This presentation integrates federal taxation with overall financial planning. The course will explore tax strategies relating to the central financial tactics of wealth building, capital preservation, and estate distribution. The result is a unified explanation of tax economics that will permit the tax professional to locate, analyze, and solve financial concerns. Designed to improve the quality of services to clients and the profitability of engagements, this program projects the accountant into the world of financial planning. This course will give the participant practice in analyzing problems, developing solutions, and presenting final personal financial plans to clients.
The course surveys wills, living trusts, gifts, marital property, and probate avoidance. Will and trust forms are explored along with living wills, durable powers of attorney, and nominations of conservator. Designed to eliminate estate problems and death taxes, the emphasis is on practical solutions that are cost effective.

Chapter 1 – Financial Tax Planning
At the start of Chapter 1, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Goals v. purposes
* Investment purposes
* Myths of retirement
* Investment goals
* Investment needs of five critical decades
* Investment vehicles & entities
* Retirement – the ultimate objective
* Retirement costs & income needs
* Retirement plan development
* Basic planning elements
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 1, participants will be able to:
1. Differentiate short-term financial goals and investment purposes.
2. Specifying ways to hold title to assets, starting with the simplest and most direct way to hold property and citing the tax benefits and drawbacks of co-tenancies, corporations (both C & S), partnerships, qualified retirement plans, and trusts
3. Recognize the importance of early retirement planning using a balance sheet method and identify cost and income needs, specifying the purpose of savings.
After studying the materials in Chapter 1, answer exam questions 1 to 9.

Chapter 2 – Building an Estate
At the start of Chapter 2, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Types of income
* Information reporting on taxable income
* Rules of budgeting
* Cash
* Acquisition
* Assets
* Rules of management
* Managing risk
* Taxes
* Leverage
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 2, participants will be able to:
1. Identify money management, specifying income types, recognize causes of increased taxable income for itemizing taxpayers, and specify taxable income types and their proper reporting.
2. Determine the distinctions between tax-free and tax deferred income, and identify tax-deferred investments.
3. Specify ways to shelter income, stating how income sheltering amplifies investment return.
4. Recognize the budgeting of income into cash by containing expenditures and developing discretionary income and determine how to convert income into assets by purchasing investments
5. Specify tax-advantaged investments, citing management rules and determine the economic impact of accelerating deductions.
After studying the materials in Chapter 2, answer the exam questions 10 to 23.

Chapter 3 – Preservation of Wealth
At the start of Chapter 3, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Obstacles to preservation
* Tracking spending
* Building savings
* Designing a budget
* Determining worth
* Analyzing net worth
* Ignorance
* Inflation
* Taxes
* Tax planning tactics
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 3, participants will be able to:
1. Identify the barriers to wealth preservation, stating how to design a budget to increase discretionary income and determine net worth using a balance sheet.
2. Specify why individuals should take primary responsibility for investment planning and recognize basis planning tactics.
After studying the materials in Chapter 3, answer the exam questions 24 to 28.

Chapter 4 – Deferral
At the start of Chapter 4, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Elements of like-kind exchanges
* Related party exchanges
* Personal & multiple property regulations
* Delayed (deferred) exchange regulations
* Actual & constructive receipt rule
* Qualified contribution plans
* Tax-deferred annuities
* Installment sales
* At-risk rule
* Deferred compensation and options
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 4, participants will be able to:
1. Identify the benefits of tax deferral and recall the tax deferral advantage under §1031, listing its elements.
2. Specify the related party §1031 restrictions identifying prohibited parties or entities, disallowance of personal property and partnership exchanges, and recognize the use of an intermediary in exchanges.
3. Identify retirement plan design, and list popular methods for providing for retirement.
4. Specify the requirements for an installment sale, identify the application of the at-risk rules, and determine how to use a property option to receive income and postpone tax.
After studying the materials in Chapter 4, answer the exam questions 29 to 43.

Chapter 5 – Reduction
At the start of Chapter 5, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Work Opportunity Credit & Rehabilitation Credit
* Low Income Housing Credit & Child & Dependent Care Credit
* Estimated taxes
* Interest
* Automobile deductions
* Business entertainment deductions
* Depreciation & cost recovery
* Net operating losses
* Tax breaks for nonitemizers
* Amended returns
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 5, participants will be able to:
1. Identify tax credits specifying qualified computational expenses, limitations, and restrictions.
2. Recognize the types of deductible and nondeductible interest, including personal, investment, and prepaid interest.
3. Identify business vehicle operating costs using (or switching between) the actual cost method or the standard mileage rate.
4. Recall the statutory exceptions to the disallowance of entertainment deductions and recognize the application of R.R. 90-23 and R.R. 99-7 to the deduction of transportation costs to a temporary work location.
5. Determine the requirements of business asset expensing under §179 and identify sources of §172 net operating losses (NOLs), recognizing carryback and carryover rules.
After studying the materials in Chapter 5, answer exam questions 44 to 57.

Chapter 6 – Income Splitting
At the start of Chapter 6, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Using progressive tax rates
* Deductible business expenses
* Home-office deduction
* C or regular corporations
* S corporations
* Family partnerships
* Kiddie tax trap
* Childcare & education
* Gifts
* Interest-free loans
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 6, participants will be able to:
1. Recognize formats for income splitting, determine the restricted tax treatment of employee business expenses, and cite changes made to the home office deduction under TRA ’97.
2. Identify the tax treatment of personal and business casualty losses and bad debts.
3. Determine the uses and tax characteristics of regular and S corporations by recognizing the taxation of these entities, including their ability to split income.
4. Recognize the use of partnerships to split income among partners and reduce estate taxes.
5. Identify the use of custodianship to split income, specifying “kiddie” tax considerations and recognize good investments for children including bonds.
After studying the materials in Chapter 6, answer the exam questions 58 to 69.

Chapter 7 – Elimination
At the start of Chapter 7, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* $500,000 home sale exclusion
* Municipal bonds
* Divorce & separation settlements
* Gifts & inheritances
* Life insurance
* Fringe benefits
* Taxation & valuation of benefits
* Employee expense reimbursement & reporting
* Fixed & variable rate allowances
* Social security
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 7, participants will be able to:
1. Recognize the requirements of the current §121 home sale exclusion, citing its differences with prior tax law and specify the tax elimination aspects of interfamily transactions such as divorce and gifts.
2. Recognize employer deductions as a means to increase tax-free incentive-based compensation for employees using fringe benefits under §132 and employer-paid accident & health coverage.
3. Identify how to comply with ERISA plan requirements, and specify the proper reporting of reimbursed and unreimbursed business expenses under accountable and nonaccountable plans.
After studying the materials in Chapter 7, answer the exam questions 70 to 77.

Chapter 8 – Asset Protection
At the start of Chapter 8, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Need for asset protection
* Types of creditors
* Fraudulent transfers
* Preparation for asset protection
* Types of insurance
* Buy-sell agreements
* Individual ownership and corporate ownership
* Asset protection aspects of trusts
* Co-tenancy and partnerships
* Divorce
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 8, participants will be able to:
1. Identify the goals and purposes of asset protection, recognizing the objections some people have about shielding assets from creditors, citing situations that can unexpectedly put assets and financial security at stake and basic protection concepts.
2. Recognize the importance of creditor types associated with asset protection and fraudulent transfers.
3. Specify fraudulent transfer laws listing badges of fraud, and define statutes of limitation, criminal penalties, and permissible asset transfers.
4. Recognize the degree and necessity of an asset protection plan using net worth and asset values on a balance sheet.
5. Identify the ways that insurance and buy-sell agreements can offer asset protection, citing the asset protection elements of homeowner’s, automobile, and disability insurance.
6. Recognize the asset protection advantages and disadvantages of ownership formats and entities, determining the use of individual ownership and corporate and identifying testamentary trusts, living trusts, and subcategories of trusts
7. Identify the requirements for an enforceable marital agreement, and determine what constitutes post-nuptial and premarital agreements, stating how they relate to divorce settlements and divisions.
After studying the materials in Chapter 8, answer the exam questions 78 to 98.

Chapter 9 – Estate Planning
At the start of Chapter 9, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Build, preserve & distribute
* Legal documents
* Estate planning team
* Estate administration
* Transfers within probate
* Transfers outside probate
* Transfers using a trust
* Special planning tools
* Facts
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 9, participants will be able to:
1. Identify basic estate planning elements, recognizing the importance of well-drafted legal documents and specify the key team participants.
2. Specify estate planning tools that save death taxes while retaining maximum control, including family partnerships, exclusions, and valuations.
After studying the materials in Chapter 9, answer the exam questions 99 to 104.

Chapter 10 – Estate & Gift Taxes
At the start of Chapter 10, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Taxable estate
* IRS valuation
* Estate tax return & payment
* Tax basis for estate assets
* Generation-skipping transfer tax
* Application of gift taxes and valuation
* Gift tax annual exclusion
* Gift tax marital and charitable deductions
* Gift tax advantages and disadvantages
* Shifting income & gain
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 10, participants will be able to:
1. Identify potential death taxes, including federal estate tax as it applies to various size estates, and specify those subject to federal estate tax.
2. Determine what constitutes a taxable estate under §2501, specifying what assets are included in a gross estate using basic categories of property and transfers.
3. Specify estate deductions allowed under federal estate tax law, stating their tax advantages and disadvantages.
4. Determine the value of a decedent’s assets using permitted elections, recognize the use of Form 706 to pay any estate tax due, and select the tax basis of estate assets.
5. Recall the advantages of gift planning, including estate reduction, recognizing the impact of the GST, specify the steps to compute gift tax, identifying the gift tax exclusion amount, and determine the value of gifts, including those that are split.
6. Identify the various gift tax exclusions, including the annual, medical expense, and tuition exclusions.
After studying the materials in Chapter 10, answer exam questions 105 to 124.

Chapter 11 – Wills & Probate
At the start of Chapter 11, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Provisions of wills
* Requirements of wills
* Executors and guardians
* Types of wills
* Title implications
* Changes to a will
* Advantages of a will
* Simple will
* Probate pros and cons
* Probate avoidance
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 11, participants will be able to:
1. Specify types of wills, citing the functions a will can perform, and identify the ways holding title can affect the use of a will.
2. Identify the pros and cons of probate proceedings and the dangers of ancillary probate and intestate succession.
After studying the materials in Chapter 11, answer exam questions 125 to 130.

Chapter 12 – Trusts
At the start of Chapter 12, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Purpose of trusts
* Common elements of trusts
* Types of trusts
* Living trusts
* Income tax & trusts
* Gift tax & trusts
* Estate tax & trusts
* Identification, recital & property transfer clauses
* Income and principal & revocation and amendment clauses
* Trustee and trust termination clauses
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 12, participants will be able to:
1. Identify the relationship of parties in a trust, reasons to establish a trust, and types of trusts, specifying their common elements and estate planning function.
2. Specify recommended living trust provisions and identify the application of gift and income tax, including the use of a grantor-retained income trust.
After studying the materials in Chapter 12, answer exam questions 131 to 139.

Chapter 13 – Entity & Title
At the start of Chapter 13, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Individual ownership & sole proprietorships
* Corporations
* Trusts holding title & business trusts
* Co-tenancy taxation, percentage interests & partition
* Partnership taxation & recapitalization
* Family partnerships
* Limited liability companies
* Retirement plans
* Custodianship
* Estate
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 13, participants will be able to:
1. Recognize basic tax and legal title formats, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of holding property in a sole proprietorship, a corporation, or an S corporation.
2. Identify the title holding benefits of trusts, co-tenancy, partnerships, and limited liability companies and the tax characteristics of each and recognize the types of retirement plans used to provide lifetime benefits to a business owner and to employees.
After studying the materials in Chapter 13, answer the exam questions 140 to 146.

Chapter 14 – Life Insurance, Annuities & Buy-Sell Agreements
At the start of Chapter 14, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Types of life insurance
* Life insurance trusts
* Deferred annuities
* Private annuities
* Buy-sell agreements
* Purchase price & terms
* Community property
* Professional corporations
* S corporations
* Sole shareholder planning
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 14, participants will be able to:
1. Specify persons whose rights are placed by life insurance and the reasons to purchase life insurance.
2. Identify the income, estate, and gift tax treatment of life insurance proceeds by:
a. Select variables that influence whether life insurance is taxable for federal estate tax purposes; and
b. Recalling the gift tax associated with the transfer of life insurance policies.
3. Determine the pros and cons of life insurance policy types and specify estate tax planning reasons for establishing an irrevocable life insurance trust.
4. Recognize the differences between deferred annuities and private annuities and determine what constitutes an entity purchase agreement and a cross-purchase agreement and their tax and legal advantages.
After studying the materials in Chapter 14, answer exam questions 147 to 157.

Chapter 15 – Special Business Issues
At the start of Chapter 15, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Business valuation of tangible & intangible assets & goodwill
* Business valuation of qualified family-owned businesses
* Business valuation of land subject to a conservation easement
* Business valuation discounts
* Redemptions
* Buy-sell agreements
* Death of spouse
* Stock redemptions
* Stock recapitalization
* Deferred compensation agreements
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 15, participants will be able to:
1. Identify reasons why a business interest must be valued in an estate that is subject to federal estate tax, specify factors used to determine the net value of a business under the regulations and recall the valuation factors in R.R. 59-60 specifying their impact.
2. Determine how tangible assets are normally valued, identifying those assets whose valuation is based on values other than book value, and specify the steps in R.R. 68-609’s valuation formula for intangible assets.
3. Identify special business valuation issues, including redemptions under §303, by determining the value of a minority stock interest and fractional interests in order to obtain applicable valuation discounts and considering a buy-sell agreement.
4. Determine the tax treatment of a §302 corporate redemption and what exceptions exist to avoid dividend treatment.
After studying the materials in Chapter 15, answer the exam questions 158 to 166.

Chapter 16 – Estate Tax Freeze Rules
At the start of Chapter 16, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Application of estate tax freeze rules
* Corporations, partnerships & exceptions
* Qualified payment exception to the zero value rule
* Minimum valuation of a junior interest
* Capital contributions, redemptions & recapitalizations
* Attribution rules
* Transfers of interests in trust
* Term interests & joint purchases
* Buy-sell agreements & options
* Lapsing rights & restrictions
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 16, participants will be able to:
1. Determine the benefits of an estate freeze and its ability to reduce the value of a business interest, identify transactions to which Chapter 14 rules apply and the terminology used in Chapter 14.
2. Identify the “zero value” rule under §2701 by recalling the special lowest valuation rule and the limit this can have on increasing one’s estate.
3. Determine the application of §2701 provisions by identifying when an individual is deemed the owner of an interest based on the §2701 attribution rules and specifying when transfer tax adjustments will be made to transfers.
4. Recall the terms used in §2702 concerning transfers of interests in trust, identify the application of the zero value rule to a transfer of an interest in trust, and specify exceptions to §2702.
5. Determine the effect of options and liquidation rights on §2703 to ensure property is valued appropriately.
After studying the materials in Chapter 16, answer the exam questions 167 to 179.

Chapter 17 – Elderly & Disabled Planning
At the start of Chapter 17, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Managing the estate
* Medicare
* Medicaid & countable assets
* Medicaid & non-countable assets
* Medicaid & inaccessible assets
* Private insurance
* Healthcare decisions
* Supplemental Security Income
* Income & assets
* Disability benefits
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 17, participants will be able to:
1. Recall estate management techniques for the elderly and disabled by identifying joint tenancy and the benefits and drawbacks of using such a method for asset management; specifying levels of conservatorship that can influence management and protection of an estate and/or personal care and the disadvantages of this tool; and determining what constitutes a durable power.
2. Cite the eldercare benefits of Medicare, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Income and identify the benefits of private insurance for catastrophic illness.
3. Identify Medicaid, specifying how it relates to elderly health care decisions and specify the requirements that must be met in order to receive disability benefits.
After studying the materials in Chapter 17, answer the exam questions 180 to 187.

Chapter 18 – Post-Mortem Planning & Tax Return Requirements
At the start of Chapter 18, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* After death planning
* Federal returns
* Decedent’s estate tax
* Preparation of Form 706
* Estate income tax return
* Filing requirements of decedent’s final income tax return
* Included income
* Exemptions & deductions
* Filing the gift tax return
* Special applications & traps of the gift tax return
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 18, participants will be able to:
1. Determine post-mortem estate planning action in the face of funeral and administrative expenses using elections and disclaimers.
2. Cite the due dates of post-mortem federal forms, specify the filing requirements of a decedent’s estate tax return, and identify exceptions to the general rule of estate tax payment.
3. Determine the processes and procedures necessary in the preparation and filing of Form 706.
4. Identify the filing requirements for estate income tax and decedent’s final income tax returns by determining the estate income tax under available tax accounting methods and tax years; and
5. Determine the total income to be included on the decedent’s final income tax return using available exemptions or deductions.
6. Identify how to avoid penalties when filing a gift tax return for the decedent and when gifts are deemed completed.
After studying the materials in Chapter 18, answer the exam questions 188 to 200.

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2026 Complete Guide to Estate & Gift Taxation