The portability of the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount for use by the surviving spouse establishes the most significant change in estate tax law in over 30 years.

This course teaches you how to complete the Form 706 that is filed in order to make the portability election (or to elect out of portability). The portability election can help not only reduce estate tax after the death of the first spouse but also reduce income tax after the death of the surviving spouse. The timely filed estate tax return provides inexpensive insurance against later estate tax … and with no annual premiums.

The only way to take advantage of the portability election is with a timely filed estate tax return. The IRS has established workable rules to ease the portability election and make it less expensive for your clients. During this live presentation, Keith Schiller will:

• Review the fundamentals of portability elections
• Show how to complete each Form 706 schedule relevant to portability elections;
• Know the new rules for simplified reporting for portability purposes.

You are encouraged to submit your questions in advance to Mark Carrington at mcarrington@bna.com.

This program will review three sample estate tax returns: (i) 100% outright to the surviving spouse or in a QTIP trust; (2) QTIP trust for the surviving spouse with some outright distribution to the surviving spouse; and, (3) credit shelter trust with DSUE amount remaining.

This webinar presentation is designed for attorneys, accountants, and other preparers of estate tax returns.

During this live event, participants will be provided with a conceptual understanding and practical application of the following:

• Complete Form 706 for the portability election of the DSUE amount
• Basics on how portability works, qualification, terms, and usage
• Who controls the portability election and the potential to “hijack” the basic exclusion of the deceased spouse
• How to report the use of the DSUE amount on the Form 706 when the surviving spouse dies
• How to report the use of the DSUE amount on the gift tax return (Form 709) of the surviving spouse
• When the simplified reporting rules apply for portability elections
• “QTIPing” the credit shelter trust
• Dispelling concerns with Rev. Proc. 2001-38 or how GST exemption may still apply
• Identify special issues arising from QDOT trusts for the non-citizen spouse
• Reporting with reverse QTIP elections to preserve GST exemption with portability-elected returns

Educational Objectives

• Completing the special schedule for the portability election
• Electing out of portability
• Identify the fiduciary who controls the portability election
• Review changes to the Form 706 resulting from portability of the DSUE amount
• Identify the last prior deceased spouse
• Inter-relationship of the Recapitulation on page 3 of Form 706 to reporting of value, use of simplified reporting
• How to work with exceptions of simplified reporting while electing portability
• Approaches to valuation and appraisals
• How to complete gross estate schedules with simplified reporting, in whole or part
• What to attach to an estate tax return with portability elections
• Special problems arising from general obligations, secured debt, and transmission expenses
• Relationship of the credit for gift taxes paid (line 7) to the basic exclusion amount
• Calculating and reporting the DSUE amount
• Status with estate tax audits
• Extended statute of limitations for review of the portability election
• Work papers and document retention
• No current allowance for protective portability elections

This value-added webinar includes the award-winning textbook, Estate Planning At The Movies®— Art of the Estate Tax Return, by speaker Keith Schiller. The text comes with one supplemental update, including illustrated estate tax returns for deaths in 2012. Provided for your ongoing benefit and designed to save your clients millions in estate taxes, Art of the Estate Tax Return will make you a hero. Your reference book will arm you with strategic insight while enhancing your knowledge and your library.

More about Art of the Estate Tax Return: Charles W. Morris, Esq. former IRS Territory Manager, Estate and Gift Tax for the Western United States, stated, “The substantive work … is, by far, the best work on the subject that I have ever seen. By far!” Stephan R. Leimberg, publisher of Leimberg Information Services®, Inc., exclaimed, “Don’t dare file another estate tax return — until you read this book.” 

Keith Schiller, Esq., Schiller Law Group