Congress has provided many income tax incentives.  However, some of them - oil drilling and agriculture, for example - are fraught with economic risks.  We cannot help you with structures which have economic risks.  We can only employ those tools provided by Congress which are economically neutral. A few of these techniques are quite unusual and only available in selected situations. For example, a 38 year-old might be able to contribute $40,000 to a conventional defined benefit plan, and a 61 year-old might be able to contribute $150,000.

Congress has provided many ways to reduce, defer and - in some cases - eliminate capital gains taxes. The techniques vary depending, in part, on the nature of the assets involved, the timing, and the client's individual characteristics.

Congress has provided so many ways to reduce estate taxes that it has been written – in a 1979 Brookings Institution Study – that the estate tax is a voluntary tax. No matter how large your estate is, it need not be reduced by estate taxes if you engage in thoughtful planning while you are young and healthy.

The farther in advance the planning begins, the easier and less expensive it is, and the more tools there are available, to help you reach a zero or near-zero taxable estate. When planning has been delayed too long, there are fewer structures that are available and appropriate.

The same structures that reduce your assets’ value for estate tax purposes also reduce their attractiveness to unforeseeable (future) creditors. You may wish to pass your assets to your heirs protected from problems your heirs may create for themselves, e.g., your son’s future ex-wife; your orthopedic surgeon daughter’s future malpractice. Similarly, you may wish to structure your assets to give them an extra level of protection from your own future problems. For those reasons, estate tax structures like family limited partnerships, qualified personal residence trusts and irrevocable trusts for your heirs are important tools.