TCJA sunsets: why financial planning is critical for your estate

With the sunset of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) quickly approaching at the end of 2025, more individuals and families are contemplating their estate planning, including many who are considering making big gifts to take advantage of the current limits that apply. The IRS currently allows you to gift $18,000 per year (this amount is indexed) to any other individual using the gift tax annual exclusion.  Over and above the annual exclusion, the gift tax exemption of $13.61 million per person ($27.22 million for married couples) covers the amount given away during a person’s lifetime.

As a reminder, a gift occurs when you relinquish rights in money or property to someone else other than your spouse, or to a trust for their benefit. When contemplating making significant gifts, a comprehensive financial plan is essential to help address key considerations, such as determining the appropriate amount to give, ensuring that you can still maintain your current lifestyle and understanding the impact on your future estate and financial security. Typically, financial planning is pigeonholed by many as something that is only necessary when clients are concerned about running out of money in retirement, or to determine when they will be able to retire. While a comprehensive financial plan can provide insight into these concerns, there are a myriad of other benefits a plan would offer. Among them is a projection of the estate’s value – taking into account growth of assets and outflows, such as spending and gifting – to determine the amount of federal and state estate taxes that may be due upon the death of the second spouse, a cash flow analysis of inflows and outflows from various assets over the clients remaining lifetime and more.

What is comprehensive financial planning? 

Comprehensive financial planning is an ongoing process that serves as the  “roadmap” for all aspects of a client’s planning. It begins with fact-finding centered around a client’s goals and objectives and culminates in recommendations designed to move the client into action. The process includes a thorough review (or creation) of personal financial statements, conversations about budgeting and cash flow, assumptions about growth rates and longevity, the impacts of taxes and more.

If truly “comprehensive,” a financial plan will address every aspect of a client’s life, including their estate, business, retirement, charitable contributions, investments and insurance. It also takes into consideration the liquidity of the estate and how potential estate taxes would be paid. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, comprehensive financial planning should be revisited regularly as life circumstances change or every few years.