The widely publicized tax law President Obama signed on Dec. 17
provides an unusual opportunity for tax benefits from a specialized
type of gift made before the end of 2010. The new law, the Tax
Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation
Act of 2010 (Act), reinstates the estate tax with an increased
exemption and lower rate for two years, through 2012. This and the
other changes made by the Act present a number of estate planning
opportunities and challenges. McGuireWoods' Private Wealth
Services Group is preparing a white paper on these opportunities
and challenges, which will be distributed in early January.
Meanwhile, the Act has kept what is popularly viewed as the
lifetime gift tax exemption (technically achieved through
application of a "unified credit") at a level of $1
million for 2010, has clarified the application of the technical
rules applicable to the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax, but
has kept the GST tax rate at zero for
