In the event of your death, a life insurance policy ensures that your family has the financial resources to maintain their standard of living. This is the number one reason why individuals consider life insurance. Although it’s the number one reason, it’s not the only reason. Life insurance can also be an essential estate planning Read the full article…
Take Advantage of The Current Property Tax Exemptions Available in California
Effective February 16, 2021, Proposition 19 went into effect and made sweeping changes to property tax reassessments. Here are the current property tax exemptions available in California: 1. Homeowners’ Exemption The California Constitution provides for the exemption of $7,000 in assessed value from property tax assessment of any property owned and occupied as the owner’s Read the full article…
Inherited IRAs Distributions in 2024: Understanding the RMD Suspension
There are some important changes in the Inherited IRA distribution rules that may affect your tax planning. Before the SECURE Act of 2019, beneficiaries of inherited IRAs could “stretch” or spread out their withdrawals over their lifetime, which allowed them to lower their annual tax liability. However, under the new regulations of the SECURE Act, Read the full article…
Understanding the Changes to Estate and Gift Exemption in 2024
The Internal Revenue Service has published the 2024 Estate and Gift Exemption Amounts. The Unified Exclusion Amount is $13,610,000 and the Annual Gift Exemption Amount is $18,000. In addition to the annual gift exemption, payments made directly to medical providers or educational institutions are considered non-reportable. Married couples will be able to gift up to Read the full article…
Utilizing Charitable Remainder Trusts to Meet Income & Philanthropic Goals
Philanthropy is generosity in all forms and is often defined as the act of giving to better the lives of others. Monetary donations go a long way to fund projects that provide resources to those in need. According to Giving USA, Americans donated more than $1 billion a day to various charities in 2022, resulting Read the full article…
Protecting Your Assets and Legacy: Estate & Trust Management in Sports and Entertainment
This is one of the articles in the KROST Industry Sports & Entertainment Issue, titled “Protecting Your Assets and Legacy: Estate & Trust Management in Sports and Entertainment” by Brad Pauley, CPA & Richard Umanoff, CPA, MBA For athletes, actors, and other high-earning professionals in the sports and entertainment industry, managing assets and planning for Read the full article…
California Changes Tax Legislation for Incomplete Non-Grantor Trusts
Prior to January 1, 2023, California residents were able to avoid California taxation for any income earned by the ING trust that was not distributed to them. Incomplete Non-Grantor (ING) trusts are incomplete (“gift”) non-grantor trusts with the unique purpose of avoiding the imposition of state income tax on transactions occurring inside the trust. The Read the full article…
Get Organized with KROST’s Will & Trust Asset Legacy Planner
Have You Heard About KROST’s Will & Trust Asset Legacy Planner? We understand the difficulty when losing a loved one. We want to help ease the burden for you and make the transition as seamless as possible. Therefore, we created a guidebook to help prepare your family members, beneficiaries, and trustees. KROST’s Will & Trust Read the full article…
Take Advantage of Lifetime Exclusion While You Can
When a person passes away, the deceased’s assets are subject to federal estate tax if the total value of their estate exceeds a certain threshold. The lifetime exclusion, also known as the estate tax exemption, is a tax provision that allows individuals to pass on a definite amount of wealth to their heirs without being Read the full article…
Estate & Trust Planning Strategies: Power of Appointment and Disclaimer Trust Explained
In one of our previous articles, we covered the topic of disclaimers as an excellent post-mortem tax planning tool. As discussed, anyone can disclaim a part of their inheritance. By doing so, it would go to the successor’s heirs as if the beneficiary had predeceased the decedent. But what if the beneficiary doesn’t want that Read the full article…










