Taxation of Estates - CPA Regulation (REG)

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Question

Lake Trust, a simple trust, reported the following items of income and expense during the year:

  • Dividend income: $2,500
  • Taxable interest income: 2,000
  • Capital gains (allocable to corpus): 5,000
  • Accounting fees (allocable to income): (500)
  • Trustee fees (allocable to income): (750)

What is Lake's distributable net income?

Answer

The DNI will include both the dividend and interest income, totaling $4,500. Expenses allocable to income total ($1,250). Netted, these bring DNI to $3,250. Capital gains allocable to corpus are not treated as income, as these remain within the estate and are not distributed to beneficiaries.

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Question

A distribution from estate income, that was currently required, was made to the estate’s sole beneficiary during its calendar year. The maximum amount of the distribution to be included in the beneficiary’s gross income is limited to the estate’s:

Answer

Distributable net income is the maximum amount a trust or estate may deduct for distributions to beneficiaries.

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Question

Which of the following items is not normally taken into account in determining distributable net income of a simple trust?

Answer

Since trusts are treated as a different class of taxpayer than living individuals, personal exemptions are not allowed for trusts. The other items – interest expenses, management fees, and interest income – are all standard components of a trust’s DNI.

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Question

The standard deduction for a trust or an estate in the fiduciary income tax return is:

Answer

An estate or trust is not allowed a standard deduction in preparing the fiduciary income tax return.

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Question

Peter created a trust and transferred property to it. He also retained certain interests. For income tax purposes, Peter was treated as the owner of the trust. Peter created what type of trust?

Answer

When the creator of a trust is treated as the owner of it, it is referred to as a grantor trust.

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Question

Which of the following would be deductible for purposes of calculating DNI?

Answer

Only income-related expenses such as trustee fees allocable to income would be allowed to be deducted for DNI purposes.

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Question

Taylor created a trust, transferred property to this trust, and retained certain interests. For income tax purposes, Taylor was treated as the owner of the trust. Taylor has created which of the following types of trusts?

Answer

The definition of a grantor trust is one in which the individual who established the trust retains control over it.

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Question

For income tax purposes, the estate’s initial taxable period for a decedent who died on October 20:

Answer

Upon the decedent’s death, the estate may elect either a fiscal year beginning at the death date or a calendar year. The resulting tax returns are due either the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the end of the fiscal year, or April 15, respectively.

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Question

Under the provisions of a decedent’s will, the following cash disbursements were made by the estate’s executor:

I. A charitable bequest to the American Red Cross
II. Payment of the decedent’s funeral expenses

What deduction(s) is (are) allowable in determining the decedent’s taxable estate?

Answer

The gross estate is taxed only after several deductions (discretionary and nondiscretionary) are taken. Nondiscretionary deductions include satisfying all outstanding debts, estate administrative expenses, medical expenses, funeral expenses, and certain taxes. Discretionary deductions include charitable bequests and marital deductions, both of which are unlimited.

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Question

Of the following, which item is not normally taken into account in determining distributable net income of a simple trust?

Answer

The calculation of a distributable net income includes all of a trust’s gross income except capital gains attributable to corpus and is reduced by all of a trust’s deductions except the exemption.

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Question

A distribution from estate income that was currently required was made to the estate’s sole beneficiary during its calendar year. The maximum amount of the distribution to be included in the beneficiary’s gross income is limited to the estate’s

Answer

DNI is the upper limit on the amount of income that a beneficiary has to include in income from a trust distribution.

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Question

Of the following, what is the standard deduction for a trust or estate fiduciary income tax return?

Answer

There is no standard deduction allowed for fiduciary income tax returns.

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Question

The Manor Trust, a complex trust, had distributable net income (DNI) in Year 7 of $12,000. Of the $12,000 of DNI, $5,000 was distributed to trust beneficiaries. Of the $5,000 distributed, which taxpayer(s), if any, are responsible for the tax liability on the $5,000 distribution?

Answer

Income distributed to trust beneficiaries is included on a Schedule K-1. Only the amount received by beneficiaries is taxed; undistributed DNI is not taxed at either the trust or beneficiary level.

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Question

The charitable contribution deduction on an estate’s fiduciary income tax return is allowable:

Answer

Deductions for charitable contributions by an estate are allowed only if the contributions are provided for in a will. Otherwise such contributions cannot be deducted from the estate’s taxable income.

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Question

A distribution to an estate’s sole beneficiary for the current calendar year equaled $15,000, the amount currently required to be distributed by the will. The estate’s current year records were as follows:

  • Estate income: $40,000 Taxable interest
  • Estate disbursements: $34,000 Expenses attributable to taxable interest

What amount of the distribution was taxable to the beneficiary?

Answer

Only that portion of a distribution that comes from earned, taxable income in the year would be taxable to the beneficiary. Since the net taxable income for the estate is $6,000, the remainder of the distribution comes from the corpus and is a transfer of property, which in this case is not taxable.

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Question

The ABC Trust reported DNI of $120,000 for the year. The trustee is to distribute $60,000 to A and $90,000 to B each year. If the trustee distributes these amounts, what amount is includable in B’s gross income?

Answer

The income distribution deduction is the lesser of DNI or the actual amount distributed to the beneficiary. A is required to receive $60,000 and B is required to receive $90,000 per year for a total of $150,000. The applicable pro rata portion of the income distribution deduction is as follows: $90,000/$150,000 * $120,000 = $72,000.

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Question

G Trust is a simple trust. It reported the following items of income and expenses for the current year: Interest income of $4,000, dividend income of $2,000 and trustee fees allocable to income of $1,500. What is the trust’s DNI for the year?

Answer

DNI is computed as the trust’s income less any expenses allocated to income, The $6,000 of income items minus the $1,500 of income related expenses equals DNI of $4,500. This means that the first $4,500 of distributions from the trust are taxable income to the recipients with any additional distributions being considered nontaxable distributions of trust corpus.

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Question

Which of the following income items would not be included in the Distributable Net Income of a simple trust?

Answer

Capital gains are not included if they are allocable to the corpus.

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