Assignment 4: Charitable Lead Trusts Flashcards
How CLTs work
- Donor contributes cash or asset to CLT
- CLT makes payments to charity for a number of years
- Remaining assets pass to donor or another when the trust terms ends
Who are CLTS for?
- Highly affluent individuals/families who are concerned with gift and estate taxes (not cost effective for smaller amounts–also termed “Jackie Onassis Trust”)
- Part with asset for a number of years; gives up income stream in return for estate and gift tax savings (deferred inheritance trusts)
- Used by families to reduce or zero-out an estate for transfer tax purposes
CLT Terminology
Qualified vs. Non-qualified CLT
CLAT–Grantor and Nongrantor
CLUT–Grantor and Nongrantor
Qualified or Nonqualified CLT
Qualified
- Meets IRS requirements for deductibility of the lead interest for income, gift and estate tax purposes (CLAT/CLUT)
Nonqualified
- Does not meet IRS requirements.
- Taxed as a complex trust for income tax purposes
CLT: Annuity or Unitrust
CLTs: No minimum or maximum distribution amount; No 5% probability test or 10% minimum charitable interest test; MUST PAY OUT AT LEAST ANNUALLY
Annuity
- Fixed dollar amount each year, expressed as a dollor amount or a fraction or percentage of the trust’s initial value
- Amount can increase over years; unequal payments; so long as the value of the lead interest is ascertainable at the inception of the CLT (e.g., 2% for the first five years, then increasing to 5%)
Unitrust
- Fixed percentage of the FMV of the trust determined annually
CLT valuation date
CLAT
–Date the assets are transferred by the donor to establish the trust
CLUT
–Trust document specifies the day of the year or the value can be calculated as the average of multiple dates but the same days must be used each year.
Inter Vivos or Testamentary
Inter Vivos
- Set up while living
- Good tool for a person who makes significant annual charitable donations and who has difficulty staying within the AGI limitations for their charitable contributions
Testamentary
- Set up to take effect at death (via a will)
- Used for reducing federal estate tax that will occur upon death
- Testator’s estate may claim a federal estate tax deduction for value of the charitable interest; only the remainder will be subject to tax
CLT Reversionary or Non-Reversionary
Reversionary–trust assets come back to the grantor at the end of the trust term
Non-reversionary–Trust assets go to some other noncharitable beneficiary at the end of trust term
Grantor or Nongrantor CLTS
Grantor
- is the owner for tax purposes
- remainder beneficiary is donor or donor’s spouse
- There is an income tax deduction
Nongrantor
- not the owner for tax purposes
- remainder beneficiary is someone other than donor/donor’s spouse
- estate/gift tax advantage–not income tax deduction
CLT Trust Term
Payment to charity can be specified by a term of years or based on a life or lives in being at the inception of the CLT
Term of years–no term of years limitation; longer term yields a larger charitable deduction; balance tax avoidance goals and growth of principal
Payment for Life or Lives*–Measuring lives that can be used:
- settlor
- his/her spouse
- descendants of the settlor
- spouses of such decendants
- State’s rule against perpetuity will apply even though no maximum number of years
CLT Remainderman
- No limitation as to which individuals are eligible to receive the remainder interest
- Usually for children or grandchildren
CLT Charitable beneficiaries
Qualifies for a deduction
- charity or charities
- Supporting orgs
- DAFs
- Private Foundations (but be aware of self-dealing rules)
If the settlor retains the power to change the charitable beneficiary, then the lead interest gift is income for gift tax purposes; power must be given to an independent trustee
Trustee may sprinkle the payment amount qualifying charities
CLTs not a Tax Exempt Entity
- Four-tier accounting in CRTs does not apply to CLTs
- Taxed like any other taxable trust (Nongrantor–files its own tax return/Grantor–all tax implications flow back to the grantor-reflected on grantor’s personal tax return)
- Undistributed income–taxed at trust income rates
CLT: Present value of income stream
Value of income interest transferred to charity depends on:
- Payout rate: CLAT–Annual payment amount/CLUT–percentage of FMV
- Frequency of payments: Annual, semi-annual, quarterly, monthly
- Trust term: Number of years the payments will be made
- 7520 rates*: IRS provides tables to determine interest rate used for discounting the payments (published monthly)/use the month the property is transferred or elect to use the 7520 rate for either the two months before the transfer
- IRS tables cannot be used if the principal will be exhausted before all annuity payments can be made, or if using a life expectancy and the person is terminally ill
Non-grantor CLT
Donor contributes cash or asset to CLT –»CLT makes payments to charity –»Remaining assets pass to a non-charitable beneficiary who is neither the donor nor the donor’s spouse when the trust term ends
There are two transfers by a donor in a non-grantor DLT:
- Income interest in the trust assets to charity
- Remainder interest to a noncharitable beneficiary other than the donor/donor’s spouse
Non-grantor CLAT (seperate entity)
- donor does not retain enough control to be treated as the owner of the income interest
- Income from assets is taxed to the trust, and the trust deducts the payments to charity
- Income and deductions are transferred from the donor to the trust
- Trust is a separate entity
CLT Tax Consequences
Tax planning advantage:
Grantor–Donor gets an immediate charitable income tax deduction for the present value of the annuity or unitrust amounts transferred to the charity when the trust is established. This is a one-time deduction–not on charitable contributions the trust makes after the trust is funded. Subject to 30% AGI limits and can be carried over for up to 5 years
Non-grantor–Donor does not get income tax deduction, but can claim a gift or estate tax charitable deduction equal to the value of the income interest given to charity
Inter Vivos zero-ing Nongrantor CLT
- Only the remainder interest passing to the noncharitable beneficiaries is subject to gift or estate tax when the trust is funded
- If income inside the trust exceeds payout to the charity, then gift or estate tax may be due, depending on the donor’s net taxable income (investments need to be carefully managed)
- If the remainder interest exceeds the donor’s applicable exclusion amount ($11.58M for 2020) then gift or estate tax may be due
“Zero-Out” Nongrantor CLAT
- While zero-ing out CLUTs are difficult because payments are based on a percentage of FMV, it is possible for CLATs.
- With a high-enough payout rate, a low enough 7520 rate, and a long enough trust term, the actuarial value of the charitable interest will shelter the entire value of the asset transferred to the trust
- Trust can zero out for tax purposes while assets may actually grow
Zero-Value Nongrantor CLAT illustration
- Donor gives $1 M to CLAT
- Gifts fixed at $70,000, given to charity each yeaer for 20 years
- 7520 rate at 3% for this illustration
- “Zeros out” transfer tax on that asset
- At end of term, balance goes to heir
- If trust earns 8%, then heir gets $1.4M–with non transfer tax
Grantor CLT–How they work
Donor contributes tax or asset to CLT–»Donor gets a partial income tax charitable deduction–»CLT makes payments to charity–»Remaining assets pass back to dondor when the trust term ends
There are two transfers by the donor:
- Income interest in the trust assets to charity–donor gets a charitable deduction for this transfer
- Remainder interest back to donor–as owner, donor recognizes trust income as it is earned even though it is paid to the charity. It may be included in donor’s estate
Triggers for Grantor status
- Grantor or nonadverse party has power to revoke trust, or return corpus to grantor
- Has power to distribute income to grantor or grantor’s spouse
- Grantor retains more than 5% reversionary interest in corpus or income
- Grantor has power over the beneficial interest
- Grantor has admin powers from which the grantor may benefit
- Trustee, beneficiary, or other person can take income or corpus for himself
- A trust can transfer property to a foreign trust for a U.S. beneficiary
Income Tax Deferral Tool
Timing—Deduction now, tax later (have use of money)
Income tax rates–deduct against ordinary income now while at higher marginal tax rates; expect to be at a lower marginal income tax rate when income is recognized (i.e. retirement)
Managing a Grantor CLT
- Donor must recognize all of the trust income; “phantom income” (i.e. taxable income that does not generate cash)
- “Phantom Income” and remainder value actually received by the beneficiaries are influenced by investment strategy and asset allocation
