Transfer assets into a trust
Certain types of trusts can help avoid estate taxes. An irrevocable trust transfers asset ownership from the original owner to the trust, with assets eventually distributed to the beneficiaries.
One type of trust that helps protect assets is an intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT). Any assets or funds put into an IDGT aren't taxable to the grantor (owner) for gift, estate, generation-skipping transfer tax, or trust purposes.
There are 2 primary methods of transferring wealth, either gifting during lifetime or leaving an inheritance at death. Individuals may transfer up to $13.99 million (as of 2025) during their lifetime or at death without incurring any federal gift or estate taxes. This is referred to as your lifetime exemption.
Wealthy family buys stocks, bonds, real estate, art, or other high-value assets. It strategically holds on to these assets and allows them to grow in value. The family won't owe income tax on the growth in the assets' value unless it sells them and makes a profit.
Inheritance checks are generally not reported to the IRS unless they involve cash or cash equivalents exceeding $10,000. Banks and financial institutions are required to report such transactions using Form 8300. Most inheritances are paid by regular check, wire transfer, or other means that don't qualify for reporting.
The trust fund loophole refers to the “stepped-up basis rule” in U.S. tax law. The rule is a tax exemption that lets you use a trust to transfer appreciated assets to the trust's beneficiaries without paying the capital gains tax. Your “basis” in an asset is the price you paid for the asset.
Wealthy people have long used trusts to stash their money and pass it on to the next generation. That includes billionaire Rupert Murdoch, whose trust is making headlines as his family battles for control of his media empire. But it's not only the ultrarich who can take advantage of what a trust can offer.
What Is the Estate Tax Exemption? The federal estate tax exclusion exempts from the value of an estate up to $13.61 million in 2024, up from $12.92 million in 2023. 1 Only the value over these thresholds is subject to estate tax.
Another key difference: While there is no federal inheritance tax, there is a federal estate tax. The federal estate tax generally applies to assets over $13.61 million in 2024 and $13.99 million in 2025, and the federal estate tax rate ranges from 18% to 40%.
Most relatively simple estates (cash, publicly traded securities, small amounts of other easily valued assets, and no special deductions or elections, or jointly held property) do not require the filing of an estate tax return.
Methods used by the very wealthy to avoid estate taxes include setting up a trust, such as an intentionally defective grantor trust, which separates income tax from estate tax treatment. Also, a life insurance policy can be transferred so that it won't be counted as part of your estate.
Others will object to taxing the wealthy unless they actually use their gains, but many of the wealthiest actually do use their gains through the borrowing loophole: They get rich, borrow against those gains, consume the borrowing, and do not pay any tax.
The best way to avoid the inheritance tax is to manage assets before death. To eliminate or limit the amount of inheritance tax beneficiaries might have to pay, consider: Giving away some of your assets to potential beneficiaries before death. Each year, you can gift a certain amount to each person tax-free.
It suggests that wealth built up over one generation can often be lost by the third generation due to a lack of financial education, mismanagement, or squandering. This has been observed on a global scale, with societies across the globe displaying this trend.
Family Trusts: Protecting Generational Wealth
Rockefeller used family trusts, in addition to charitable trusts, to secure and manage his wealth for his heirs.
“It is a simple fact that billionaires in America can live very extraordinarily well completely tax-free off their wealth,” law professor Edward J. McCaffery writes. They can do so by borrowing large sums against their unrealized capital gains, without generating taxable income.
Income is taxed to you, not your heirs.
With a GRAT, all income gains and losses will flow back to you as the grantor and be included on your personal income tax return. This allows more wealth to shift to heirs, because neither they nor the trust will have income tax responsibility.
But when gains are inherited, the loophole zeroes out the gain for tax purposes. As a result, an investment sale that would create a taxable gain for the original owner is tax-free for the inheritor. Example: an investor buys 100 shares of stock for $200. Ten years later, the stock is worth $500.
The long-favored grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs) can confer big tax savings during recessions. These trusts pay a fixed annuity during the trust term, which is usually two years, and any appreciation of the assets' value is not subject to estate tax.
Deposit the money into a safe account
Your first action to take when receiving a lump sum is to deposit the money into an FDIC-insured bank account. This will allow for safekeeping while you consider how to make the best use of your inheritance.
Medium inheritance ($100,000)
If you receive a larger inheritance, first consider the recommendations above—fund an emergency savings account or pay off credit cards and loans. You can also use a portion of the money to pay off all or part of your mortgage or pay down student loan debt.
An estate tax is levied on the estate of the deceased while an inheritance tax is levied on the heirs of the deceased. Only 17 states and the District of Columbia currently levy an estate or inheritance tax.