Gifting away assets during your lifetime

Like many of us, you may want to provide for your family's financial future. At the same time, you may want to decrease the size of your estate to reduce any estate taxes that could be due in the future. In any case, you want to make sure that you are gifting your financial assets in the most tax-efficient manner.

Giving away your financial assets can be more complicated than just writing a check. If you want to engage in lifetime gifting, you should be aware of certain rules. The annual gift tax exclusion amount is $12,000 per year per person in 2006. The lifetime federal gift tax exclusion amount is currently $2 million, and it will remain at that level through 2010.

The top federal gift tax rate will be incrementally reduced from 46 percent in 2006 to 45 percent by 2007. In 2010, the top gift tax rate will equal the top individual income tax rate (currently 35 percent). Any portion of the gift tax exclusion used will reduce dollar-for-dollar your estate tax exclusion available at death. You should consider some creative lifetime gifts:

The Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT)

A GRAT allows you to pass assets you believe will appreciate in value to family members at discounted levels. You contribute assets to a trust and receive a fixed annuity payment stream for a specified period of years. At the end of the trust term, the remaining assets and their appreciation (if any) are distributed to your beneficiaries. Since the value of the gift is reduced by the present value of the annuity payments, you could structure a payment schedule and amount that could result in a minimal gift tax value. However, if you die before the end of the specified term, the trust property would be included in your estate and subject to estate taxes.

Life Insurance

You could use life insurance to help replace your estate and gift tax liabilities. Life insurance often provides a substantial benefit for relatively small premium dollars. It may be used by itself to increase the size of your estate, creating an "instant" estate. Or, it may be used for liquidity and paying estate taxes cost effectively. And, the proceeds of life insurance are typically income tax-free to the beneficiary. With careful planning, these proceeds may also be received estate tax-free.

The Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Family Limited Partnership (FLP)

An LLC or FLP may help reduce the size of your estate for transfer tax purposes. The LLC or FLP is made up of managing or voting interests and nonvoting interests, and you could gift the nonvoting interests to your children and grandchildren. Since the non-voting interests gifted to your children and grandchildren lack voting rights and are not readily marketable, they might be discounted for gift tax valuation purposes.

The Dynasty Trust

A Dynasty Trust could allow you to establish a source of funds for multiple generations. Here's how it generally works: You would fund the trust with an amount up to your and your spouse's lifetime gift tax exclusions. The trust assets, including any growth, will remain free of federal transfer taxes (i.e., estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes) for as long as they remain in the trust. In certain states, such as South Dakota, the trust may theoretically last forever. And the planning could be designed so that any distribution from the Dynasty Trust would be free of gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes.

Income or principal from the trust may be distributed to your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren as specified in the trust document. The provisions could tie those distributions to incentives, such as maintaining gainful employment, and permit distributions for funding businesses or purchasing homes for the use of beneficiaries or other activities. There also may be provisions in the trust document to gift a percentage of the assets directly to a charity or family foundation. Assets remaining in the trust are protected from creditors and divorce judgments.

Create Your Estate Plan

Discuss your estate planning objectives and concerns with your Financial Consultant and your tax and legal advisors. Together, you can develop an estate plan that addresses your unique financial and family situations so that you can effectively transfer wealth to your beneficiaries.

For more information, call me at 689-8704 or e-mail me at william.a.creekbaum@smithbarney.com.

Smith Barney does not provide tax and/or legal advice. Please consult your tax and/or legal advisors for such advice.

• William Creekbaum, MBA, CFP, a Washoe Valley resident, is senior investment management consultant of SmithBarney, a financial services firm serving Northern Nevada at 6005 Plumas Street, Ste. 200 Reno, NV 89509.