Fiduciary Accounting and Tax Issues of Estates and Trusts

Description

Fiduciary income tax is a complex blend of state accounting rates and the tax law of Subchapter J. Only by understanding this interaction can the practitioner acquire the skills and knowledge to provide income tax planning for an estate or trust and its beneficiaries, sure to be an important skill in practice in the new income tax environment.

Highlights

  • Review of major legal and tax concepts
  • Concepts of fiduciary accounting: Principal and income
  • The Uniform Principal and Income Act: how specific state laws on principal and income applied to common expenditures and receipts
  • How fiduciary accounting determines the timing and amount of distributions
  • The crucial differences between fiduciary accounting and tax accounting
  • Distinguishing fiduciary accounting income from distributable net income
  • Splitting income between the fiduciary and the beneficiaries: distributable net income
  • How to set up an accounting system for an estate or trust, prepare a judicial accounting, and record-keep for fiduciary accounting
  • How practitioners can handle audits of estates and trusts
  • Various exercises and problems

Objectives

  • Distinguish fiduciary accounting income from taxable income and distributable net income
  • Account for distributions for accounting and tax purposes
  • Identify how the fiduciary income tax return differs from individual income tax
  • Understand state law on principal and income

Designed For

All practitioners who wish to learn about the complex and unique accounting issues for estates and trusts

Leaders

Michael Frost

Mike Frost, CPA, EA is an associate and shareholder of MDA Professional Group, P.C. and has been with the Albertville office since 1989. Currently a tax partner, Mike specializes in all areas of income tax and small business consulting including but not limited to: Business and individual income tax preparation and planning, estate and retirement planning, estate, gift, and trust tax preparation, small business consulting, Medicare planning and other elder care, audit representation, religious groups and clergy.

Mike has conducted CPE engagements and seminars for the Alabama Society of Enrolled Agents and the Childcare Resource Network of Alabama and is an instructor for the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants. Mike has served as technical advisor for tax articles for the Sand Mountain Reporter newspaper, and has been a regular on the public speaking circuit. Mike also conducts in-house training in all areas of income tax for his firm.

Mike graduated with "high honors and distinction" from Jacksonville State University with a major in accounting and a minor in finance and a 4.0 GPA. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Enrolled Agents, the Alabama Association of Enrolled Agents, and the Accountants Global Network, International. In addition, he is a graduate of the Tax Planning and Advising for Closely Held Businesses Certificate of Educational Achievement Program sponsored by the AICPA.