When making an estate plan, using a trust is a way to make passing assets — including both cash and physical assets — a bit easier. In fact, when using a trust, you can often allow your family to avoid a lengthy probate process after you’ve died. Inheriting a trust comes with certain tax implications. The rules can be complex, but generally speaking, only the earnings of a trust are taxed, not the principal.
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Trust Basics
A trust is simply a legal vehicle that can be filled with myriad assets, including cash and physical holdings. The person who creates the trust is known as the grantor. A trust is overseen by a trustee. The trustee can be a person or a firm that manages the trust for the beneficiary.
The beneficiary of the trust is the person who benefits from these assets. This beneficiary can be an individual, such as a child or other relative, or an organization like a charitable group.
Trusts are often used as a tool to minimize estate taxes. Also, while assets transferred via a will usually have to go through the probate process, trusts can usually bypass that step, speeding up the process and saving on court fees.
Types of Trusts
There are quite a few types of trusts, but one of the biggest differences between trusts is whether they’re revocable or irrevocable. A revocable trust can be modified at any point during the lifetime of the person making the trust—also known as the grantor. The grantor can add or remove beneficiaries, add or remove assets from the trust or terminate the trust completely. Once the grantor dies, the trust then becomes set in stone and can no longer be changed.
On the other hand, an irrevocable trust is set in stone as soon as it’s finalized. The grantor can’t change the beneficiaries or the terms or remove any assets from the trust once it’s established.These are the two main categories of trusts, but there are many other types of trusts you might run into as well. These include:
- Marital trusts
- Bypass trusts
- Charitable trusts
- Generation-skipping trusts
- Grantor-retained annuity trusts
- Life insurance trusts
- Special needs trusts
- Spendthrift trusts
- Testamentary trusts
- Totten trusts
How Are Trusts Taxed?
Trusts are taxed based on whether the distributions from the trust are principal or interest. Principal distributions, or distributions taken from the money originally placed in the trust, are not taxed. Interest distributions, or distributions taken from the money earned in interest after the original funds were placed in the trust, are either taxed as income or as capital gains, depending on how they were earned.
The income tax rates for trusts runs from 10% to 37% in 2023 and 2024, depending on income level. Long-term capital gains are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%, based on total gains.
Trusts and their beneficiaries will use IRS Form 1041 and a K-1 to file taxes. The K-1 will indicate how much of the distribution was interest and how much was principal.
Another factor that governs how trusts are taxed is whether the trust is a grantor or non-grantor trust. Grantor trusts are set up so that the grantor pays taxes on income. When it comes to non-grantor trusts, who pays taxes will depend on how the trust was set up. Trust accounting rules can be extremely complex, and your financial situation outside of the trust can come into play as well.
What a Trust Inheritance Tax Might Look Like
Say you receive a $10,000 distribution one year. When the trust sends you the K-1, you see that $8,000 was from the principal. The IRS presumes this money was already taxed, so you don’t owe taxes on that amount. $1,000 was from interest earned—you will owe income tax on that amount. The final $1,000 was from selling stock for a profit—you will owe capital gains tax on that amount.
In this example, you’d owe nothing on that $1,000 earned from selling a stock, assuming it had been held for at least a year. You’d owe 10% on the amount made from interest, for a total of $100 owed in taxes.
This is a simple example, and as mentioned above, trust taxes can and often do get much more complicated. Work with the trustee or a personal financial advisor to make sure you’re getting the details right.
Bottom Line
Beneficiaries of a trust are usually only taxed on the earnings portions of their distributions, and whether those earnings are taxed as income or capital gains depends on how they were earned. Who pays those taxes depends on how the trust was set up so it might be best to consult with an attorney and tax professional who is experienced at working with trusts.
Tips for Estate Planning
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