News

Chris Zander Quoted in Barron’s Penta on Year-End Tax Planning

“Taxpayers must think differently now than they did in prior years,” said Chris Zander, the Chief Wealth Advisory Officer at Evercore Wealth Management, in an interview with Penta, the Barron’s publication focused on high net worth investors.
 

Families with nongrantor trusts, in which the trust income is taxable, should act before the end of the year, he said. That’s because any trust income above $11,950 gets hit with the highest federal rate of 39.6%, plus the 3.8% Medicare tax, and state income taxes come on top of that. For capital gains inside the trust, income $11,950 will be taxed at 23.8% (20%, plus the 3.8% Medicare tax), again excluding state tax.

Zander suggest that trustees with the power to distribute income to beneficiaries should probably do just that this year, provided the beneficiaries are taxed at a lower tax rate.

“Be sure that the distribution to the beneficiary makes sense and saves taxes for the family,” he said.