Role Of A CPA In Estate Planning

The main role of the Certified Public Accountant is to act as an advisor to business houses, individuals, non-profit organizations, government agencies and financial institutions. CPAs are different from other accountants by stringent experience, educational and licensing requirements. Team of professionals who work together can best perform the function of estate and financial planning. The key player in the estate planning team is the Certified Public Accountant along with a lawyer, an insurance agent, bank trust officer and an investment advisor. CPAs have very good knowledge of the tax implications of decisions people make in the structuring of their estate. They can very well help you in assuring that you meet your goals of minimizing taxes and increasing the portion of your estate that will pass to your heirs. With the unstable dollar of today and wide fluctuation in market it has become very difficult to accumulate, preserve and dispose wealth easily. Sound estate and financial planning will help you in preserving the financial security that you are working hard to achieve. Planning for disposition of property during your lifetime and upon your death is very important. With the help of effective planning the tax burden can be minimized on your estate and you can also get to know that your beneficiaries will be getting everything that the law allows. Importance of estate planning: An important part of lifetime planning is to ensure that only good assets pass on to the survivors. There can be some investments and businesses that are not possible at all for a grieving family to manage. You can get a lot of help from a CPA in putting your affairs in order to effectively provide it to your friends and loved ones. It is very important to have an effective financial planning strategy in place. It might be that you come across an estate that you consider of modest value today but it becomes very sizable when it is measured in the inflated market values when you die.You can get assistance in the various facets of estate planning by a Certified Public Accountant although his or her role does not end at the death of their client. There is the final income tax return of the client who died, the estate tax return and income tax of the estate to prepare. There are chances that the CPAs will have some involvement in the process of estate valuation and they will work with the attorney and executor on the various opportunities related to tax savings following the date of death. Again the goal behind this is to maximize the portion of an estate that will pass on to the heirs.CPAs can also become involved in the IRS audits and in the tax planning and administration of the estate. A lot of specialized knowledge is required in various areas in financial and estate planning. Because the Certified Public Accountants are in close contact with the clients in personal income taxes and personal financial affairs, they can make an important contribution in the overall coordination and direction of the entire estate planning and financial planning team.
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About the Author: Sacramento CPA Firm Murray and Young provides California Tax Help. Check out our new website that includes useful articles on Estate Tax Planning. Visit us at http://www.april15.com.