comCongress halted plans to pass a major tax bill before the November elections, leaving taxpayers and financial advisers unsure of how to plan for the future.
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Estate Taxes: How to Beat The Levy That Won't Die
WSJ.comAn elderly client recently asked Bruce Bettigole, an attorney with Gilmore, Rees & Carlson in Wellesley Hills, Mass., whether her children would inherit her considerable estate if she committed suicide this year.
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GGP, Howard Hughes Heirs Settle Las Vegas Payment
WSJ.comBankrupt shopping-mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. has agreed to pay the heirs of Howard Hughes $230 million for their remaining interest in a massive Las Vegas residential development called Summerlin, the final asset of the ...
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Why Your Adviser Should Make House Calls
WSJ.comEstate planning often takes place in the office of a lawyer or adviser, but those professionals can gain a big advantage when they make house calls.
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As Tax Cuts' Expiration Date Nears, Little Consensus
WSJ.com(Please see Corrections and Amplifications below.) WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama wants to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class only. Many House Democrats want to extend them for that group, too, but perhaps only for a year ...
Negotiating Estate Tax Gridlock
SmartMoney.comWith its attention focused intensely on health care and financial reform, Congress failed last year to renew the estate tax, which taxed multimillion-dollar estates and expired at the end of 2009.
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Congress and Estate-Tax Revisions
WSJ.comQ: Who in Congress are the key leadership players on revising the estate tax? Is this a separate issue or part of overall tax reform? Is it possible they will deal with this prior to their August recess?
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Reviving the Federal Estate Tax
WSJ.comQ: In 2010, there is no federal estate tax. Do you think Congress will act before the end of this year on the estate tax? If Congress does act, what do you think will happen?
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The $5 Million Tax Break; Congress has set sweet new terms for the gift tax, and families are tearing up their estate plans to take advantage. Here's what you need to know.
WSJ.comLargely lost amid all the political drama surrounding December's historic tax legislation was a sweet deal for families. For the next two years, the gift-tax exemption jumps to $5 million from $1 million for individuals and to $10 ...
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Congress Punts on Taxes; Democrats Put Off Showdown on Bush Cuts Until After November Election
WSJ.comWASHINGTON—Democrats abandoned plans to vote before Election Day on extending Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class while eliminating them for better-off Americans, spooked by protests from vulnerable incumbents and bleak prospects for ...
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Beyond Estate Planning: Bankers Tackle Elder Care
WSJ.comIf you are looking for help caring for an older family member, you might try giving your banker a call. That might not seem like an obvious move. But private banks and trust companies say that they increasingly are helping older clients—or ...
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Estate Planning: It's an Art, Not a Science
WSJ.comWhen someone dies, heirs can be surprised to learn what the estate holds for them. They aren't alone, either: Estates are often shrouded in some mystery even for the people who plan and manage them.
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Estate-Tax Rises Again as Issue on Trail
WSJ.comA move to end the estate-tax is luring new adherents in the 2010 midterm campaign, turning permanent repeal into a negotiating stance for future congressional wrangling over taxes.
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Lawyer's Heirs Fight Insurers in $56 Million Policy Intrigue
WSJ.comDays after New York attorney Arthur Kramer died unexpectedly at age 81, members of his family seated in a lawyer's office were told that in his final years, he had taken out $56.2 million in life insurance.
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Last Chance to Foil a Gift Tax
WSJ.comIt isn't just the estate tax that's scheduled to return on Jan. 1 after a one-year absence. A lesser-known companion levy will return as well: the generation-skipping transfer tax. Not surprisingly, affluent families are rushing ...
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States Want Your Trust; For those looking to set up a trust, the best options may be far from home
WSJ.comIf you're considering establishing a trust, it may pay to shop out of state. About half a dozen states are actively vying to attract wealthy families' trusts, as well as the jobs and tax revenue that come from the companies that ...
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Potential Clashes That Lie Ahead
WSJ.comTaxes: Bush-era income- and estate-tax cuts expire Jan. 1 and other breaks already have lapsed, posing an immediate challenge for a lame-duck session of Congress.
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Taxing Year Brings a Less-Taxing Year; Lawmakers Acted to Extend Cuts, Give New Breaks as 2010 Came to a Close; the Certainty Will Prove Fleeting
WSJ.comIn the normally staid world of taxes, 2010 was downright tumultuous. Never was so much done to so many by so few—and for such a short time. Lawmakers in December finally settled questions on income, capital-gains and other taxes that had ...
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Don't Kick the People Who Create Our Jobs
WSJ.comTime and again it is said that "Liberal Democrats believe higher earners have benefited the most from the economy's growth in the last 20 years" ("Estate-Tax Passage Is Likely," U.S. News, Dec. 9).
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How to Invest for Retirement
Investing for retirement is more complicated than opening an IRA or maxing out your 401(k)
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How to Catch Up on Retirement Savings
Cut spending to make catch-up contributions and more.
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How to Cash Out in Retirement
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SmartMoney Magazine
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The Stealth Wedding: Saying 'I do' in a Public Space
A new wedding trend trades "walking down the aisle" for a walk on the wild side.
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The Reignited Tech Sector
Technology stocks have rebounded and are once again the darling of the market. Can the resurgence last?
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Why a 'Balanced' Portfolio May Not Work
Arends: That 60/40 portfolio of stocks and bonds your adviser is pushing might not work.
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The Corner Office
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General Dynamics Changes Tactics
The defense contractor faces a tough enemy: potential cuts in defense.