Federal Tax Institute of New England (FTINE2020)

This session will look at the results of the 2020 election and the broad-view implications for estate planning. It will review the most anticipated, and maybe some surprising, possibilities for changes in federal law affecting transfer taxes and related income tax provisions. It will include some observations about timing and suggest whom and what to particularly watch in 2021.

This session will help attendees recognize and address common pitfalls within the trusts and estates practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many businesses and workers to adopt telecommuting arrangements due to government shutdowns and ongoing health and safety concerns. This session will address the various state and local tax consequences of telecommuting arrangements when individuals are working in a different state than their employer, including the corporate income tax, pass-through entity tax, sales and withholding tax consequences for businesses, and the personal income tax consequences for individuals.

This session will review recent developments that we believe should be of interest to estate planners including federal regulatory changes, federal tax cases, and selected state cases with broad implications. We will also discuss planning ideas that appear to have particular relevance to year end planning in view of current circumstances. Among the areas that are likely to be discussed are potential changes to the federal estate and gift tax exclusion amounts, 2020 giving strategies, and planning to take into consideration both transfer tax and income tax effects for the family.