This Powerful New Tax Strategy Is a TRIP
Key Takeaways
Total Return Pooled Income Funds (TRPIFs) can be powerful tools for gifting, estate planning and minimizing taxes.
TRPIFs allow you to make gifts of cash, publicly traded stock, closely held C Corps, unleveraged real estate, tangible personal property like art, cars, antiques and even LLC interests.
TRPIFs have many similarities to charitable remainder trusts, but it’s important to understand the differences. Always consult with your financial advisors before signing on the dotted line.
Now that your tax returns are hopefully completed I thought I’d share with you one of the best kept secrets in estate planning and tax mitigation. It’s been around since 1969, but most successful taxpayers and their advisors still don’t know about it.
How about a strategy that completely eliminates capital gains tax, provides a gigantic income tax deduction, distributes all its income (maybe for three generations) and is completely legal? Sounds too good to be true. Well it’s not. Here’s why:
The Pooled Income Fund (PIF), created in code section §642(c)(5) in 1969, and long the red headed step child of planned giving tools, has gone “beast mode.” Thanks to a perfect storm of low interest rates, technology and charities now understanding the need to be responsive to CPAs and other professional advisors (and donors) has ushered in a new type of PIF called the Total Return Pooled Income Fund (TRPIF). This vehicle is one of the most flexible, powerful and thought-provoking planning tools you can deploy.
Yet not many advisors and philanthropically-minded individuals know about them.
With a TRPIF, you may make gifts of cash, publicly traded stock, closely held C Corps, unleveraged real estate, tangible personal property like art, cars, antiques and even LLC interests. Income can be paid for one, two or three generations of income beneficiaries if they’re alive at the time of the gift. Competitive TRPIFs pay out all rents, royalties, dividends and interest as well as all short-term gains and up to 50 percent of post-gift realized long term gains.
Charitable beneficiaries are decided on by the donor, not by the TRPIF trustee. That means the donation goes to any charities the family feels are worthy.
If you know a little bit about CRTs you’ll find that TRPIFs are similar. However, you and your advisor should be aware of some important differences. For instance, a donor can’t be the trustee of his or TRPIF as they can with their CRT. That may be a drawback. However, young donors (couples in their 40s), for instance, can’t even qualify for a CRT as they won’t meet the 10 percent remainder test. With a TRPIF, there is no such test. That means an income beneficiary can be any age. The charitable income tax deductions of a TRPIF can be greater than a CRT’s by a magnitude of four or five times. The methodology by which a new TRPIF (less than three years old) calculates its income tax deduction is governed by a complicated formula based on the ages of the beneficiaries and the assigned discount rate (1.4% for 2018). This is what produces the large deductions.
Conclusion
From a planning standpoint, TRPIFs can allow you much more planning flexibility than many other trusts. When selling a low basis security, for instance, it may be possible to leave more shares in the seller’s hands and still pay no tax because of the larger income tax deduction. And, low-basis assets are only one of the many opportunities that you may applicable to the TRPIF strategy. There are only a small handful of charities offering this new, competitive, Pooled Income Fund. Therefore, it’s important that you ask a lot of pointed questions to the charity.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily express the views of our firm and should not be construed as professional tax advice.
Robert J. Pyle, CFP®, CFA is president of Diversified Asset Management, Inc. (DAMI). DAMI is licensed as an investment adviser with the State of Colorado Division of Securities, and its investment advisory representatives are licensed by the State of Colorado. DAMI will only transact business in other states to the extent DAMI has made the requisite notice filings or obtained the necessary licensing in such state. No follow up or individualized responses to persons in other jurisdictions that involve either rendering or attempting to render personalized investment advice for compensation will be made absent compliance with applicable legal requirements, or an applicable exemption or exclusion. It does not constitute investment or tax advice. To contact Robert, call 303-440-2906 or e-mail info@diversifiedassetmanagement.com.
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