The WSJ Weighs-in On the Estate Tax Debate

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a special report on the future of the federal estate tax.  Among the articles are recommendations from various estate planning experts providing advice for how people should be planning given the uncertainty surrounding the estate tax. The most common suggestion is for those with larger estates to take advantage of the temporary "estate tax free" and low interest rate environment to shift wealth between generations this year.  Some common techniques would include selling assets to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs) or transferring assets via short-term Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs).  Using short-term GRATs may be a limited opportunity, as Congress is considering limiting or eliminating this strategy.