International Estate Planning After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introduced sweeping changes to the US tax rules, but perhaps few with as outsized an effect on estate planning structures as the changes surrounding US taxation of foreign income. While multinational companies were the primary target of many of the changes which were introduced, US citizen and resident owners of offshore companies and US citizen and resident beneficiaries of offshore estate planning structures were significantly affected.

This course, presented by estate planning attorney Christiana Lazo, introduces the controlled foreign company (CFC) rules, before exploring select changes to the CFC rules which were introduced by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The course will utilize illustrations from common structures to demonstrate the effect of the relevant changes.

Learning Objectives:

1. Review the CFC rules, particularly their relevance to estate planning techniques
2. Explore the changes to the CFC rules introduced by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including changes to the definition of a US shareholder, expansion of attribution rules with downward attribution, elimination of the "30-day rule", the new GILTI tax regime, and the transition tax on deferred foreign income of CFCs and other specified foreign corporations
3. Analyze how the changes to the CFC rules affect common estate planning structures, and consider techniques to mitigate the effect of the changes on clients