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Estate Planning by U.S. Trust 美國報稅與海外財產揭露（英文部分）
Along with the trend of rising cross-border wealth transfers, inheritance planning is no longer just a theory but rather a well-organized process that entails numerous details and techniques to avoid hidden risks. While creating plans for the cross-border wealth inheritance, wealth planners should be cautious of different cultural backgrounds and specific needs of each family. Thus, they should propose practical and bespoke solutions for each family individually. These solutions involve numerous steps, such as confirming a family's inheritance vision, establishing a family office, drafting family constitution, making cross-border wealth transfer plans, and the most importantly, making a practical timetable. Execution should be implemented by well-trained professionals in order to monitor certain tax and legal risks due to geographic differences. Peter Lu, the author of this book, has built his familial asset transition for the past three decades and often shares with his clients how he structures his own family's wealth. Over the past decade, he has visited countless U.S. trust lawyers, tax lawyers, accountants, trustees and other professionals to confirm all operational details of cross-border asset transfers. He firmly believes that the planning tools set forth in this book will help high net worth families create a lasting legacy.
傳承意義與案例
美國家族信託類型介紹與籌劃
美國朝代信託
信託成立後帳務處理及稅務申報
美國非朝代信託
In the U.S., trusts are used for a variety of purposes. In prior chapters, we generally focused on dynasty trusts, trusts which are designed to pass on a family’s wealth for generations, often transferring assets from one generation to the next at minimal expense. In this chapter, we are focused on the different types of non-dynasty trusts. These include living trusts, testamentary trusts, GRATs and IDGTs. When combined with one or more dynasty trusts, non-dynasty trusts allow planners to create additional structures that fit the different needs of different wealth creators.
Generally speaking, “revocable trusts” are trusts in which the grantor is able to revoke the creation of the trust (and usually take back all assets previously gifted to the trust), while “irrevocable trusts” are trusts in which the grantor does not hold that power. A “grantor trust” defines a trust in which the trust’s income is taxed to the grantor rather than to the trust itself or to the trust’s beneficiaries. A “non-grantor trust” defines a trust in which the trust’s income is either taxed to the trust or the trust’s beneficiaries, but not to the grantor. In most grantor trusts, the grantor holds one or more powers, which lead the U.S. IRS to deem the trust’s income taxable to the grantor rather than to the trust itself. As a result, grantor trusts generally have neither a tax identification number (TIN), nor U.S. federal income tax liability.
In addition to dynasty trusts, “living trusts” and “testamentary trusts” are quite commonly used in the U.S. among estate planning practitioners. A living trust is drafted and executed during a person’s life time. In most U.S. states, a living trust essentially serves as a will, albeit allowing the decedent’s descendants to skip probate. Typically, a living trust is drafted as a revocable trust in which the grantor, the administrator and the beneficiaries are all the owner of the assets. The rationale behind setting up a living trust is typically to avoid probate. In the U.S., probate is the default process for administering a deceased person’s will (or a deceased person’s estate, if no will exists). This process can take anywhere between 6 months and 24 months for simpler scenarios. In more complicated scenarios, however, it could take 3 - 7 years. In addition to the time cost of probate, the administration of a decedent’s estate often costs anywhere between 4% - 10%, depending on the number of courts and professionals involved. Lastly, probate is a very public legal process, which would reveal all the assets of a person to the public and leave a public record. Unlike a living trust, which bypasses probate, a testamentary trust actually creates a trust immediately after the decedent’s death. The distribution of assets is then controlled by this testamentary trust agreement; however, the assets still have to go through probate before being transferred to the testamentary trust.
This chapter provides an introduction for 6 types of non-dynasty trusts commonly used in the U.S. We recommend taking a brief look at each of the structures set forth to determine which structures may be necessary to achieving certain objectives.
In the U.S., trusts are used for a variety of purposes. In prior chapters, we generally focused on dynasty trusts, trusts which are designed to pass on a family’s wealth for generations, often transferring assets from one generation to the next at minimal expense. In this chapter, we are focused on the different types of non-dynasty trusts. These include living trusts, testamentary trusts, GRATs and IDGTs. When combined with one or more dynasty trusts, non-dynasty trusts allow planners to create additional structures that fit the different needs of different wealth creators.
Generally speaking, “revocable trusts” are trusts in which the grantor is able to revoke the creation of the trust (and usually take back all assets previously gifted to the trust), while “irrevocable trusts” are trusts in which the grantor does not hold that power. A “grantor trust” defines a trust in which the trust’s income is taxed to the grantor rather than to the trust itself or to the trust’s beneficiaries. A “non-grantor trust” defines a trust in which the trust’s income is either taxed to the trust or the trust’s beneficiaries, but not to the grantor. In most grantor trusts, the grantor holds one or more powers, which lead the U.S. IRS to deem the trust’s income taxable to the grantor rather than to the trust itself. As a result, grantor trusts generally have neither a tax identification number (TIN), nor U.S. federal income tax liability.
In addition to dynasty trusts, “living trusts” and “testamentary trusts” are quite commonly used in the U.S. among estate planning practitioners. A living trust is drafted and executed during a person’s life time. In most U.S. states, a living trust essentially serves as a will, albeit allowing the decedent’s descendants to skip probate. Typically, a living trust is drafted as a revocable trust in which the grantor, the administrator and the beneficiaries are all the owner of the assets. The rationale behind setting up a living trust is typically to avoid probate. In the U.S., probate is the default process for administering a deceased person’s will (or a deceased person’s estate, if no will exists). This process can take anywhere between 6 months and 24 months for simpler scenarios. In more complicated scenarios, however, it could take 3 - 7 years. In addition to the time cost of probate, the administration of a decedent’s estate often costs anywhere between 4% - 10%, depending on the number of courts and professionals involved. Lastly, probate is a very public legal process, which would reveal all the assets of a person to the public and leave a public record. Unlike a living trust, which bypasses probate, a testamentary trust actually creates a trust immediately after the decedent’s death. The distribution of assets is then controlled by this testamentary trust agreement; however, the assets still have to go through probate before being transferred to the testamentary trust.
This chapter provides an introduction for 6 types of non-dynasty trusts commonly used in the U.S. We recommend taking a brief look at each of the structures set forth to determine which structures may be necessary to achieving certain objectives.
附錄
