This four-class course is updated annually with the latest strategies about estate tax planning. Class 1 is free to A4A members. The additional three classes are a $99 elective course with crucial estate tax knowledge and planning wisdom. 

With the lifetime exclusion at $12.06 million in 2022, the estate tax practically has been repealed. Meanwhile, planning for mass-affluent families with non-taxable estates is a relatively new responsibility that has fallen to financial professionals.

At once a malpractice liability risk and an opportunity to offer advice at the most rarified levels of the profession, key estate planning concepts are taught in this four-credit course designed exclusively for Advisors4Advisors by L. Paul Hood, Jr., J.D., LL.M., one of the nation’s leading educators of legal, accounting, and financial advice professionals.  Course highlights include:

Highlights Financial advisors control asset disposition today Every time the IRS tries to stop an abuse, it backfires Understanding the dynamics of the swap power The building blocks of estate planning	FINRA-REVIEWED ESTATE TAX PLANNING CLIENT COMMUNICATION PACK INCLUDED WITH COURSE     4 Articles 4 Videos 4 Presentations  FINRA Review     SAMPLES

Paul Hood obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University and an LL.M. in taxation, from Georgetown University Law Center. Paul taught at University of New Orleans (Estate and Gift Taxation, 1995-2001), Northeastern University (Planning for Estate Tax Issues, 2011-2012), The University of Toledo College of Law (Estate and Gift Taxation, Estate Planning and Income Tax: 2013-2016), and Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law (Income tax, 2016). He co-authored or authored nine books and hundreds of articles on estate and tax planning and business valuation. A regular contributor to Leimberg Information Services since its inception, Paul makes difficult subjects easy to understand. A father, husband, godfather, lawyer, teacher, trustee, director, president, partner, trust protector, director of planned giving, expert witness, agent, judge, juror and defendant, Paul is teaching a three-semester class about the history of the popes and the papacy in the fall of 2022 as well as a course about the history of two of rock ‘n roll’s most-storied groups, the Platters and the Drifters.

Learn the latest income and estate tax planning strategies for 2022 and why income tax planning is more important than estate tax planning now.   

The integrated income and estate planning approach taught in this class helps improve the advice process by responding to the current tax situation. This is the inaugural class by L. Paul Hood, LL.M., one of the nation’s leading educators of legal, accounting, and financial advice professionals. Learning objectives of this class:  

• Compare the old estate and income tax planning paradigm --pre-Tax Cuts & Jobs Act – with the new regime, where income and estate tax planning must be integrated. 
• See how the building blocks of tax planning -- wills, trusts, LLCs, etc. – fit in with soft-side skills required in an easy-to-understand brick and mortar analogy. 
• Learn a methodology for removing obstacles to achieving a good estate planning result. 
• Review an approach to selecting and designing tax planning techniques. 
• Examine common integrated income and estate planning goals and objectives. 
• Learn 12 objections to estate planning and the most common mistakes income and estate tax planners make. 
• Discuss critical ethical issues that routinely arise during the estate planning process. 
• Analyze ethical conflicts of interest that arise in estate planning by reviewing a real case. 
• Suggestions to help avoid malpractice claims. 

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State of the Art Integrated Income & Estate Tax Planning: Income Shifting and Matching; Integrated Income & Estate Tax Planning, Class 2 of 4   

Exclusive to subscribers of this four-class course, Class 2 explores strategies to take advantage of both transfer tax exclusions and that maximize opportunities for getting a new fair-market basis  in appreciated properties. This 60-minute class covers: 

• The basics: opportunities, limitations, and nuances of income tax shifting in 2022. 
• Installment sales to “intentionally defective” grantor trusts. 
• Close-to-death basis maximization strategies with the client’s grantor trusts, basis swaps, etc. 
• Valuation discount elimination. 
• Capital gain and loss matching. 

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Why Use Defined Value Clauses In Trust Transfers; Integrated Estate & Income Tax Planning Course, Class 3 of 4  

Defining the value of assets at the time they’re transferred suddenly has become a more viable estate planning technique because of recent court rulings. Done right, defined value gifts reduce the risk of an IRS revaluation of the gift and an unexpected gift or estate tax bill.  

This 60-minute class covers defined value transfers in depth. Important cases in the evolution of defined value transfers are reviewed, starting from the Fourth Circuit’s Procter decision in 1944 through the 2020 Nelson ruling, including the Wandry case in 2012.    

• Mistakes in structuring defined value gifts. 
• Properly structuring defined value gifts. 
• Gray areas in advising on defined value gifts. 
• Proper reporting of a defined value transfer. 
• Formulae for defining value of a gift. 
• Formula allocation clause based on a subsequent agreement of involved parties. 
• Formula allocation clause based on final values as determined for gift tax purposes. 
• Price adjustment clauses. 
• Impact of Belk holding (4th Cir. 2014). 
• Defined value clauses in IRS 2016-17 Priority Guidance Plan. 
• Exercising substitution powers using a defined value clause. 
• Traps to avoid. 

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The Substitution Power in Grantor Trusts; Integrated Estate & Income Tax Course, Class 4 of 4  

Grantor trusts are ubiquitous in estate planning. But what are the “right” powers to make the trust a grantor trust for income tax purposes? In this 60-minute class, L. Paul Hood, Jr., analyzes the power to swap assets with a grantor trust, an estate tax strategy made attractive by two revenue rulings: 

• History of the swap power as a grantor trust power 
• Clifford Regulations 
• Don’t miss this practical and comprehensive program! 
• Analysis of IRC Sec. 675(4) and the corresponding regulations 
• The meaning of “reacquire” 
• Tax consequences of holding the swap power; Jordahl Estate v. Com’r. 
• Tax consequences of exercising the swap power 
• Who should hold the swap power and who shouldn’t 
• How should the swap power be held and exercised, i.e., in a fiduciary or non-fiduciary capacity 
• Outer limitations on the swap power and what can be substituted for the grantor trust assets; promissory notes 
• Meaning of “equivalent value” 
• Should the swap power be held in a fiduciary capacity or a non-fiduciary capacity 
• Rev. Rul. 2008-22 and 2011-28; Rev. Proc. 2007-45: Comfort to use of the swap power? 
• Effectiveness of the swap power 
• Toggling the swap power and the consequences of such; Notice 2007-73 
• Duties of the trustee when a swap power is exercised 
• State court cases involving the swap power 
• Uses of the swap power for basis planning 
• Asset protection implications of the swap power 
• Analysis of the proper language for the swap power, including forms! 

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