|
Speech Presentations: All speech presentations, presented by John J. Scroggin, AEP, J.D., LL.M., use Power Point 2004 and generally include a detailed outline for participants to use as a future resource. All materials and the presentations stress the practical and take a "solutions orientation" to the planning process. Numerous examples are used to highlight the planning concepts discussed in the program. If you are interested in a longer program, some of the programs noted below can be combined. If there is a topic you are interested in which does not appear below, please let Jeff know and he may be able to develop it for you. If you would like a more detailed outline and description of any of the proposed programs, please let us know.
The Humorous Side of Taxes: Jeff has created a 30 minute humorous Power Point slide show on the odd and funny side of taxes. He has been doing this program as an additional presentation for programs he has been speaking on. There is no additional charge. The presentation is normally done during or after a meal.
Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire Game: Jeff has also developed a Jeopardy based and Who Wants to be a Millionaire game on taxes and planning that has been used at a fun aspect of a program. The program has often been used as an adjunct to a charitable events or fund raiser. The program normally lasts about 45 minutes. Contact Jeff for more information.
Speaking and Writing to Develop your Practice: Jeff Scroggin has spoken over 400 times at National, Regional and local events. He has authored over 200 articles and columns and written for virtually every national estate planning publication in the country. He serves as Founding Editor in Chief of NAEPC Journal of Estate and Tax Planning and was a Co-Editor of CCH’s Practical Estate Planning. He has been quoted extensively in national media, including six times in the Wall Street Journal, in Newsday, Forbes, Fortune, Kiplinger’s, Money, Smart Money and many other national publications. In an hour long discussion, he provides insights on how to develop your reputation through speaking and writing, how to leverage your time most effectively and how to avoid time consuming mistakes.
| Presentation Title: |
The Future of Estate Planning – It’s Not Dying, It’s Just Evolving |
| Description: |
Estate Planning is undergoing a radical revolution. For decades, estate planning has been largely dominated by desire to avoid a federal estate tax. However, fewer Americans than any time in decades will be subject to a federal estate tax. In 2006 less than one percent of all decedent estates will owe a federal estate tax. For the vast majority of Americans, estate planning will no longer be driven by the avoidance of a confiscatory federal transfer tax. Instead, personal and family concerns (e.g., minimizing potential conflicts) and other tax issues will drive the estate planning process.
Example: With the new higher exemptions and decreased number of estates subject to a federal estate tax, a quantum shift in tax planning is occurring. Instead of lowering the value of assets to reduce transfer taxes, clients may actually want to increase the value of assets to obtain a higher basis step-up at death. The higher basis will reduce the taxes paid by heirs on the sale of inherited assets and create new depreciable values for depreciable assets. It will be a crazy world in which the IRS and tax practitioners will be swapping asset valuation positions (remember the IRS’s swinging control argument?). Moreover, techniques such as intentionally defective grantor trusts will be turned on their heads to become Estate Defective Trusts, designed to save income taxes rather than estate taxes.
|
| Program Time: |
60 to 180 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
The Seven Inevitable Problems in a Family Business and How to Successfully Eradicate Them |
| Description: |
There are Seven Inevitable Problems that can generate enormous conflicts and multiply taxes and costs in virtually every Family Business. Jeff Scroggin is a nationally recognized expert on this topic. He will discuss the source each problem and how to successfully eliminate their negative impact on your clients, their family and their business.
- TRANSFER OF THE BUSINESS AND CONTROL WILL OCCUR
- THE ESTATE TAX IS NOT GOING AWAY AND STATES ARE INCREASING THEIR ESTATE TAXES
- THERE IS NO EQUITY VALUE IN A FAMILY BUSINESS
- THE INEVITABLECONFLICT BETWEEN INSIDERS & OUTSIDERS
- HEIRS INCREASE THEIR OWN BURDENS
- TAXES WILL HAPPEN AND AT THE MOST INOPPORTUNE MOMENT
- FAMILY AND BUSINESS DIVORCE WILL HAPPEN
|
| Program Time: |
90 to 120 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
20 Tax, Business & Estate Planning Ideas You Probably Never Heard About |
| Description: |
Mr. Scroggin draws on his thirty years as a tax, business and estate planning advisor to provide 20 practical planning ideas that you may never have heard about. The innovative planning ranges from how to properly structure a divorce settlement (e.g., pay attention to the basis in assets) to how to “buy” the transfer tax exemption of a less wealthy spouse. |
| Program Time: |
90-120 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Influencing the Legacy |
| Description: |
Every inheritance (or lack thereof) affects the recipient. Many clients have come to believe that their families have more to fear from an unearned inheritance than they do from an excessive estate tax. They are seeking methods to provide incentives and opportunities to families while reducing the risk that an inheritance will be squandered in an unearned, lavish lifestyle. They are increasing using creative ways to restrain heirs’ access to the inheritance. As a part of this planning, clients are including the personality of their heirs, their marriages and their spending habits in how they plan the disposition of assets.
Mr. Scroggin is a nationally recognized author and speaker on this topic and will provide an in-depth discussion of the methods clients are using to influence the legacy they are leaving behind.
|
| Program Time: |
60 to 120 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate to Advanced |
| Presentation Title: |
Baby Boomer Planning - The Unique Issues |
| Description: |
Baby boomers are creating and facing a multitude of issues which they are ill prepared for. More businesses then ever before are coming onto the market, but there are not enough buyers in the next generation to sustain high values – meaning many baby boomers will not get as much out of their businesses as they expected, reducing their retirement options. Baby boomers are living longer then their parents, but as a generation they have not set aside sufficient funds to retire at the lifestyle they are a living. In many cases, their parents are spending an expected inheritance on long term care. Long term incapacity issues are just beginning to hit the boomers, while the inevitable bankruptcy of social security and Medicare continue to march on. There are more divorces, more blended families, more single households, more unmarried couples than any previous generation. Boomers own homes in multiple states, raising unique state residency and tax issues. Jeff Scroggin will address the unique legal, tax and business issues facing boomers and provide practical ways that advisors can aid their clients in preparing for these problems. |
| Program Time: |
60 to 120 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Beginning to Intermediate |
| Presentation Title: |
Estate Planning for the Transient Client |
| Description: |
Clients are constantly moving from state to state and country to country. National and State probate, trust, and tax laws vary significantly. Many states have begun to impose state estate taxes, a lower levels of value than applies to federal estate taxes. Foreign taxation can he horribly confusing. Clients who own businesses and real estate in non-domiciliary states and countries need to understand the possible local estate and income tax implications. As a result advisors need to be aware of the significant differences which can impact a client’s estate and business plan and the things they can do to mitigate the negative effects. |
| Audience: |
Both a US and an International Audience |
| Program Time: |
60 to 120 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Seven Trends Impacting Estate Planning |
| Description: |
While estate planning is continually changing, there are times when the changes are more dramatic and chaotic. We are in the midst of such a transition. The legal, tax and demographic trends impacting estate planning are fundamental and broad based, applying not just to the millionaires next door, but also to less wealthy clients. These ongoing trends will fundamentally transform how we plan. Jeff will lead a practical presentation of the source of the changes, and some of the new planning issues, marketing opportunities and traps in this fluid environment. |
| Program Time: |
45 to 60 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Basic to Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Insurance Planning When Federal Estate Taxes Don’t Matter |
| Description: |
For decades, estate planning has been largely dominated by desire to avoid and/or pay a federal estate tax. However, (at least until 2011) fewer Americans than any time in recent history will be subject to a federal estate tax. For the vast majority of Americans, estate planning will no longer be driven by the desire to avoid a confiscatory federal estate tax Lower estate taxes would appear to reduce opportunity to sell of life insurance. Mr. Scroggin will provide practical examples of where insurance is still a vital part to the planning process for a large portion of the public. He will provide innovative ideas designed to increase insurance sales. |
| Program Time: |
60 to 120 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Basic to Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Does Income Tax Planning Trump Transfer Tax Planning? |
| Description: |
Estate Planning is undergoing a radical revolution. For decades, estate planning has been largely dominated by desire to avoid the confiscation of assets by the federal estate tax. However, by one estimate, in 2006-2009 less than one percent of all decedent estates will owe a federal estate tax. For the vast majority of Americans, estate planning will no longer be driven by the avoidance of a confiscatory transfer tax. Tax planning for estates will shift to the avoidance of federal and state income taxes. As a result many of the common tax planning techniques (e.g., as family limited partnerships and income defective trusts) will be turned 180 degrees. As planners, we will swap valuation approaches with the IRS in order to obtain higher values for estate assets.
Mr. Scroggin is a nationally recognized author and speaker on this topic and will provide an in-depth discussion of the sources of the changes, the implications of the changes, and planning opportunities in this new era.
|
| Program Time: |
60 to 120 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Estate Planning 101 |
| Description: |
This program is designed to provide a basic estate planning understanding to a planner. Included in the program is a discussion of estate and income tax rules, wills, trusts, incapacity planning, planning for business owners, planning for retirement plans, minimizing family conflicts and how to handle life insurance. |
| Program Time: |
Half to Full Day |
| Program Level: |
Basic |
| Presentation Title: |
Estate and Tax Planning from 2007-2011 – Confusion Reins! |
| Description: |
When the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 ("EGTRRA") was passed, most estate planners (and probably most Republicans) anticipated that by 2011 there would either be an elimination of the federal estate tax or the enactment of permanent transfer tax legislation that would create permanently higher exemptions and lower rates than those under the pre-EGTRRA tax laws. It is increasingly possible that neither of these alternatives is going to occur.
The EGTRRA changes have both vastly reduced the number of estates subject to a federal estate tax (less than one percent of all estates from 2006-2009) and caused a significant reduction in the federal estate taxes in the remaining taxable estates (albeit while causing a counter-increase in state estate taxes). However, without the adoption of permanent legislation by the end of 2010, on January 1, 2011, the payment of federal estate taxes will skyrocket.
Get prepared for the confusion of a quickly changing landscape: three years of high exemptions and lower rates, one year of no estate tax (and a loss of step-up in basis of assets) and then a possible return to higher tax rates and lower exemptions. Virtually every estate plan will have to be reexamined to account for not only the potential return of the pre-EGTRRA rules, but, perhaps more importantly, the possibility that the client dies in 2010.
Jeff Scroggin will provide practical advice on how planners and their clients should deal with the next four years of potential uncertainty and political wrangling over the estate tax.
|
| Program Time: |
60 to 240 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate to Advanced |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Reviewing Estate Planning Documents – A Practical Approach |
| Description: |
Financial advisors are constantly being provided copies of a client’s pivotal planning documents, with the client expecting the planner to comment on any issues they observe in the documents. This program is designed to aid planners in what to look for when examining their client’s key planning documents. |
| Program Time: |
90 to 180 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate |
| Presentation Title: |
The Top Fifteen Estate and Tax Planning Traps – and How to Avoid Them |
| Description: |
Jeff Scroggin draws on his thirty years as a CPA and Tax Attorney to highlight the top planning mistakes that attorneys and other advisors make in planning for clients. He will describe how to identify the mistakes, how to avoid them and what to do if your client has made the mistake. |
| Program Time: |
90 to 180 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Asset Protection |
| Description: |
Jeff Scroggin will provide a discussion of how clients should approach asset protection and provide specific practical planning ideas designed to protect client assets from the claims of divorce and litigation. He will provide the benefits of certain planning techniques and the traps for the unwary. |
| Program Time: |
60 to 120 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Legal, Tax and Business Traps for the Unwary Business Owner |
| Description: |
The operation, purchase or transfer of any business carries a multitude of tax, legal, accounting and business traps for the unwary. Mr. Scroggin will provide a practical discussion of how operators, buyers and sellers of business can protect themselves from inadvertent liabilities and taxes. The program will provide practical business, legal and tax issues which any business owner should be aware of. The materials will include “value-added” materials designed to help grow the business advisory services of participants.
The materials will include “value-added” materials designed to help grow the business advisory services of participants.
Example: The buyer should make sure the seller will not support or start a competitive business using the customer and vendor relations, employees, knowledge and trade secrets of the acquired business. Therefore, the agreement should provide for one or more of the following “negative covenants” to protect the buyer: non-competition, non-solicitation of customers, non-solicitation of employees, non-solicitation of vendors and protection of trade secrets and confidential information. These negative covenants must be carefully drafted to comply with applicable state law (e.g., some states outlaw non-compete agreements). The agreement should allocate a significant part of the purchase price to these covenants and allow the buyer to seek injunctive relief if violations of the covenants occur. Moreover, the buyer should make sure that part of the purchase price is deferred and that the deferred purchase price may be reduced if the seller violates any negative covenant. It is also advisable to obtain similar negative covenants from key employees of the business. Very often, their loss can be more damaging than the seller’s competition. This might be a requirement placed on the seller as a part of the pre-closing requirements for the sale of the business.
|
| Program Time: |
120-240 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate to Advanced |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Are You or a Client Selling or Buying a Business?
Legal, Tax and Business Traps for the Unwary |
| Description: |
The purchase or transfer of any business carries a multitude of tax, legal, accounting and business traps for the unwary. Mr. Scroggin will provide a practical discussion of how buyers and sellers of business can protect themselves from inadvertent liabilities and taxes. |
| Program Time: |
60 to 240 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate to Advanced |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Understanding the Differences Between Basic Business Entities and How to Most Effectively Use Them |
| Description: |
Sole Proprietorships, LLCs, FLPS, General Partnerships, LLPs, LLLPs, S Corporations, C Corporations, Professional Corporations, Personal Service Corporations, Affiliated Entities – the options available to you and your clients for their business can be mind boggling. Jeff Scroggin will provide a basic understanding of each of the types of entities, when they should be used and the tax and business traps which often accompany their creation. |
| Program Time: |
120 to 240 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Basic to Intermediate |
| Presentation Title: |
Understanding Owner and Buy-Sell Agreements |
| Description: |
Virtually every business entity with more than one owner should have an agreement which clearly defines the rights and obligations between the parties, the events which trigger the purchase of owner’s capital, the price for such a purchase and the post-closing obligations. Jeff Scroggin will lead a discussion on what these agreements should contain and how to avoid tax and business mistakes in the agreements. |
| Program Time: |
60 to 240 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate to Advanced |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Exit Planning for Closely Held Businesses |
| Description: |
In 2001 roughly 50,000 businesses came up for sale and transfer. In 2009, the number is expected to increase to up to 750,000 – but there are no more buyers than there were in 2001. Closely held business owners are going to have to find new ways to transfer their businesses. Jeff Scroggin will lead a practical solutions oriented discussion of how business owners can most effectively sell their businesses to outsiders or insiders, transfer the business to family members or liquidate the business. |
| Program Time: |
60 to 240 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate to Advanced |
Return to Top
| Presentation Title: |
Effectively Transferring a Family Business
Without Losing Your Shirt or Your Family |
| Description: |
Less than 15% of all family business survive to the third generation. Taxes, family conflicts, business mistakes and other errors limit the survival rate. However, with proper planning the odds can change in favor of the family. Jeff Scroggin will lead a discussion on how to transfer the family without losing your capital or destroying the family from the conflict which comes from poor planning. |
| Program Time: |
60 to 240 Minutes |
| Program Level: |
Intermediate to Advanced |
Return to Top
GENERAL SESSION/PLATFORM PRESENTATIONS FOR BUSINESSES & PLANNERS
(Can also be Used for Breakout Presentations)
- Trends in Demographics, Taxes and Law and How They Will Change Businesses
- Trends in Demographics, Taxes and Law and How They Will Change Estate Planning
- What Happens When Estate Taxes No Longer Drive Estate Planning?
- The Future of Estate Planning – It's not Dying, It's just Evolving
- Taxes – a Humorous Visit to the Weird History of Taxation
- Selling Your Business - It's not the Legal and Tax Issues that Nail You, It's the Practical Issues
- Dealing with the Six Inevitable Issues in Family Businesses
- Twelve Creative (and Legal) Tax and Estate Planning Ideas You May Never Have Heard of
- War Stories & Avoiding the Mistakes of Others – Real Life is so Much More Bizarre Than Fiction
- Planning for the Affluent Client
- If Conflict is so Much a Part of Life,Why Don't We Plan for it?
- If Every Inheritance Impacts the Recipient, How do we Influence the Legacy of an Inheritance?
ESTATE AND TAX PLANNING TOPICS
"EstatePlanning is not Dead, It's Just Changing
- The Changing Nature of Estate Planning – Techniques for a New World
- Changing Legislation and Demographics are Fundamentally Changing Estate Planning
- Influencing the Legacy
- Does Income Tax Planning Trump Estate Tax Avoidance?
- Planning for the Basis of Assets
- State Transfer Taxes – The New Tax to Avoid
- Estate Planning for a Blended Family
- Tax and Estate Planning for Unmarried Clients
- The Use of Dynasty Trusts
- The New Trusts – Dynasty Trusts, Incentive Trusts, Total Return Trusts and Estate Defective Trusts
- Planning for the Sale of a Business When The Buyers are Diminishing
- Estate Defective Trusts
- The Fundamentals of Estate Planning
- Planning for Incapacity – The Forgotten Part of Planning
- Avoiding Common Mistakes in Estate and Tax Planning
- Asset Protection
- Creating Flexibility in an Estate Plan
- Errors to Look for in Examining Estate Planning Documents - How to Audit an Estate Plan
- The Basics of Estate Planning – What Every Plan Should Include
- Using and Understanding Medical Directives – It's not Just for the Elderly
- Medical Decision Making – What are the Rules?
- Reducing Estate Conflicts
- Passing the Family Business without Losing Your Shirt and Your Family
- Handling Personal Property in the Estate Plan – the Greatest Source of Family Conflict
- Techniques for Minimizing Family Conflicts in the Estate Plan
- Planning for Blended Families – The Issues, the Techniques, the Conflicts to Avoid
- The Planning Impact of Recent Legislation, Cases and Rulings
- Why Life Insurance Trusts May Still Make Sense
- The Family Love Letter™ – Information for a Time of Confusion
- Common Mistakes in Estate Planning and How to Avoid Them
- Planning for the Elderly or Soon to be Elderly Client
GENERAL PLANNING TOPICS
"Getting Outside the Box"
- Planning for Divorce – Tax and Practical Planning Issues
- Innovative Planning Ideas
- Innovative Approaches to the Use of Insurance
- Domicile Planning – Are you Sure You're Working out of the Right State?
- Writing and Speaking to Develop Your Professional Practice
- A Humorously Serious Discussion of Ethics
- Dealing with Lawyers – Finding Good Ones, Controlling Fees, Getting Practical Advice
ESTATE PLANNING LEGACY PLANNING
"Estate Planning is for the Living, NOT the Dead"
- Family Incentive Trusts
- Protecting and Preserving the Family, the True First Goal of Estate Planning
- Influencing the Legacy – How to Make Your Inheritances Count
- The Restraint Continuum - How to Restrain an Inheritance
BUSINESS PLANNING ISSUES
"Practical Solutions for the Planner"
- Avoiding Mistakes in Buy-Sell Agreements
- Transferring a Family Business without Losing Your Shirt or Your Family
- Structuring Sales and other Transfers of Closely Held Businesses – Practical Insights
- Common Tax, Legal, Business and Structural Mistakes in the Operation & Creation of a Business
- The Planning Impact of Recent Legislation, Cases and Rulings on Businesses
- The Five Inevitable Problems in a Family Business and How to Successfully Handle Them
- With So Few Buyers of Baby Boomer Businesses, What's Coming Next?
- Tax Minimization for the Sellers of Real Estate
- Practical Tax and Legal ConcernsWhen Negotiating a Contract
- Common Mistakes in Creating, Operating and Transferring a Business and How to Avoid Them
HUMOROUS PRESENTATIONS
to Provide Levity to the Boredom of Tax and Business Planning
- The Humorous Side of Taxes
- Ethics - The Things you Never Knew
- War Stories of Estate Planning – Reality is a Whole Lot more Funny than Fiction
- Stupid Business, Estate and Tax Planning – "Your Client Did What?"
|
|
