• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Trust valuations

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

curb1

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon

Question I can't answer. Ignore if not appropriate for this forum (or tell me where I might find an answer). This question might be generic to many states.

Trust valuation is $950,000 to $1,050,000 depending on appraisals of five properties. Oregon Estate Transfer Tax kicks in at $1,000,000. Does a person need to get appraisals of the properties just to see whether, or not, they meet the $1,000,000 threshold? The beneficiaries have already decided the division of assets, so no problem there. No federal limit ($5,000,000) involved.

The other question is (with a trust) how would the State know about the properties to even question the valuations if no reporting of any kind is required (of the Trust) for valuations less than $1,000,000?
 


HomeGuru

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon

Question I can't answer. Ignore if not appropriate for this forum (or tell me where I might find an answer). This question might be generic to many states.

Trust valuation is $950,000 to $1,050,000 depending on appraisals of five properties. Oregon Estate Transfer Tax kicks in at $1,000,000. Does a person need to get appraisals of the properties just to see whether, or not, they meet the $1,000,000 threshold? The beneficiaries have already decided the division of assets, so no problem there. No federal limit ($5,000,000) involved.

The other question is (with a trust) how would the State know about the properties to even question the valuations if no reporting of any kind is required (of the Trust) for valuations less than $1,000,000?
**A: appraisals are generally used in these circumstances to establish market value for distribution calculations and for tax purposes.
 

curb1

Senior Member
Thank you. I guess that is part of my question. Are there any tax purposes? I can't think of any. The distribution for the trust beneficiaries are not necessary in this situation and that would not have any implications for the different governments.
 

davew128

Senior Member
Thank you. I guess that is part of my question. Are there any tax purposes? I can't think of any. The distribution for the trust beneficiaries are not necessary in this situation and that would not have any implications for the different governments.
If you don't have a valuation you will have difficulty determining FMV for basis and gain calculations when each beneficiary sells their property.
 

curb1

Senior Member
I do. A phone call for that simple explanation is $75 a whack. But, the question was asked to me by someone else and I wasn't up to paying for the answer.

I still don't know the answer to the other question of how the state government would know the value of the estate to determine if the "Estate Transfer Tax" would meet the threshold ($1,000,000 in Oregon) to assess the tax. In a trust, none of this would be public information.
 

davew128

Senior Member
How would a state know? Well let me do this by analogy. IRS is already mining state real estate transfer records for gifts of real estate that should have had a gift tax filing done. Since in theory it is easier for a state to mine its own records than the IRS, at some point this stuff gets added up.
 

curb1

Senior Member
I think you are giving way too much credit for the state governments abilities. With a trust there might not be any valuations to "mine", especially if the assets don't leave the trust for years. Even if the assets get passed to beneficiaries there often is no recorded assessed value to "mine".
 

curb1

Senior Member
We solved the situation. I just had them gift $100,000 to the three beneficiaries. That brought the trust value to below the $1,000,000 threshold.
 

anteater

Senior Member
We solved the situation. I just had them gift $100,000 to the three beneficiaries. That brought the trust value to below the $1,000,000 threshold.
Oregon does not have provisions regarding gifts in its estate tax law?

And now that I re-read the first post... You mean the trustors have not passed away yet? In other words, who is the "them" that done the gifting?
 
Last edited:

curb1

Senior Member
1) You asked, "Oregon does not have provisions regarding gifts in its estate tax law?"

Only in regards to gifting real estate.

2) Yes, the trustor is still living. and the trustor did the gifting. This brought the value of assets below the $1,000,000 Oregon threshold.

Naturally, an IRS form 709 will need to be filed.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top