Pure speculation.. but...having no insights on this other than the post above, it just could be that once
again Charlie is demonstrating that he is an unusually pragmatic guy.
Coming up on Thanksgiving, he probably figures by now that he'll make it to the end of the year. Assuming he does (and we can assume that's what he's assuming) he has a one-month window for relatively tax-efficient maneuvering. It seems a good bet he'll never see another year as good for this type of thing again in his lifetime (and perhaps ours')
Consider this, from the November issue of 'Trusts & Estates' magazine:
"This year may offer a rare opportunity to transfer wealth efficiently by making taxable gifts, particularly to grandchildren. We've previously shown that taxable gifts almost always are more efficient for transferring wealth than bequests.1 But this year, they're even more so. At 35 percent, 2010 has the lowest federal gift tax rate seen in the United States since 1934. Also, as of this writing, the 2010 repeal of the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax was still in place. This favorable tax environment will disappear at the end of the year — and may never return.2
"As the estate-planning community knows, the law that brought us a 35 percent gift tax in 2010, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), is scheduled to sunset after 2010. This means that next year, not only the estate tax but also the gift tax rate should revert to the 2001 pre-EGTRRA level of 55 percent. The GST tax also should return.3
"Before the window of opportunity closes on Jan. 1, 2011, advisors may want to consider whether taxable gifting makes sense... the economics of taxable gifts are particularly compelling in 2010. And the benefit of making a taxable gift in 2010 isn't negated even if the savings are kept in an estate and estate taxes are paid on those savings. "
again Charlie is demonstrating that he is an unusually pragmatic guy.
Coming up on Thanksgiving, he probably figures by now that he'll make it to the end of the year. Assuming he does (and we can assume that's what he's assuming) he has a one-month window for relatively tax-efficient maneuvering. It seems a good bet he'll never see another year as good for this type of thing again in his lifetime (and perhaps ours')
Consider this, from the November issue of 'Trusts & Estates' magazine:
"This year may offer a rare opportunity to transfer wealth efficiently by making taxable gifts, particularly to grandchildren. We've previously shown that taxable gifts almost always are more efficient for transferring wealth than bequests.1 But this year, they're even more so. At 35 percent, 2010 has the lowest federal gift tax rate seen in the United States since 1934. Also, as of this writing, the 2010 repeal of the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax was still in place. This favorable tax environment will disappear at the end of the year — and may never return.2
"As the estate-planning community knows, the law that brought us a 35 percent gift tax in 2010, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), is scheduled to sunset after 2010. This means that next year, not only the estate tax but also the gift tax rate should revert to the 2001 pre-EGTRRA level of 55 percent. The GST tax also should return.3
"Before the window of opportunity closes on Jan. 1, 2011, advisors may want to consider whether taxable gifting makes sense... the economics of taxable gifts are particularly compelling in 2010. And the benefit of making a taxable gift in 2010 isn't negated even if the savings are kept in an estate and estate taxes are paid on those savings. "
