把豪宅留給後代取蔭涼 卻該如何避稅

THE GOOD TIMES are rolling again in the country's toniest neighborhoods. Property prices in East Hampton, New York City and Beverly Hills were up about 10 percent last year, according to Zillow, a Seattle-based site that estimates home values. Near Miami, on the exclusive Fisher Island-which can be reached only by private ferry, and even then, only by those whose names appear on a special list-home prices are up by about a third.

美國的高檔社區又迎來了大好時光。根據西雅圖房價估算網站Zillow的數據，去年東漢普頓、紐約市和比弗利山莊的房價上漲10%左右。在邁阿密附近有座不對外人開放的費希爾島(Fisher Island)，去島上只能通過私家渡輪、而且只有一個特別名單上的人能去，那裏的房價更是上漲了三分之一左右。

Higher real-estate prices normally spell good news for sellers, but there's an associated cost that many tend to forget: A property will probably generate much higher estate taxes upon the owner's death than it would have a few years ago. What's more, estate taxes have been rising faster than property prices and asset values-and, some experts say, they are likely to rise even further. Yet some legal maneuvering may help cushion the blow.

房價上漲對於賣家來說通常是好事，但其中也涉及一項很多人總是忘記的成本：到業主去世的時候，房產產生的遺產稅恐怕要遠遠高於幾年前的水平。另外，遺產稅的上漲一直快於房價和資產價格，而據一些專家說，可能還會進一步上漲。但一些法律上的操作或許有助於緩衝這種負面影響。

Today, the federal estate tax kicks in on estates worth more than $5.34 million, with the rate topping out at 40 percent. Since anyone is allowed to leave an unlimited amount of money to their spouse, the effective exemption per couple comes out to about $10.7 million. The low point for the estate-tax rate came in 2010, when it was effectively zero-thanks to political dysfunction on Capitol Hill that led to a one-year hiatus on the tax. As a result, the heirs of a handful of billionaires-including late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner-got to keep hundreds of millions of dollars that otherwise would have gone to Uncle Sam.

如今的聯邦房地產遺產稅針對的是價值534萬美元以上的房產，最高稅率40%。由於每個人都可以把一筆金額不限的錢留給配偶，每對夫婦事實上的免稅額是1,070萬美元左右。最低的房地產遺產稅率出現在2010年，由於國會山的政治失靈導致該稅種出現了一年的空檔，當年的稅率實際爲零。得益於此，包括紐約揚基隊(New York Yankees)已故老闆喬治・斯坦布萊納(George Steinbrenner)等在內的好幾位億萬富豪的繼承人留住了本來要交給美國政府的數億美元。

Of course, those savings are not available today. Indeed, the growing economic inequality in America means that, if anything, estate-tax rates are likely to rise. Even as recently as the 1970s, the top federal estate-tax rate on the richest Americans was 77 percent. If the economic disparity continues to widen, today's 40 percent rate may seem temptingly low to a future Congress.

這些錢在今天當然是省不下了。事實上由於美國貧富差距越來越大，遺產稅稅率不變則已，要變則很有可能是提高。在距今不遠的20世紀70年代，針對美國最富人羣的聯邦房地產遺產稅稅率最高就曾達到77%。如果貧富差距繼續拉大，今天40%的稅率在將來的國會看來或許顯得實在太低，不得不要上調。

The good news? The federal tax code has more loopholes than a 100-foot scarf created by a team of injured knitters, including a couple of big ones that might be especially useful here. The first allows someone to transfer a home to an heir through a temporary trust known as a qualified personal residence trust, or QPRT (pronounced cue-pert). This trust can make time your friend, rather than your enemy, for estate-tax purposes, as it can sharply reduce the taxable value of a home. A $10 million home transferred to an heir via a seven-year QPRT, for instance, would only count as an $8.6 million home. Since the beneficiary wouldn't get their hands on the property for another seven years, the Internal Revenue Service would allow the estate to discount the value by a few percentage points for each year's delay.

好消息是，聯邦稅法的漏洞比一羣帶傷的編織工編織出的30米長圍巾的漏洞還多。其中的幾個大漏洞在這裏或許特別有用。第一個漏洞允許人們通過一種名叫“合格個人住宅信託”（qualified personal residence trust，簡稱QPRT）的臨時性基金把房產轉讓給繼承人。這隻基金可以讓時間成爲你在遺產稅方面的朋友而不是敵人，因爲它可以大幅度地降低房產的應稅價值。舉個例子：一套價值1,000萬美元的住宅通過一隻七年期的QPRT轉讓給繼承人，就只會當作一套價值860萬美元的房產計稅。由於受益人要七年以後才能得到房產，國稅局(Internal Revenue Service)會允許這套房產的價值每推遲一年就少計算幾個百分點。

Even better, once the home is transferred to an heir, all future price appreciation gets excluded from the taxable value. If, for instance, that private-island home increases in value by, say, 7 percent a year and you die 10 years from now, then without the trust your estate would have to pay taxes on a $20 million home. With the trust, the taxes would be on a home valued at $8.6 million. Depending on your exact circumstances, that difference could end up saving your estate as much as $5 million in taxes. There are some caveats, of course, the main one being that you have to outlive the trust to get the benefit. Otherwise, the full value of the home reverts to your estate. Moreover, once the home is transferred, it is in the hands of your heirs, even if you live for 20 more years.

喜上加喜：一旦房產轉讓給繼承人，將來所有增值部分都會排除在應稅價值之外。比如，如果上述那套私屬島嶼住宅每年增值7%，而你在10年後去世，那麼在沒有QPRT的情況下，你這套房產作爲接受的遺產將被按2,000萬美元的價值交稅。在有QPRT的情況下，房產的應稅價值將只是860萬美元。到最後，這之間的差價有望幫助你節省遺產稅最多500萬美元，具體多少則要看你的具體情況。當然也有一些注意事項，最重要的一條是你要比這隻信託基金活得長才能享受到這個好處，不然你自己的遺產又要按住宅的全部價值計稅。另外，一旦房產被轉讓，它便歸你的繼承人所有，哪怕你再活20年也沒有用。

Another little-known strategy is to transfer the home to a family-controlled limited liability company and then give shares in the LLC to beneficiaries each year. This could slash a future estate-tax bill a few different ways. First, a person could claim an estate-tax discount on the value of each share in the LLC, because it's a minority stake in a private company. So, even though a 1 percent share in a $10 million beach house in the Hamptons ought to be worth $100,000, for estate-tax purposes, it might be valued at only $85,000-or even less. Second, one could slice $14,000 more o¬ the taxable value-for each beneficiary, each year-with the federal gift-tax exclusion. That could bring the taxable value of that $100,000 share down to $71,000. Finally, once a share is given, it and its future price appreciation are excluded from the estate , up to the $14,000 gift-tax exclusion per person. Put another way, even if a home is worth $20 million, its total taxable value to an estate would be considerably less once a person dies in 10 years' time-again, saving millions.

另外一條鮮爲人知的策略是把房產轉讓給一個由家族控制的有限責任公司，然後一年一年地將有限責任公司的股份送給受益人。這樣做可以從幾個不同的途徑減少將來的遺產稅。第一，可以要求對有限責任公司的每股價值折價徵收遺產稅，因爲它是非公衆公司的少數股權。所以，對於漢普頓一處1,000萬美元的海灘大宅，儘管它1%的股份本來應該是價值10萬美元，但在計算遺產稅的時候，它可以只被估值爲8.5萬美元、甚至更少。第二，根據聯邦贈予稅免稅額規定，每位受益人每一年的應稅價值可以再砍掉1.4萬美元，這樣就可以把10萬美元份額的應稅價值降到7.1萬美元。最後，股份一旦送出，其本身和將來的增值部分就會從遺產中扣除，最高可以扣除每人1.4萬美元的贈予稅免稅額。也就是說，即便房產價值2,000萬美元，只要人能活過10年，遺產的應稅總額會大大減少――依舊省下幾百萬美元。

Some experts prefer the LLC route. Over time, it can allow for a 'substantial wealth transfer at no cost to the parent,'says Eric Rothenberg, a tax attorney with a law fi rm based in Needham, Mass. But the big issue with an LLC is determining how much of a discount can be claimed on each share. In the past, some have claimed a discount of as much as 40 percent, meaning they have transferred $100,000 worth of shares for as little as $60,000 in taxable value, 'but that's aggressive,' says Bob Glovsky, a fi nancial planner at Colony Group, a wealthmanagement fi rm that is based in Boston and has around $3.3 billion in assets under management. He warns that claiming too much might mean a challenge from the IRS. If the government agency succeeds, the investor would lose the savings-and owe additional interest as well as penalties. For these reasons, Glovsky recommends opting for the QPRT instead of the LLC. What's more, the discounts used on a QPRT are based on tables that are published by the IRS-so they aren't open to challenge. And, Glovsky says, the trusts are often simpler to set up as well.

一些專家更推薦有限責任公司這條路子。馬薩諸塞州尼德姆一律師事務所的稅法律師埃裏克・羅藤伯格(Eric Rothenberg)說，經過一定的時間，這個辦法可以“在不給父母造成代價的情況下實現大額財富轉移”。但使用有限責任公司的辦法存在一個重要問題，就是確定每一股可以拿到多少折價。波士頓管理約33億美元資產的財富管理公司Colony Group的理財規劃師鮑伯・格魯夫斯基(Colony Group)說，過去有人最高拿到了40%的折價，意味着轉讓價值10萬美元的股份應稅價值最低只有6萬美元，但這就比較“激進”了。他提醒，申請折扣幅度太大可能招致國稅局的質疑。如果國稅局質疑成功，投資者不但省不下這些錢，還要支付額外的利息和罰金。有鑑於此，格魯夫斯基建議選擇QPRT而不是有限責任公司。另外，QPRT享受的折扣是以國稅局公佈的數據表格爲基礎的，所以不會被質疑。格魯夫斯基還說，信託基金的成立通常也更加簡單。

Most well-o¬ folks, of course, remember to get sound legal advice on these kinds of matters. It might help during the process to keep in mind that some say the estate tax is among the least obnoxious forms of taxes, because it is levied neither on toil nor on entrepreneurship, but on the good fortune of inheritance. And even though you might ultimately have to pay the tax in the end, the U.S. tax code-fortunately-contains some breaks for the well-informed.

當然，大多數富人都會想到在這些問題上尋求可靠的法律建議。在此過程中記住這樣一點或許是有好處的：有人說，房地產遺產稅是最不討人嫌的稅種之一，因爲它的徵稅對象既不是辛勤勞動者，也不是創業者，而是繼承財產的幸運兒。而且，儘管最終你還是得繳納稅款，但好在美國稅法還是有些空子可以讓見多識廣的人去利用。