Introduction

Estate taxes are one of the taxes covered by the IRS’s unified transfer tax system. Estate taxes are designed to collect taxes from transferring property at death. Proper planning can save a substantial amount of money in taxes. This course will discuss estate planning and estate taxes. This course will describe the tools that are available for estate planning and will define the benefits of using each tool. This course will describe how to identify what is included in the gross estate and demonstrate how to calculate the gross estate amounts. This course has been updated to reflect all current changes to tax law and amounts for 2024.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe estate taxes and the purpose of estate taxes according to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC),
• Identify the various types of trusts that can be used for estate planning,
• Recognize what is included in the gross estate of a decedent,
• Calculate the gross estate of a decedent,
• Recognize the various deductions and credits available when calculating the gross estate of a decedent,
• Recognize the benefits of electing portability and calculating portability exemption amounts, and
• Describe the purpose of Generation Skipping Transfers and the Generation Skipping Transfer Tax according to the IRC.

CPE Credit: 6 CPE for CPAs and EAs

Level: Intermediate

Instructional Method: Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study: Taxes

Program Prerequisites: Basic understanding of federal income taxation and estate concepts.

Advanced Preparation: None