Law Office of Alicia Porter

Contemplate your gifting options – you can give up to $12,000 per year as a gift without tax consequences.  Now, this means $12,000 for the year, so giving your adult son $11,995 in a check at the beginning of the year, and a $30 shirt for his birthday puts you over the $12,000 transfer, and is taxable.  As a strategy if you are going to gift throughout the course of the year is to give a smaller check, say $9000  so if the birthday or holiday presents are a little luxurious, then the $12,000 threshold isn’t breached, and taxes aren’t due.

Want to pay for your grandchildren’s education at a nice private school or university? Tuition falls in the netherland for tax purposes, and are allowable gifts without large tax penalties.  Your grandchildren are two and three right now, and you are unsure if you will live to see them enter college? Setting up an educational trust is a way to get around having the assets go through probate and go to your grandchildren’s educational needs.