CRYPTO – PPLI and EWP – Episode 2 – The EWP Stories Video Series

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Cryptocurrency, Private Placement Life Insurance and Expanded Worldwide Planning

The EWP Stories Video Series

Video 2

Introduction

Welcome. In our first video of our series on crypto currencies we introduced you to our firm EWP Financial. In this video we continue with this topic, but first an important point: if you are new to asset structuring, you are probably thinking, well, EWP Financial seems like a good firm with plenty of experience, but what is EWP Financial going to do for my crypto currency? Why should I put my crypto into this type of asset structure?

The answer is simple. In a properly designed EWP asset structure, once your crypto is inside the structure, you will no longer pay any taxes on your holdings, and your reporting requirements will become minimal. This is very powerful. Below are excerpts from an excellent recent article by Robert W. Wood from Cointelegraph which discusses crypto tax reporting requirements. The author’s Six Crypto Tax Myths are listed, and to receive his answers please go to the full article.

What do you have to give up to achieve this result? The answer is very little? A small change in how your holdings are titled, and some changes to give you a more diversified portfolio.

What fees will I have to pay to achieve this outstanding result? The answer is very minimal fees. Usually about 1% of your crypto holdings annually.

Now more valuable information on EWP Financial, and how you can become one of our very satisfied clients in wherever country you might reside. We continue with our theme of financial architecture.

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The major tax myths about cryptocurrency debunked

By Robert W. Wood

More crypto tax enforcement is coming, and many taxpayers are complying going forward, and amending prior returns if they have something to clean up.

Crypto and taxes may not be a match made in heaven, but taxes seem inevitable, and the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made it clear it is going after people who don’t report. With IRS summonses to Coinbase, Kraken, Circle and Poloniex, plus other enforcement efforts, the IRS is on the hunt. The IRS sent 10,000 letters in different versions asking for compliance, but all were nudges to encourage taxpayers to be compliant.

The IRS hunt for crypto has often been compared to the IRS hunt for foreign accounts more than a decade ago. Unfortunately, it is not clear if there will ever be a crypto amnesty program emulating the offshore voluntary disclosure programs the IRS formulated for offshore accounts.

The IRS made its first big announcement about crypto in Notice 2014-21, classifying it as property. That has big tax consequences, accentuated by wild price swings. Selling crypto can trigger gain or loss and be taxable. But even buying something with crypto can trigger taxes. Paying employees or contractors does too. Even paying taxes in crypto can trigger more taxes.

We are already seeing crypto audits by the IRS, and by some states (notably California’s Franchise Tax Board), and more are sure to follow. At least now, there are tracking and tax return preparation alternatives that can make the process easier than it was in the early days. Everyone is trying to minimize taxable crypto gains and to defer taxes where legally possible.

Still, it is easy to get confused about the tax treatment and take tax positions that may be hard to defend if you are caught. With that in mind, here are some things I’ve heard, that I’ll call crypto tax myths.

Myth 1

You can’t owe any tax on cryptocurrency transactions unless you receive an IRS Form 1099. If you did not receive a Form 1099, you can check the box on your tax return that says that you did not have any transactions with cryptocurrency.

Myth 2

If you hold your crypto through a private wallet instead of an exchange, you don’t need to report the crypto on your tax returns.

Myth 3

If you hold your crypto through a trust, LLC or other entity, then you do not owe tax on the crypto transactions and do not have to report. Besides (the myth continues), income generated through LLCs is tax-free.

Myth 4

If I structure the sale of my crypto as a loan (or some other non-sale transaction), I don’t have to report the proceeds.

Myth 5

A crypto exchange is a type of trust since you can’t unilaterally change the policies of the exchange. So you do not own the crypto in your account for tax purposes and do not have to report transactions through an exchange.

Myth 6

Congress’s amendment to Section 1031 of the tax code that limits like-kind exchanges to real property doesn’t make crypto-to-crypto exchanges taxable.

Takeaways

Every taxpayer is entitled to plan their affairs and transactions to try to minimize taxes. But they should be wary of quick fixes and theories that sound too good to be true. The IRS appears to believe that many crypto taxpayers are not complying with the tax law, and being careful in the future and doing some clean-up for the past is worth considering. Be careful out there.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Robert W. Wood is a tax lawyer representing clients worldwide from the office of Wood LLP in San Francisco, where he is a managing partner. He is the author of numerous tax books and frequently writes about taxes for Forbes, Tax Notes and other publications.

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Conclusion

In our next video, we answer three important questions that are most sophisticated clients ask us:

Is it legal?

Can they steal my money?

Will I be audited?

The answers to these questions will surprise you, so stay tuned, and thanks for watching.

If you found this video useful, please give us a like, and click on the subscribe button below. We look forward to connecting with you in Episode 3 of our crypto series

To learn how the wealthiest families in the world conduct their financial affairs, please call +1 530 692 1007, or email us at info@expandedworldwideplanning.com.

At your convenience, we can arrange a call to discuss how our unique blueprint can vastly enhance your asset structure.

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in this video are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual on any financial structure, investment, or insurance product.

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC.
CEO, Founder @EWP Financial

The Expanded Worldwide Planning Stories Video Series – Part 3 – Episode 1 – Tax Shield 1

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Tax Shield 1 – Episode 1 – Part 3 – The EWP Stories Video Series

Introduction
Welcome. Why strain to invent an asset structure that will very likely draw the attention of tax authorities, because of its convoluted and aggressive design? Why not use a financial tool that has been in use since Ancient Rome–life insurance? This will give you the best tax shield available today bar none.
Our story involves the failed attempt of George Allbright to use a conservation easement that produces an inflated tax deduction. George discovers when it’s almost too late why it’s important to use a firmly established asset structure rather than one that will just get you in trouble with the IRS.

George Allbright was skimming over the arid, parched landscape of New Mexico in his Eurocopter Mercedes-Benz EC-145. This stylishly, well-appointed helicopter, costing $7 million dollars. It could maneuver effortlessly between the narrow red-rock canyons near his home. but minutes from his home were some of the poorest tribal communities of the Navajo Nation.

Some of these communities have been compared to Third World countries because of their economic struggles and their lack of basic modern water and energy systems. Most of the state’s Pueblo villages, Navajo chapter houses and Apache communities are isolated and have little or no access to the already poor infrastructure in New Mexico.

George’s source of great wealth was also a product of sharp contrasts. He was a non-smoker who founded a chain of stores that sold cheap cigarettes. He was raised in a large city, Detroit, yet now was one of the largest landowners in the U.S. He used his prodigious capital from the sale of his cheap cigarette stores to purchase ranches across the United States.

George skillfully landed his helicopter on the helipad a short distance from his split-level modern home that was cut out of a cliff overlooking acres of pristine desert landscape. He had no neighbors in sight, and he liked it that way.

After his flight, he sat on his veranda overlooking the silent and serene desert, dotted with creosote and mesquite. He savored his favorite single malt scotch, Laphroaig, with its strong peaty taste.

His cell phone vibrated loudly on the glass table. It was a number he didn’t recognize.

“Hello,” said George.

“Good afternoon,” said a well educated voice. “Let me get straight to the point. We haven’t met, but my company, Conservation for Nature, would be interested in working with you. You have plenty of land, and we have the expertise to give you excellent tax breaks.” He went on to detail the large tax deductions they were offering.

“Your timing couldn’t have been better,” said George. “My accountant has just told me that I need to consider ways to reduce my taxes. I have looked into conservation easements before, but the tax deductions that you propose are much better. Yes, I would be interested, very interested. Please call me back tomorrow.”

George had had a simple plan in amassing millions of acres of ranch land. He wished to keep it away from developers. This is just what conservation easements accomplished.

He also was feeling guilty about not properly figuring out how he was going to pass on his wealth to his family. If he could pay less in tax, he would have more to pass on to his wife and children. This thought gave him pleasure.

George marveled at his good fortune to receive such an opportune call. Was it too good to be true?

Conclusion
In our next video, we meet Jack Newcastle, an attorney for the IRS. Jack is currently conducting an audit of the very company that George Allbirght is considering using. Will George become just another victim of an IRS tax audit?

If you found this video useful, please give us a Like, and click on the Subscribe button below. We look forward to connecting with you in Part Two of our Tax Shield story.

To learn how the wealthiest families in the world conduct their financial affairs, please call +1 530 692 1007, or email us at info@expandedworldwideplanning.com.

At your convenience, we can arrange a call to discuss how our unique blueprint can vastly enhance your asset structure.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this video are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual on any financial structure, investment, or insurance product.

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC.
CEO, Founder @EWP Financial

EWP Stories-3

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Expanded Worldwide Planning
International Tax Planning

Stories
Part 3: Tax Shield

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EWP adds tax deferral, income, estate tax benefits and dynasty tax planning opportunities. Assets held in a life insurance contract are considered tax-deferred in most jurisdictions throughout the world. Likewise, PPLI policies that are properly constructed shield the assets from all taxes. In most cases, upon the death of the insured, benefits are paid as a tax free death benefit.

The best comment made about the tax benefits of PPLI is from the October 1994 article in Offshore Investment by Professor Craig Hampton:

“I was visiting a gentleman at his home in the Piccadilly district of London. It was explained to me that his net worth exceeded $100 millionU.S. by a substantial margin. I noticed the presence of a computer terminal on a large desk in his den. It was surrounded by reams of paper dealing with offshore investing.

It soon became apparent that his affluence was due to his own efforts when he said to me:

“You’re a bright young man who obviously knows his craft. But what can you tell me that I don’t already know about finances?”

I leaned forward and made this simple statement:

“Through the creative use of international life insurance, your financial affairs can be arranged so that you will never have to pay income taxes for the rest of your life!” The gentleman took serious notice, and thus was born the Hampton Freeze.”

The Hampton Freeze is the name coined for the various PPLI designs developed by Professor Craig Hampton in the early 1990s. These designs were utilized in cases where the premium was over $100M, but can also be employed for PPLI policies with lesser amounts of premium.

Oddly enough many of the tax benefits used for the sophisticated designs like the Hampton Freeze utilize the same tax benefits common to all life insurance policies:

tax-deferred growth of internal cash value;
no capital gains tax;
no income tax;
ability to access cash value through tax-free loans;
tax-free death benefit, if structured properly.

This is why savvy, wealthy families today are employing PPLI in greater and greater numbers. A hallmark of the popularity of this asset structure is its conservative and straightforward nature. This ironically allows it to achieve spectacular tax savings.

Why strain to invent a structure that will very likely draw the attention of tax authorities, because of its convoluted and aggressive design? We counsel you to stop trying to be overly clever in the design of your asset structures. Why not use a financial tool that has been in use since Ancient Rome—life insurance? This will give you the best tax shield available today bar none.

Part 1

George Allbright was skimming over the arid, parched landscape of New Mexico in his Eurocopter Mercedes-Benz EC-145. This stylishly, well-appointed helicopter, costing $7 million dollars, could maneuver effortlessly between the narrow red-rock canyons near his home. But minutes from his home were some of the poorest tribal communities of the Navajo Nation.

George’s source of great wealth was also a product of sharp contrasts. He was a non-smoker who founded a chain of stores that sold cheap cigarettes. He was raised in a large city, Detroit, yet now was one of the largest landowners in the U.S. He had used his prodigious capital from the sale of his cheap cigarette stores to purchase ranches across the United States.

His cell phone vibrated loudly on the glass table. It was a number he did not recognize.

“Hello,” said George.

“Good afternoon,” said a well educated voice. “Let me get straight to the point. We have not met, but my company, Conservation for Nature, would be interested in working with you. You have plenty of land, and we have the expertise to give you excellent tax breaks.” He went on to detail the large tax deductions they were offering.

“Your timing could not have been better. My accountant has just told me that I need to consider ways to reduce my taxes. I have looked into conservation easements before, but the tax deductions that you propose are much better than I have heard of before. Yes, I would be interested, very interested. Please call me back tomorrow.”

George had had a simple plan in amassing millions of acres of ranch land. He wished to keep it away from developers. This is just what conservation easements accomplished.

George marveled at his good fortune to receive such an opportune call. Was it too good to be true?

A Brief History of Taxation

We will be concentrating on the ‘shield’ aspect of the tax shield, but before we go into more detail, let us speak briefly about the ‘tax’ aspect of our subject. What is the history of this thing we wish to shield?

In the ancient world there is recorded a system of taxation in Egypt around 3000-2800 BC. Documents show that the Pharaoh would tour his kingdom twice a year to collect taxes. In the Bible, we find this quote,

“But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children,” Genesis (chapter 47, verse 24, the New International Version.)

America was tax-free for much of its early history. This changed at the time of the Civil War, when large debts were incurred to fund the war against the South. In order to help pay for the war, the Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861. The tax was levied on incomes exceeding $800 and was not rescinded until 1872.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was introduced to pave the way to an income tax by removing the proportional to population clause. It was quickly followed by an income tax on people with an annual income of over $3,000. This tax touched less than 1% of Americans.

World War I led to three Revenue Acts that cranked up tax rates and lowered the exemption levels. The number of people paying taxes in the U.S. increased to 5%, and separate taxes were introduced for estates and business profits.

By 1940, the need for the U.S. to prepare for war and support its allies led to even more aggressive taxation. People with incomes of $500 faced a 23% tax and the rates climbed up to 94%. The average annual income at this time was $1,000. By 1945 $43 million Americans paid tax and the yearly receipts were in excess of $45 billion, up from $9 billion in 1941.

Who Pays the Most Tax Today?
The most recent IRS data, from 2016, shows that the top 10 percent of income earners pay almost 70 percent of federal income taxes.

Looking at all federal taxes, the Congressional Budget Office shows that the top 1 percent pay an average federal tax rate of 33.3 percent. The data show tax rates decline with income, and the poorest 20 percent of the population pays an average tax rate of just 1.7 percent.

Part 2

Jack Newcastle pursued his position as a lawyer at the IRS’s Global High Wealth Group with zeal. Many of his colleagues would call Jack a zealot. He was an unabashed crusader against abusive tax schemes.

What was not so common knowledge was that his grandfather’s law firm was destroyed for backing one of these abusive tax schemes. Because of this, the life of a rich, successful partner at a major law firm was denied to Jack. Jack sought revenge on those who had robbed him of his prestigious partner position.

Jack was walking down H Street, heading towards the Treasury Building. His mind felt dull, far from the clear, scientific thinking required to succeed on his current audit case. The Baroque grandeur of the city plan of Washington D.C. was lost to him.

Jack was lost in thought about the latest developments at the office. He was part of the Global High Wealth Group audit team that was undertaking an audit of Conservation for Nature, the company that had contacted George about the purchase of his land.

Things were not going well on this audit. The promoters of this syndicated conservation easement scheme were successfully bending the law to their advantage at every turn.

A conservation easement, in its original, legitimate form, is granted when a landowner permanently protects pristine land from development. In that scenario, the public enjoys the benefit of undeveloped land and the taxpayer gets a charitable deduction.

By contrast, these promoters were finding appraisers willing to declare that land parcels purchased by the promoters have huge development value, and thus were worth many times the purchase price. They then were selling stakes in the deal to wealthy investors who extract tax deductions that are often five or more times what they put in.

The Global High Wealth Group was introduced with the aim of stopping just this type of unscrupulous promoters. Unfortunately for the IRS, the Global High Wealth Group was not working as expected: with bureaucratic end-fighting and being woefully underfunded, the initial euphoria at its launching was short lived. They also had experienced no steady leadership with three directors in the past five years.

At the beginning of the audit, the promoters seemed easy targets. But as they progressed with the audit, they realized that they were dealing with more savvy characters.

All this brought Jack to his office in a sour mood.

Jack’s cell phone rang. He did not recognize the number, but answered anyway, “Hello.”

“Jack is that you,” said a strangely familiar voice.
“Yes.”
“This is George.”
“Man, it’s been a while.”

George telephoned Jack because he remembered that he had taken a position at the IRS, and he might know something about Conservation for Nature. After a few minutes of catching up, George asked him about Conservation for Nature, and was told about Jack’s ongoing audit.

They agreed to speak the following day, as Jack had reached the Treasury Building, and needed to go into his office.

George felt the pleasure of connecting with an old friend, but he knew the story of Jack’s grandfather, and how bitter Jack was at having to accept a position at the IRS. Jack gave only negative comments about Conservation for Nature. Could Jack be trusted? Would his advice be tainted by his personal history?

PPLI Benefits U.S. Persons with Real Estate

The benefits of using PPLI for U.S. persons investing in real estate in the U.S. are substantial. Why don’t more U.S. persons take advantage of these benefits? We maintain that it is because of profound misunderstandings about the Investor Control Doctrine and the diversification requirements of variable contracts under IRS code section 817(h).

Ironically, these misunderstandings have been clarified by the Webber decision, Webber v. Commissioner, 144 T.C. No. 17 (June 30, 2015). In the popular press, and in many tax journals, this same Webber decision was interpreted as the ‘nail in the coffin’ for PPLI.

Let us explore how the Webber decision makes it clear that in a properly structured PPLI policy, U.S. real estate can be held and still be fully compliant with the IRS. We will do this through the lens of what the Webber decision tells us about the Investor Control Doctrine and the diversification requirements of variable contracts under 817(h).

These are the key points of the Webber decision that support the inclusion of U.S. real estate in a properly designed PPLI policy:

✦ The egregious flaunting of what is known as the Investor Control Doctrine by Jeffrey T. Webber, William Lipkind, his attorney, and the manager of his Insurance Dedicated Fund (IDF) (Butterfield Bank) has blinded advisors and their clients to an essential point in the tax court’s decision. Judge Lauber, the presiding judge, found no objection to the private companies and other investments that were placed as in-kind premium in the two PPLI policies that were in question. There is nothing in the rules regarding PPLI either before or after Webber which would prohibit the use of private company securities, actively operated and closely business interests, and real estate enterprises within a policy IDF or Separately Managed Account (SMA).

✦ The Tax Court’s key issue was the fact that Mr. Webber was on the board of every company in which the policy invested, invested his own funds from his personal wealth and his IRAs, and that he negotiated the terms of every loan on behalf of the company and then gave the instruction to Mr. Lipkind and Butterfield Bank. The court states, “The record includes more than 70,000 emails to or from Mr. Lipkind, Ms. Chang (Webber’s accountant), the IDF Investment Manager, and/or Lighthouse (the insurance company) concerning petitioner’s “recommendations” for investments by the separate accounts. Mr. Lipkind also appears to have given instructions regularly by telephone.”

✦ IRC Sec 817(h) provides a detailed overview of the investment diversification requirements of variable insurance products. The regulations address a wide range of investment alternatives that are not found in retail variable life and annuity products such as direct investment in real estate, and commodities.

✦ Treasury regulations 1.817.5 provide very detailed guidance on the investment diversification rules. The regulations interpret these rules for investment asset classes such as real estate, and allow for a period of time to meet the diversification requirements of IRC Sec 817(h). For non-real estate accounts, the regulations provide for a one-year period to meet the diversification requirements. Real estate accounts provide for a five-year start up period and a two-year liquidation period.

✦ The court states: “The “investor control” doctrine posits that, if the policyholder’s incidents of ownership over those assets become sufficiently capacious and comprehensive, he rather than the insurance company will be deemed to be the true “owner” of those assets for Federal income tax purposes. In that event, a major benefit of the insurance/annuity structure–the deferral or elimination of tax on the “inside buildup”–will be lost, and the investor will be taxed currently on investment income as it is realized.”

✦ It is clear from reading the Webber decision that, if Mr. Webber had followed the very language stated in his policy, his PPLI structure would have worked, and complied with the Investor Control Doctrine and the diversification requirements of 817(h). The court record reads: “As drafted, the Policies state that no one but the Investment Manager may direct investments and deny the policyholder any “right to require Lighthouse to acquire a particular investment” for a separate account. Under the Policies, the policyholder was allowed to transmit “general investment objectives and guidelines” to the Investment Manager, who was supposed to build a portfolio within those parameters.”

Part 3

When Jay Edwards began a land appraisal project, he had a single goal—to produce the highest valuation possible. He had had 30 years to hone his skill of inflating appraisals. When he had done retail appraisals at the height of the refinancing boom in the early part of this century, his services were in high demand.

The promoters at Conservation for Nature, want a high valuation, because that in turn produces a large tax deduction for its investors. On one deal in South Carolina, they had acquired a property of 28 acres for $1M, then raised about $9M from investors who bought the property.

The investors made an easement donation based on a claimed value for what the land would be worth if developed as a multifamily resort. Jay’s appraised projection produced a tax deduction of about $39M. The tax write off for investors: $4.00 for every $1 invested.

Of late, the promoters at Conservation for Nature, were pressing Jay for higher and higher numbers. His increased consumption of cigarettes and alcohol was keeping pace with these higher numbers. A number that was going in the opposite direction were his hours of sound sleep. He could not remember when he had last had a restful night’s sleep.

Jay had become a character in an old joke; the one the Mafia hired. It went like this.

The Mafia needed a new accountant, so they interviewed three people. They asked the first interviewee, “How much is 2 + 2?”

“Four,” he answered.

“Sorry, that’s not right,” said the Mafia boss.

They asked the next candidate, “How much is 2 + 2?”

“Four, of course,” he said.”

“That’s not right,” said the Mafia boss.

They asked the third accountant the same question.

He responded, “What number do you want it to be?”

The Mafia boss said, “You’re hired.”

The joke was now becoming stale. Conservation for Nature was being investigated by the Department of Justice. The Tennessee state real estate appraiser board brought a formal complaint against Jay, after a detailed review of one of his easement appraisals found an inflated valuation riddled with errors and omissions.

Threatened with loss of his Tennessee license, Jay voluntarily surrendered it instead. However, he continued to work for Conservation for Nature in states where the appraiser for a conservation easement was not required to be licensed by the state, and continued to ply his disreputable trade.

PFIC + Subpart F + GILTI = All Redefined with PPLI

Distributions from a properly structured PPLI policy are distributions from a life insurance policy. Like all policies, both U.S. and issued in other jurisdictions around the world, the distributions are subject to the tax code sections that apply to life insurance.

In a properly structured policy, one can withdraw all basis in the policy, which are the premiums paid, tax free, and take very low cost loans to withdraw the remaining funds. The costs of these loans is equivalent to an administrative charge, and is usually in the range of 25 bps. When the policy is held until the death of the insured life, the amount of the loan is merely subtracted from the death benefit, therefore, the loan need not be repaid.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), has brought an increase in taxation for those who have subpart F income. Just like Passive Foreign Investment Company (PFIC) income, subpart F income can be structured inside a PPLI policy, and, therefore, shielded from tax. PPLI has been used for many years to shield PFIC income.

TCJA gave us a new section of the tax code, Section 951A. For those who have an interest in a controlled foreign (CFC), particularly if they are not C corporation shareholders, there is a new opportunity to use a PPLI structure to shield this income from tax. Section 951A gives us Global Intangible Low-taxed Income (GILTI), which if held in other than a C corporation, has very unfavorable tax consequences that can be greatly mitigated by using PPLI.

Hedge Fund Life Insurance
One distinct benefit of a PPLI policy is the ability to place tax inefficient investments like hedge funds into a tax-friendly environment. Some advisors have even coined the term, Hedge Fund Life Insurance, to highlight the advantages of combining hedge fund investments and life insurance into one tax-advantaged asset structure.

The numbers tell an excellent story in the chart below.

View PDF Image

The chart compares a taxable investment to one held in a PPLI account over the long-term. The very clear winner is the PPLI account. Even over a ten year period there is more than $3M more in the PPLI account. The chart does not even show the death benefit which is always more than the cash value account. In a properly structured policy, the death benefit is also tax-free, making a PPLI asset structure the undeniable victory in the quest for tax efficiency.

Part 4

George had spent the last evening researching conservation easements, and concluded that they were a good thing. He had also reviewed his tax situation, and realized that the tax deductions that they offered would reduce his tax bill significantly. Perhaps he should work with Conservation for Nature. He had plenty of land, and they had the years of experience. A good combination, he thought.

Later in the morning, Jack telephoned. He spent nearly an hour telling George that the promoters at Conservation for Nature were crooks, and that George should definitely stay clear of them.

Now George was perplexed. He trusted Jack; they had been good friends ever since their time in Detroit. Jack was giving him very concrete reasons why he should not do business with this company. He decided to reevaluate.

A few minutes after his call with Jack, his cell phone buzzed noisily on the glass table in front of him. He jumped up suddenly. He had survived serving in Afghanistan, that is where he learned to fly a helicopter, but loud, sudden noises were still a problem for him.

“Hello, George,”
“Yes?” George said in a wary tone.
“I am calling you back from Conservation for Nature.”

The voice was no longer polished and sophisticated. The caller was drunk, and he knew who it was. An old college friend of his, they used to go out drinking together. Jay could barely articulate his words. Odd that he could now recognize the voice.

He knew Jay well. Jay still owed him money. Jay was the kind of guy who would sleep with his best friend’s wife.

Jay was desperately trying to launch into his well rehearsed sales pitch about the company he was working for—Conservation for Nature, but was hardly intelligible. That was enough for George.

“Good bye, Jay. Please don’t ever call me again.”

The Tax Savings Are Very Significant

Let us summarize the tax advantages of holding investments in a PPLI asset structure:

✦ Tax-deferred “inside build-up” of policy cash values. The industry has preserved the tax preferred treatment of life insurance for decades.

✦ Non-recognition of capital gains. The policyholder has the ability to switch investment options within the product without triggering taxation. Life insurance separate accounts are legally the owners of the investments within variable insurance products. The life insurer receives a reserve deduction equal to its investment income.

✦ The policy’s basis is its cumulative premiums. Once the policyholder has recovered his basis in the contract, the policyholder has a contractual right to a policy loan which allows the policyholder to borrow up to ninety percent of the policy cash value. Policy loans with a net cost of approximately 25 basis points per annum also receive income tax-free treatment. The policy loan is subtracted from the policy’s death benefit, so it never has to be paid back.

✦ Income tax-free death benefit. The policy cash value grows on a tax-free basis. The policyholder can access investment gains within the policy on a tax-free basis during lifetime, and beneficiaries receive the death benefit income-tax free.

✦ Estate tax-free death benefits through the use of third party ownership of the policy, such as an irrevocable life insurance trust (“ILIT”). IRC Sec 2042 provides that as long as the insured does not retain any incidents of ownership within the policy, the death proceeds will not be included in the taxable estate of the decedent.

PPLI Benefits Non-U.S. Persons with Real Estate

There are many obstacles that non-U.S. persons face in investing in U.S. real estate. The primary tax impediments to foreign investment in U.S. real estate in general and in real estate funds specifically are U.S. income, capital gains and withholding taxes. Adding PPLI in combination with trusts and LLC elements eliminates or mitigates these taxes.

Here is a list of the obstacles faced by non-U.S. persons investing in U.S. real estate:

✦ Effectively Connected Income (ECI): Although non-U.S. investors’ gains from U.S. stock are generally not taxable, income and gain from their real estate investments are generally taxable under the ECI rules. Specifically, rental income and/or gains from the sale of U.S. real estate are both generally treated as ECI. U.S. source rental income allocable to a foreign investor is typically not entitled to any treaty preferences. ECI is generally taxed to such foreign investors under the same tax rates that apply to U.S. taxpayers, and foreign investors that receive ECI are required to file U.S. federal and state income tax returns. Finally, the the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA) rules described below can also transform sales of stock (or other equity interests), and/or capital gain dividends from REITs into ECI.

✦ FIRPTA: Enacted in 1980 to combat perceived unfair advantages for foreign investors in U.S. real estate, FIRPTA imposes significant taxes on dispositions of U.S. real property interests. Specifically, Section 897 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, essentially treats such gain as ECI. In addition, complicated withholding tax rules apply with regard to U.S. counterparties in such transactions.

✦ Non-US Regulatory Concerns: In addition to U.S. tax issues, non-U.S. investors can have non-U.S. tax and regulatory concerns. For example, non-U.S. investors may need to comply with certain informational reporting requirements in their home jurisdictions.

Significant investment capital for U.S. real estate transactions and funds has been and will continue to be raised from non-U.S. investors. In light of this fact, it is important that real estate advisors, investors, and owners understand the tax challenges, as well as the potential solutions, involved when non-U.S. investors invest in U.S. real estate. PPLI is an integral element in these solutions.

Part 5

George sought the solace of flight. He needed to sort things out.

Lifting off his helicopter into the desert at sunrise in the relatively cool of the morning, he knew answers would come to him. Not through pressing, but by letting go of the questions, so the answers would appear without effort. This was his time-honored method of solving problems.

His own desert property was about 5,000 acres, adjacent to the Navajo Nation that was 17.5 million acres. He only wished that geographic size mattered for the Navajos. That they had been given what they deserved for their land.

A certainty gripped him as he sped low atop a treeless mesa where the bottom would unexpectedly drop out from under him to reveal a spectacular panorama below. He enjoyed this jolt, like what you feel on a roller coaster ride when you descend without warning from a long slow ascent.

A few minutes on the phone with Jay did what all Jack’s well reasoned arguments could not do. If Jay worked for Conservation for Nature, it was not a company he would do business with.

Yes, he could use a tax deduction, but not one that would land him in trouble with the government. George wished a structure that was simple and straightforward like himself. Where would find such a structure? He did not know, but the search would now begin.

He was satisfied. George had learned to live with contradictions and not let them bring him down. These internal struggles could produce something higher, if you handled them properly. His life was a testament to this proper handling. “Keep your eye on the answer, not the problem,” he told himself with a smile.

Outstanding Results Realized

We will compare the various structures generally used by non-U.S. persons for investing in U.S. real estate with the addition of PPLI. Adding the PPLI advantage is a cost-effective way to give clients additional return on their investments and legitimate, enhanced privacy in their structures.

An insurance solution using PPLI or a Private Placement Variable Annuity (PPVA) contract can greatly simplify or eliminate many of these issues and make long term investing even more appealing.

All foreign Investors are exposed to a myriad of US tax consequences, including withholding taxes (30%), capital gains, and even U.S. Estate Taxes. Life insurance, and specifically PPLI, is a well-established tax and estate planning tool that many qualified investors utilize to mitigate and manage these exposures.

Most structures can remain intact with the simple addition of a compliant life or annuity policy. PPLI can accommodate most custodians, managers or funds, making the transaction as simple to set up as a trust.

PPLI also provides simplified reporting and confidentiality. The policy is reported once, and not the assets held or underlying investments. The owner reports a life policy, and not that they are investors or hold assets in the U.S.

The Summary Chart below compares using PPLI with other commonly used structures. The small additional expense of adding PPLI to a structure gives the non-U.S. person many additional benefits that cannot be achieved otherwise.

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If an EWP Structure had been used….

If an EWP Structure had been used, these salient features would have been of great benefit to George.

An EWP Structure is a holistic tax shield. Once assets are placed in an EWP Structure, they are exempt from income tax and capital gains tax. No need to seek out patently fallacious tax deductions like those offered by Conservation for Nature.

If George had had his chain of cigarette stores in an EWP Structure, he would have paid no capital gains tax when he sold it. As it were, he paid tens of millions in tax.

When George began purchasing ranches, these purchases could have been made inside his EWP Structure with the funds he received from his cigarette stores. Each of these ranches would become a separate investment inside his Structure. He could buy and sell ranches inside the Structure with no tax consequences.

Upon George’s death, all the ranches would pass tax-free to his heirs in a properly designed Structure. All appreciation in the ranches would pass tax-free to his heirs. There is currently a provision for a step-up in basis at the death of the owner of real estate in the tax code, but this can be easily taken away with a change of administration in Washington D.C. At this present time, it is rumored to be under consideration for removal from the tax code.

Please Contact Us for any questions you may have.

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC.

CEO, Founder @EWP Financial

International Tax Planning & Tax Shield-2

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International Tax Planning, (EWP), and Tax Shield-2

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) in Action

The Hampton Freeze & Beyond–Part 2

The universality of Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP) is not to be denied. This is objectified by Wikipedia. In the first sentence of their page on International Tax Planning, Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP) is featured.

We are taking a cue from Wikipedia. Over the next few weeks, we will feature one of the six principles of Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP). The six principles are: privacy, asset protection, tax shield, succession planning, compliance simplifier, and trust substitute. Today we feature the tax shield.

PPLI Benefits Non-U.S. Persons with Real Estate

There are many obstacles that non-U.S. persons face in investing in U.S. real estate. The primary tax impediments to foreign investment in U.S. real estate in general and in real estate funds specifically are U.S. income, capital gains and withholding taxes. Adding Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) in combination with trusts and LLC elements eliminates or mitigates U.S., withholding taxes, U.S. income and capital gains taxes, and estate taxes.

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by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #PPLI #EWP #privateplacement #lifeinsurance #advancedfinancialsolutions

Q & A – How Can Nothing Exist?

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Questions and Answers from the book “The Wit and Wisdom of Professor PPLI: How to Achieve Exceptional Asset Structuring with Private Placement Life Insurance”

~ by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC

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How Can Nothing Exist?

The Zen of PPLI

Section 3, Part 2

Professor PPLI, in this Part of the book, you compare the contradiction of the meaning of the word nothing to how PPLI is incorrectly perceived by some people. Please tell us more.

The contradiction arises, in part, because of a lack of knowledge about the origins of PPLI, and how it was initially conceived. PPLI was born in the U.S. in the 1980s to allow top executives at major corporations the ability to invest in multiple asset classes within their pension plans. In the 1990s, it was adopted by wealthy families to fulfill the same need, especially for international families with assets in several jurisdictions throughout the world.

The original use of PPLI very soon spawned a retail version, the Variable Universal Life (VUL) insurance policy. Compared to the original, open architecture version of PPLI described above, the retail version of the VUL can be described as life insurance with a selection of mutual funds from which the client chooses. The choice ideally corresponds to the risk tolerance of the policyowner.

All VUL insurance policies provide tax deferral. The retail version and the original version from the 1980s, which we will call International PPLI. Whatever the asset inside the policy, be it a mutual fund, stock portfolio, yacht, operating business, or alternative investment, there is tax deferral.

Any gain on these assets passes as a tax-free death benefit to the designated beneficiary on the policy. Depending on the policy design, this gain can be accessed through policy loans. The principal, or original value of these assets, can be withdrawn from the policy too. The type of withdrawal is determined by the policy design that the policyowner chooses.

For those who are just familiar with the retail version of the VUL, and the slightly expanded asset offering of what is mostly marketed as PPLI in the U.S., the structuring possibilities of the true International PPLI seem like a contradiction. Much like one of the definitions of the word nothing, “something that does not exist.” It does not exist for them, because they have not taken the time and energy to explore the many structuring possibilities of International PPLI.

Professor PPLI, your comments in the first question remind me of the famous quote by Benjamin Franklin, “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” How does PPLI addresses both death and taxes.

Like most aspects of PPLI, death and taxes are dealt with in a bespoke manner. The death benefit can be tailored to the estate planning needs of the family. Frequently, policies are designed with the least death benefit possible, as the policy serves more as asset structuring tool than as a vehicle to pass a death benefit to the next generation.

The timing of the liquidity event that the death benefit produces can also be somewhat calculated. PPLI policies support multiple insured lives. Also, it is possible to insure a younger family member, if the family wishes the liquidity event to be extended, and an older family member, if the death benefit is needed at an earlier date.

The topic of the tax aspects of PPLI is a large one. As an overview, here is a quote from the Tax Management International Journal by members of the

Giordani, Swanger, Ripp & Phillips law firm of Austin, Texas:

“Life insurance is a powerful planning tool due to its favorable treatment under the Code. While under §61(a)(10), gross income includes income from life insurance and endowment contracts, other Code sections — as discussed below — exclude substantial life insurance–related sums from the gross income of policyholders and beneficiaries alike.”

The favorable tax treatment mentioned above in the U.S. tax code is, for the most part, repeated in tax codes of most jurisdictions throughout the world.

Depending on the policy design and assets in the policy, this is a short list of possible tax advantages of using a PPLI policy:

–allow a tax-favored CFC investment;

–eliminate FIRPTA withholding on a U.S. real estate investment;

–avoid subpart F unfavorable tax issues;

–eliminate tax on dividend income;

–pass assets to future generations tax-free;

–eliminate capital gain and income tax;

–eliminate estate tax.

Particularly in art, Zen Buddhism is known for its simplicity. A picture of a famous Zen rock garden is shown in this Part. Professor PPLI, tell us how this relates to PPLI.

The moving parts of asset structuring are greatly reduced for international families when they employ International PPLI. The three elements of any type of life insurance policy are the same for a PPLI policy: owner, insured, and beneficiary. When assets are placed in a policy, they become the cash value of the policy. The insurance company is now the beneficial owner of these assets–no matter what asset class or jurisdiction of the asset.

If there is a tax reporting obligation for the policy, what is reported is just one number. This one number is the total of the cash value of the policy, not any of the individual assets. Even though this is the situation for tax reporting, the assets are held by the insurance company in separate accounts in the name of the policyowner.

These assets are not part of the general account assets of the insurance company. If the company was to be liquidated or become insolvent, the assets would be transferred back to the policyowner. This turns complexity into simplicity, similar to Zen art.

You might think that an asset structure that can deliver the six principles of EWP would be complex. Let us review the six principles: privacy, asset protection, tax shield, succession planning, compliance simplifier, and trust substitute.

The internal structure inside the policy can become somewhat complex due to the asset classes and jurisdictions involved, but it does add complexity for the international family, as the insurance company takes over the administration of these assets. This also makes life easier for the trustee of the assets. The trustee, as policyowner, still has the ultimate authority, but is relieved of much of the daily administrative functions by the insurance company. Complexity has become simplicity.

We invite you to explore the details of PPLI. Call Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. today! We offer a no-charge initial consultation.

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #PPLI #privateplacement #lifeinsurance #advancedfinancialsolutions

Nothing Is Impossible with PPLI

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PPLI: Under Higher Laws

Part 3

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Our next few articles will comprise an in-depth look at the five main components of our PPLI Concept Map: Professor PPLI Defines Nothing. We also offer you over the next five Parts, “She Was Good For Nothing,” by Hans Christian Andersen. This charming fairy tale supports our theme of nothing.

Winnie-the-Pooh gives us one of his most often quoted and enjoyable quotes that reveals new insight into our theme of nothing:

“People say nothing is impossbile, but I do nothing everyday.”

One thing it brings to mind is how we sometimes come to an understanding through both effort and relaxation. We give you examples of this phenomenon from several authors below.

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) was born out of the necessity to achieve greater tax efficiency, privacy, and asset protection in one low cost structure with institutional pricing. This PPLI structure is made possible through the laws and regulations of life insurance. A much more stable and straightforward body of law than the more politicized tax laws and regulations worldwide. Our goal at Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. is to make possible what is impossible with most asset structuring techniques available to wealthy families today.

In a Wealthmanagement.com article, “Private Placement Life Insurance Primer, Recent tax law changes make for a particularly interesting time to explore PPLI,” Brian Gartner and Matthew Phillips explain why trustees are particularly attracted to PPLI.

“Trustees are attracted to PPLI in the context of multi-generational trust planning for three main reasons: (1) assets within a trust allocated through PPLI grow on an income tax-deferred basis; (2) the trustee can make income tax-free distributions to trust beneficiaries from PPLI without having to consider the income tax consequences of liquidating assets; and (3) the trust will eventually receive an income tax-free insurance benefit, which will serve to effectively step-up the basis of the assets within the trust that are allocated through PPLI.”

Relax and Create with PPLI

Author, Jonah Lehrer, gives us an explanation of why relaxation is a key ingredient to creativity in an article by Leo Widrich, “Why We Have Our Best Ideas in the Shower: The Science of Creativity.”

“Why is a relaxed state of mind so important for creative insights? When our minds are at ease–when those alpha waves are rippling through the brain–we’re more likely to direct the spotlight of attention inward, toward that stream of remote associations emanating from the right hemisphere.

In contrast, when we are diligently focused, our attention tends to be directed outward, toward the details of the problems we’re trying to solve. While this pattern of attention is necessary when solving problems analytically, it actually prevents us from detecting the connections that lead to insights.

‘That’s why so many insights happen during warm showers,’ Bhattacharya says. ‘For many people, it’s the most relaxing part of the day.’ It’s not until we’re being massaged by warm water, unable to check our e-mail, that we’re finally able to hear the quiet voices in the backs of our heads telling us about the insight. The answers have been their all along–we just weren’t listening.”

PPLI on Vacation

One definition of vacation is “to vacate to leave empty.” This definition is in keeping with the above description of how we can have our best thoughts when we are relaxed. Amanda Foreman in “The Ancient Origins of the Vacation” gives us a brief history of the concept of vacation.

“Finally, Americans are giving themselves a break. For years, according to the U.S. Travel Association, more than half of American workers didn’t use all their paid vacation days. But in a survey released in May by Discover, 71% of respondents said they were planning a summer vacation this year, up from 58% last year—meaning a real getaway, not just a day or two to catch up on chores or take the family to an amusement park.

The importance of vacations for health and happiness has been accepted for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks probably didn’t invent the vacation, but they perfected the idea of the tourist destination by providing quality amenities at festivals, religious sites and thermal springs. A cultured person went places. According to the “Crito,” one of Plato’s dialogues, Socrates’ stay-at-home mentality made him an exception: “You never made any other journey, as other people do, and you had no wish to know any other city.”

The Romans took a different approach. Instead of touring foreign cities, the wealthy preferred to vacation together in resort towns such as Pompeii, where they built ostentatious villas featuring grand areas for entertaining. The Emperor Nero was relaxing at his beach palace at Antium, modern Anzio, when the Great Fire of Rome broke out in the year 64.

The closest thing to a vacation that medieval Europeans could enjoy was undertaking pilgrimages to holy sites. Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, where St. James was believed to be buried, was a favorite destination, second only to Rome in popularity. As Geoffrey Chaucer’s bawdy “Canterbury Tales” shows, a pilgrimage provided all sorts of opportunities for mingling and carousing, not unlike a modern cruise ship.”

Part 3 of “She Was Good For Nothing” by Hans Christian Andersen:

“The boy cried too, as he sat alone beside the river, guarding the wet linen. The two women made their way slowly, the washerwoman dragging her shaky limbs up the little alley and through the street where the Mayor lived. Just as she reached the front of his house, she sank down on the cobblestones. A crowd gathered around her.

Limping Maren ran into his yard for help. The Mayor and his guests came to the windows.

“It’s the washerwoman!” he said. “She’s had a bit too much to drink; she’s no good! It’s a pity for that handsome boy of hers, I really like that child, but his mother is good for nothing.”

And the washerwoman was brought to her own humble room, where she was put to bed. Kindly Maren hastened to prepare a cup of warm ale with butter and sugar-she could think of no better medicine in such a case-and then returned to the river, where, although she meant well, she did a very poor job with the washing; she only pulled the wet clothes out of the water and put them into a basket.

That evening she appeared again in the washerwoman’s miserable room. She had begged from the Mayor’s cook a couple of roasted potatoes and a fine fat piece of ham for the sick woman. Maren and the boy feasted on these, but the patient was satisfied with the smell, “For that was very nourishing,” she said.

The boy was put to bed, in the same one in which his mother slept, lying crosswise at his mother’s feet, with a blanket of old blue and red carpet ends sewed together.

The laundress felt a little better now; the warm ale had given her strength, and the smell of the good food had been nourishing.

“Thank you, my kind friend,” she said to Maren, “I’ll tell you all about it, while the boy is asleep. He’s sleeping already; see how sweet he looks with his eyes closed. He doesn’t think of his mother’s sufferings; may our Lord never let him feel their equal! Well, I was in service at the Councilor’s, the Mayor’ parents, when their youngest son came home from his studies. I was a carefree young girl then, but honest-I must say that before heaven. And the student was so pleasant and jolly; every drop of blood in his veins was honest and true; a better young man never lived. He was a son of the house, and I was only a servant, but we became sweethearts-all honorably; a kiss is no sin, after all, if people really love each other. And he told his mother that he loved me. She was an angel in his eyes, wise and kind and loving. And when he went away again he put his gold ring on my finger.”

Using a conservative PPLI asset structuring plan can help you relax in relation to worldwide tax authorities. In a properly structured PPLI policy, you will be in full compliance, yet your assets will be in a tax-free environment, and will pass as a tax-free to the heirs of your choice. We welcome you to take a vacation from more complicated and aggressive strategies, and call us today for a no obligation initial consultation. One Worldwide Toll-Free Number to Serve You: +1 877-811-5846

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #PPLI #privateplacement #lifeinsurance #advancedfinancialsolutions

Fostering Discipline Is Paramount

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PPLI Joins ‘Two Sides of the Same Coin’

To be thorough and open to new possibilities at the same time requires discipline: embracing ‘two sides of the same coin.’ In the PPLI structuring of wealthy international families’ assets, Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. strives to achieve this aim. For each new case we exam similar PPLI cases that we have handled in the past. For the specific knowledge that we will need for new cases which we might lack, we have an excellent resource of professional advisors worldwide that can be easily contacted to supply this missing knowledge for a successful PPLI structure to be created.

For our analogous examples we have one from the area U.S. tax planning and how it affects U.S. beneficiaries of Foreign Grantor Trusts, and strangely enough, one from high-fashion. This example shows us what happens when the ‘two sides of the same coin’ turn out to be the same thing, and–to change this analogy–the coin loses its luster by turning out to be a copy. In a humorous vein, you can view this also as social media bringing transparency to haute couture.

Before we share the above material, we are pleased to give you this description of PPLI from International Life Insurance edited by David D Whelehan, JD in the chapter, “International Life Insurance An Overview.”

“This product is for the wealthy, “accredited” investor. They are usually very large single premium structures. It is classified more as an institutional product, as the charges and fees are quite low in comparison to retail products described above. Another advantage is investment flexibility as they generally can be invested in things not permitted in a general account retail product, like hedge funds and private equity.

Premiums and benefits can also be paid in “kind,” as opposed to in cash. In addition, the policyowner can select his, or her, own Investment Manager for just the single policy to invest according to the policyowner’s general directions. The Custodian of the underlying assets in the fund can also be selected by the policyowner. Private placement products are tailored to meet specific objectives of the client, but are carefully designed to be compliant with local tax laws, so as to enjoy the tax treatment desired.”

In the STEP Journal Melvin A Warshaw and Lawrence M Lipoff discuss a key change to the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and assess what it means for advisors to trustees of foreign grantor trusts. They conclude that due to recent changes in U.S. tax law that a properly structured PPLI provides an excellent solution for U.S. beneficiaries of foreign grantor trusts.

A Simpler and Safer Strategy

“In a previous two-part article,^[1] we presented US tax advisors with our highly technical analysis of a key change in the foreign tax provisions of the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the Act) impacting how trustees of foreign grantor trusts (FGTs) traditionally hold US-situs portfolio assets that potentially benefit both US and non-US heirs of a non-citizen, non-resident (NCNR) of the US.”

Trustees must analyze whether their existing single foreign corporation (FC) strategy is still viable and, if not, what steps they should take to address this US tax law change. Some advisors suggest a second FC and others a two-tier or three-tier FC structure. Leaving aside that planning variations relying on different entity structures may be one option, we believe that offshore^[2] private placement life insurance (PPLI) may offer a far simpler and safer strategy.

Under pre-2018 US tax law, trustees of FGTs generally relied on a single non-US holding company to shield the NCNR grantor of an FGT from US estate tax on US-situs portfolio assets. Following the death of the NCNR, the trustees would effectively eliminate this FC by filing a post-death, retroactive (so-called ‘check-the-box’) election within 30 days of such death. Gain recognition would be avoided on the historical pre-death unrealised appreciation of the US portfolio assets, prior to elimination, i.e. liquidation, of the FC, as well as pre-2018 controlled foreign corporation (Subpart F CFC) passive income tax and related tax compliance. Plus, the US heirs would achieve a basis step-up in the underlying US portfolio assets equal to their fair market value (FMV) on the date of the election.

The Act repealed the 30-day retroactive election for tax years after 2017. Under current US tax law, a post-death ‘check-the-box’ election for the trust’s FC could cause US beneficiaries of the trust to inherit the historical pre-death unrealised appreciation in the US-portfolio assets and incur cumbersome US tax compliance. Further, if an FC is a CFC for even one day during the tax year, there could be potential phantom income for the US beneficiaries of the trust now encompassing the new US ‘global intangible low taxed income’ (GILTI) regime.

Continuing a single FC

The single FC structure continues to be effective in preventing imposition of US estate tax on the US portfolio assets held by the FC. If most of the NCNR’s trust beneficiaries are US persons (citizens or residents),^[3] the trustees and US advisors must anticipate that there will now be US income tax and US tax reporting on historical appreciation of the assets held in the single FC that would eventually be recognised by the US beneficiaries after the NCNR’s death. If most of the trust beneficiaries are not US persons, it may be possible that the single FC will lack sufficient beneficial ownership by US persons to qualify as a CFC.

Side-by-side FCs

Another approach suitable for families with both US and non-US persons as beneficiaries is to have the trustees of the FGT create a second FC, which would own only non-US-situs assets. The original FC would own only US securities. The non-US portfolio assets owned by the second FC would be earmarked to benefit solely non-US persons as trust beneficiaries after the death of the NCNR. The US portfolio assets owned by the existing FC would be earmarked for the US beneficiaries. There would be no US estate tax on the non-US assets owned by the second FC. A retroactive check-the-box election could be filed for this second FC effective on the day before the NCNR’s death.

Some US advisors advocate relying exclusively on entity structuring to convert a single FC into a multi-tier FC structure involving at least three FCs. Prior to the NCNR’s death, the trustees of the NCNR’s FGT would create two FCs. These two FCs would then together equally own the shares of a third lower-tier FC. The US portfolio assets would be owned by the lower-tier FC. Following the death of the NCNR, the lower- and upper-tier FCs would be deemed liquidated for US tax purposes (by filing check-the-box elections) in a carefully scripted sequence as follows.

First, the upper-tier FCs would each file a check-the-box election for the lower-tier FC, effective one day prior to the death of the NCNR. This results in a taxable liquidation of the lower-tier FC without current US income tax on the historical pre-liquidation unrealised appreciation inside the FC. However, the upper-tier FCs’ basis in the underlying US securities held by the former lower-tier FC will equal the FMV of such assets on the date of the deemed liquidation of the lower-tier FC.
Second, two days after the NCNR’s death, both upper-tier FCs will make simultaneous check-the-box elections. The inside basis of the US portfolio assets previously held by the lower-tier FC prior to its deemed taxable liquidation would be stepped up or down to the FMV of such assets on the day after the death of the NCNR.

Advocates of this highly complicated, carefully scripted entity structure and serial liquidation strategy for US portfolio assets indicate that, if successful, the results should be comparable to the results under prior law. However, this is not without some new tax and reporting risks, as noted above, nor does it address the question of what the independent significant non-tax business purpose for ‘each’ of the three FCs would be.

Offshore PPLI

Assuming the NCNR is insurable, advisors should seriously consider the possibility of their NCNR clients, with significant US portfolio assets, and US persons as potential beneficiaries investing in certain types of offshore PPLI policies that in turn invest in US assets.

Purchasing an offshore US tax-compliant PPLI policy will result in no US income tax recognition in the annual accretion in the cash value growth of the policy. Holding the policy until death is equivalent to receiving a US basis step-up at death on the death benefit that is payable in cash. In planning for the US beneficiaries of the NCNR, if the revocable FGT were named as owner and beneficiary of the PPLI, this trust could be structured to pour over at the death of the NCNR to a US dynasty trust organised in a low-tax jurisdiction with favourable state trust laws. This structure will ensure that the death benefit pours over to a US domestic trust that will not become subject to foreign non-grantor trust (FNGT) tax rules.

A non-admitted offshore carrier obviates CFC status for the policy and policy owner by making a certain special US tax code (s.953(d)) election to be treated as a US domestic carrier. Aside from avoiding CFC status for the policy and its owner, making this special election causes the carrier to absorb US corporate income tax and administrative costs to comply with US informational tax reporting. The hidden benefit of an offshore carrier making this special US tax election is that it enables such a carrier to claim a special deduction of reasonable reserves required to satisfy future death benefits. The offshore carrier simply absorbs the cost of US income tax compliance including its responsibility for CFC and passive foreign investment company (PFIC) reporting. There is no look-through of an insurance policy to its owner for the purposes of applying the PFIC rules. So long as the NCNR avoids any control over the selection of specific investments made by the policy owner for the policy, investor control should not be a concern.

Our conclusion is that current US tax law provides clear support for the proposition that the PFIC and CFC rules should not apply to a US tax-compliant policy issued by a foreign carrier that files a special (s.953(d)) election with the Internal Revenue Service. This will result in the tax-free inside growth in the PPLI policy that, if held until the death of the NCNR, will result in no income tax on the death benefit. We believe that purchase of an offshore PPLI policy by the NCNR through an FGT that pours over to a US dynasty trust is an efficient, safe and simple solution that allows an NCNR to invest in US portfolio assets, and leverages that investment and all subsequent growth tax-free into policy death benefit available to US beneficiaries after such death.”

From the Wall Street Journal, we share “Fashion Industry Gossip Was Once Whispered. Now It’s on Instagram” by Ray A. Smith.

“Shortly after designer Olivier Rousteing showed his fashion collection for Balmain in Paris last September, French designer Thierry Mugler posted on Instagram.

Mr. Mugler, famous in the 1980s and early ’90s for power suits and the George Michael “Too Funky” video, posted a series of side-by-side images comparing his past ensembles to Mr. Rousteing’s new looks. Next to a Balmain black, one-shouldered jacket-dress with white lapels, Mr. Mugler posted his own similar design from 1998 with the comment: “Really?”

Along with Balmain’s dress featuring a graphic, webbed print, Mr. Mugler, who now goes by the first name Manfred, attached his own webbed design from 1990. “No comment!”

The episode surprised Mr. Rousteing. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry for him, seriously,” said 33-year-old Mr. Rousteing about 69-year-old Mr. Mugler in an interview. He denied copying the designer.

In the past, copycat allegations rarely reached beyond fashion industry gossip—or sometimes courtrooms—and rarely made it to the wider public. Now with Instagram, fashion’s favorite app, accusations spread much faster and to a wider audience. Eagle-eyed accusers can post comparison pictures and add arrows and circles to zero in on the alleged offense immediately after a fashion show, now that runway images are beamed out in real time.

High-end fashion labels are increasingly being called out on social media for copying other designers or designs, leading to back-and-forth exchanges, lawsuits and expensive apologies.

Instagram accounts, including Diet Prada, have formed to focus on designers and retailers whose creations some feel look too much like other designers’ past work. Since its 2014 launch, Diet Prada, which isn’t affiliated with Prada, has amassed more than 960,000 followers. The Fashion Law blog and CashinCopy Instagram feed also name and shame copying.”

If you are looking for a bespoke solution to your asset structuring needs, we welcome you to contact us. You will also benefit from our conservative and fully compliant methodology of using PPLI as the centerpiece of the structure. You will be pleasantly surprised to experience ‘two sides of the same coin.’

^[1] M. A. Warshaw and L. M. Lipoff, ‘How to Navigate the Choppy Seas for Foreigners With U.S.-Based Heirs: Part I’, Trusts & Estates (June 2018), and ‘Non-Citizen, Non-Resident Options for Life Insurance’, Trusts & Estates (August 2018)

^[2] All uses of ‘offshore’ and ‘foreign’ are given from the perspective of the US.

^[3] All references to ‘US persons’ in this article refer to citizens and residents only.

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by Michael Malloy CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

PPLI AND JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES

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Whose Jurisdiction Is This? Private Placement Life Insurance Defines and Simplifies

A proper understanding of jurisdictional issues is key to a successful Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) structure. One cannot simply take the assets of wealthy international families and move them offshore and expect a good result. The tax residence of the family is paramount, as well as the tax residence of the beneficiaries. A PPLI structure that is successful in one country, might not work in another. These factors must be thoroughly researched for the wealthy international family to have a successful PPLI structure. Since these PPLI structures tend to be long-term the necessity for this thorough research is even more compelling.

What are the areas that must be looked at to produce a successful outcome? The jurisdictional issues involved in all these areas must be addressed: tax treaties; tax laws; insurance laws; forced heirship issues, trust domicile; location of the assets; and tax reporting issues.

For our examples which illustrate jurisdictional issues, we give you one news story and excerpts from an excellent scholarly article: “GILTI: “Made in America” for European Tax Unilateral Measures, Excess Profits & the International Tax Competition Game” by G. Charles Beller, UVA Law School, Class of 2018, Virginia Tax Review (forthcoming 2019).

As you will read our news story demonstrates how an unwanted intrusion by one jurisdiction into another can produce a very bad result. In the area of international taxation, individual countries are now competing with each other for international tax dollars. Governments are looking for a system that avoids unwanted intrusions at any level and respects the sovereignty rights of each country.

A key question posited by this article is: “How does Global Intangible Low-tax Income (GILTI), the U.S. global minimum tax on excess profits introduced with the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s” (TCJA) fit into the larger debate about international tax avoidance, “harmful tax competition,” and taxation in the “digital economy”? As you will read, the article reaches a compelling new paradigm, partial developed from game theory, that could be a model for future international tax transactions.

Here are some key points from the article:

“Rather than perpetuate trans-Atlantic hostilities as Europe and the OECD consider the “digital economy,” the U.S. tax and business communities should explain how GILTI promotes beneficial competition on productive factors, discourages base erosion and profit shifting by U.S. multinationals (MNEs), and provides cover for European and other developed countries to modernize international tax rules consistent with longstanding principles of tax territoriality.

Political developments in the European Union and OECD suggest that EU member states need not feel guilty about leveraging a GILTI-esque minimum tax tool to combat the challenging issues facing international taxation in the digital age. Indeed, Germany has suggested a GILTI like minimum tax tool as part of a multilateral OECD proposal to confront challenges in taxing the “digital economy” – “a kind of BEPS 2.0” that utilizes U.S. unilateral action to facilitate multilateral cooperation.

At the heart of the controversy over GILTI, “Digital Taxation,” and the larger BEPS project is a debate about the propriety and benefits of tax competition. While tax competition is a controversial concept among economists and tax lawyers, recent scholarship provides a typology to talk productively about tax competition.

This paper draws on the theory of tax competition and language of international tax neutrality to argue that international tax policy must be viewed through the lens of “national welfare” when considering strategic incentives and thus positive predictions about nation state behavior in the international tax competition game.

Viewing tax competition and GILTI’s global minimum tax through the prism of game theory yields important insights into the potential for unilateral U.S. action to alleviate global collective action problems. An important question in evaluating GILTI is whether it enables potential cooperative behavior among developed economies through signaling and minimum standards by a sovereign with “pricing” power to set global rate and base terms for MNEs.

In short, is GILTI a harmful unilateral measures that undermines cooperative efforts in the OECD and EU? Or is GILTI like FACTA — a veiled if unsolicited gift for developed EU economies? This paper answers these questions and highlights the potential of a global minimum tax on excess profits to further debate about international taxation in a digitized economy while retaining foundational principles of tax territoriality.

Sovereignty and multilateralism have become buzzwords defining battle lines in a global debate about political ideology and international relations. International tax policy is a technical field that must skirt ideological battles and avoid aligning with “pure” multilateralism or “radical” unilateralism. While BEPS took an ideological position in arguing that cooperation stands in conflict with unilateralism, this paper shows how unilateral measures can foster beneficial cooperation in certain areas of the international tax policy.

As the FACTA/BEPS histories and GILTI parallels suggest, cooperative action is facilitated under certain scenarios through unilateral action with cooperative potential. Global minimum tax rates can operate as a sovereign cartel tool without clear efficiencies for productive factor competition or tax diversity. GILTI takes a different approach. It does not attempt to impose a global minimum tax rate by way of multilateral horse-trading. Instead, GILTI implements a resident based global minimum tax on excess profits that enables productive factor competition. Moreover, GILTI respects traditional principles of tax sovereignty and territoriality. GILTI’s resident based global minimum tax allows competing sovereigns to set their own rate and base terms. GILTI merely limits the benefit that foreign source rates confer on resident foreign profits.

As a result, GILTI’s resident global minimum tax tool shifts international tax competition away from a cat and mouse game of tracking down and labelling “tax havens” or “harmful” tax competition. Instead, the hunt for “harmful” tax competition is replaced with a productive experiment among competing sovereigns for a diverse array of resident benefits that allow domestic firms to exploit excess profits at home and abroad. Under GILTI (and similar tax tools), resident MNEs share the surplus of excess foreign profits with the resident sovereigns that make those profits possible. By enabling resident sovereigns to share in excess profits while at the same time limiting the tax benefit of foreign low tax rates, GILTI furthers productive factor competition.

As EU member states seeks to develop international tax policy for the “digital age,” productive factor competition should be a primary goal. Moreover, Europe must avoid a “two-hemisphere” mindset that targets digital tax revenues earned in the EU while dismissing identical proposals from developing countries targeting European revenues around the globe. GILTI bolsters productive factor competition while retaining the foundational principles of tax territoriality and sovereignty that protect resident firms when operating in foreign markets. That’s why GILTI is a tax tool “Made in America” for European tax.”

Our news story demonstrates a more confrontational jurisdictional dispute with a sad ending: “American Missionary Killed by Isolated Tribe Wrote of Confrontation With the Group,” by Corinne Abrams and Rajesh Roy of the Wall Street Journal.

“As American missionary John Allen Chau sat aboard a boat near a remote Indian Ocean island known for its violent and isolated inhabitants, he wrote a message to his mother and father he made clear might be his last.

“You guys might think I’m crazy in all this but I think it’s worth it to declare Jesus to these people,” he wrote Friday. “Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed—rather please live your lives in obedience to whatever He has called you to and I’ll see you again.”

Within a day, Mr. Chau was missing. Five fishermen who took him to North Sentinel Island said they saw the body of someone resembling him being buried under the sand by members of the tribe that allegedly killed him.

Mr. Chau, 26, was visiting the island in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago to try to spread the word of God, according to diary entries released by police.

The tribe has a long history of violent resistance to outsiders and is protected by laws that bar visitors from docking boats within 5 nautical miles (5.75 miles) of the shore.

Mr. Chau’s Instagram page shows a young man passionate about travel and new experiences. In July, he posted photos taken from a canoe and from a diving expedition with the hashtag #Andamans. Many of his posts are hashtagged #Solideogloria, the Latin phrase for Glory to God Alone.

In the journal, Mr. Chau wrote that he was on a mission to establish a kingdom of Jesus, Dependra Pathak, director general of police in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands said. Instead, he died during a “misplaced adventure in the highly restricted area,” Mr. Pathak wrote in a statement.

The islanders, part of the Sentinelese tribe whose origins date back tens of thousands of years, have a long history of hostile reactions to outsiders.

“They are very aggressive and violent. Anyone trying to access the area gets showered with arrows,” Mr. Pathak said.”

Luckily, at Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. our job is not to decide what is right and proper for one jurisdiction in its relationships with other jurisdictions. Our job is to arrange the jurisdictional elements of PPLI structuring to achieve the best possible result for our clients. From our years of experience, this best possible result is a combination of outstanding tax savings, privacy enhancements, and asset protection benefits. We would like to help you achieve these benefits too. Please contact us with your worldwide asset structuring needs.

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by Michael Malloy CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

How to Climb the Mountain of Happiness

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PPLI Provides Steps Up the Mountain

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) offers a structure that produces tax efficiency, enhanced privacy, and asset protection. In our opening quote, it can be likened to stepping up the mountain. PPLI is not a goal, but a financial structure that gives wealthy international families key elements of financial happiness.

“PPLI functions more like a trust, than a financial product.”

It is appropriate that this quote is from Confucius. For those unfamiliar with Confucius we will have a biographical sketch later on. What is also connected is Part I of a video that re-creates a presentation that I gave at The 4th FOA Family Think Tank Forum in Shanghai, China, which was held on the campus of Fu Dan University. I was invited to speak by Ann Lee of the Wintel Law Firm in Shanghai.

The presentation is an introduction to Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI), and the international tax planning concept of Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP). The two-day conference was attended by attorneys, accountants, financial planners, insurance brokers, and other professionals who work with high net worth clients in China and the Far East.

First, we have a quote about PPLI from Senior Consultant, The Voice of the Investment Management Consultant.

“Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) is much more than an insurance policy. PPLI represents one of the most powerful vehicles available to the high net worth investor in the marketplace today.

PPLI enhances both wealth creation and wealth preservation. Wealth creation is the result of the tax-free growth of the assets in the insurance contract. Wealth preservation is a result of the death benefit paid from the insurance contract.”

Much is written about tax transparency. Many of those who champion tax transparency say that it will result in a system that is more equitable and fair. Will it result in greater happiness? The conclusion of this New York Times article, Happy ‘National Jealousy Day’! Finland Bares Its Citizens’ Taxes offers a different perspective.

“Shortly after 6 a.m. on Thursday, people began lining up outside the central office of the Finnish tax administration. It was chilly and dark, but they claimed their places, eager to be the first to tap into a mother lode of data.

Pamplona can boast of the running of the bulls, Rio de Janeiro has Carnival, but Helsinki is alone in observing “National Jealousy Day,” when every Finnish citizen’s taxable income is made public at 8 a.m. sharp.

The annual Nov. 1 data dump is the starting gun for a countrywide game of who’s up and who’s down. Which tousled tech entrepreneur has sold his company? Which Instagram celebrity is, in fact, broke? Which retired executive is weaseling out of his tax liabilities?

Esa Saarinen, a professor of philosophy at Aalto University in Helsinki, described it as “a fairly positive form of gossip.”

Finland is unusual, even among the Nordic states, in turning its release of personal tax data — to comply with government transparency laws — into a public ritual of comparison. Though some complain that the tradition is an invasion of privacy, most say it has helped the country resist the trend toward growing inequality that has crept across of the rest of Europe.

“We’re looking at the gap between normal people and those rich, rich people — is it getting too wide?” said Tuomo Pietilainen, an investigative reporter at Helsingin Sanomat, the country’s largest daily newspaper. …

Roman Schatz, 58, a German-born author, rolled his eyes, a little, at Finland’s annual celebration of its own honesty. “It’s a psychological exercise,” he said. “It creates an illusion of transparency so we all feel good about ourselves: ‘The Americans could never do it. The Germans could never do it. We are honest guys, good guys.’ It’s sort of a Lutheran purgatory.” …

Economists in the United States have shown great interest in salary disclosure in recent years, in part as a way of reducing gender or racial disparities in pay.

Transparency may or may not reduce inequality, but does tend to make people less satisfied, several concluded. A study of faculty members at the University of California, where pay was made accessible online in 2008, found that lower-earning workers, after learning how their pay stacked up, were less happy in their job and more likely to look for a new one.

A study of Norway, which made its tax data easily accessible to anonymous online searches in 2001, reached a similar conclusion: When people could easily learn the incomes of co-workers and neighbors, self-reported happiness began to track more closely with income, with low earners reporting lower happiness. In 2014, Norway banned anonymous searches, and the number of searches dropped dramatically.

“More information may not be something which improves overall well-being,” said Alexandre Mas, one of the authors of the University of California report. …

One of the great sports of National Jealousy Day is to publicly shame tax dodgers.

In 2015, Mr. Pietilainen found that executives from several of Finland’s largest firms had relocated to Portugal so that they could receive their pensions tax free. His reporting caused such a stir that the Finnish Parliament terminated its tax agreement with Portugal, negotiating a new one that closed the loophole.”

Now a little about the extraordinary life of Confucius from the Simple English Wikipedia. We found this section on Confucius suited our article better than the longer Wikipedia article.

“Confucius (born 551 BC, died 478 BC) was an important Chinese educator and philosopher. His original name was Kong Qiu or Zhong Ni. As a child, he was eager to learn about everything, and was very interested in rituals. Once he grew up, he worked as a state official who handled farms and cattle. Then he became a teacher.

Confucius lived in a time when many states were fighting wars in China. This period was called the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou Dynasty. Confucius did not like this and wanted to bring order back to society.

Like Socrates, Confucius sometimes did not answer philosophical questions himself. Instead he wanted people to think hard about problems and to learn from others, especially from history. Confucius also thought that people should get power because they were good and skilled, and not just because they came from powerful families.

Confucius wanted people to think about other people more than about money or what they owned. However he also felt that there should be strong rules in society and that people needed to obey them. Confucius thought that there were five relationships people could have, and that they all had their own rules. Two people could be

Prince and Subject
Father and Son
Husband and Wife
Elder and Child
or Friends

These were traditional relationships called the ‘five prototypes’. Confucius said that in all these relationships, both people must obey rules. For example, a subject must obey a prince, but also a prince must listen to a subject and must rule him well and fairly.

Confucius said that people should only do things to other people if they would be okay with other people doing those things to themselves. This is sometimes called the Golden Rule and was also taught by Jesus Christ.

His students wrote down small stories about him, and things that he said. These were put together to make a book called “The Analects.”

At Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. the mountain that we climb is the creation of unique asset structures for wealthy international families using PPLI. We welcome you to climb this mountain with us, and achieve a structure that can give you financial happiness. Please contact us today.

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by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

Tortoises Have Strong Shells

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PPLI’s Tax Shield Is Even Stronger

The tax savings element of Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) is impressive. We invite you to reflect on your own attitudes toward tax savings by offering two articles on tax that appeared this week in the media.

The tax codes of most countries are a maze of regulations that require professional assistance to extract the most salient tax saving points. PPLI is at the forefront of structuring techniques that take advantage of maximum tax savings, and at the same time, full compliance with the world’s tax authorities.

How does PPLI become the “leader of the pack” when it comes to tax savings?

This is summed up mostly in two words: Life Insurance. The life insurance laws in most countries are very tax friendly–one receives tax deferral for the investment component of a life insurance contract, and at the death of the insured person(s), the death benefit is passed tax-free to the beneficiary.

With PPLI you couple the life insurance component with an open architecture platform. What does this allow? This allows assets to be located almost anywhere in the world, and to have asset managers located in most jurisdictions in the world. PPLI structuring is a very powerful tool for wealthy international families, and is difficult to achieve with entity planning only–creating trusts, foundations, corporations, etc.

Now for our news articles that reveal interesting attitudes towards wealth and taxes. The first is from Bloomberg, Top 3% of U.S. Taxpayers Paid Majority of Income Taxes in 2016.

“Individual income taxes are the federal government’s single biggest revenue source. In fiscal year 2018, which ended Sept. 30, the individual income tax is expected to bring in roughly $1.7 trillion, or about half of all federal revenues, according to the Congressional Budget Office.”

Bloomberg looked into the 2016 individual returns data in detail for some additional insights illustrated in the chart below:

The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (37.3 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (30.5 percent).
The top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97 percent of total individual income taxes.”

Our next article is from The New York Times, How Jared Kushner Avoided Paying Taxes.

“Jared Kushner has a net worth of almost $324 million, and his company has been profitable. But Mr. Kushner, who is President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, appears to have paid almost no federal income taxes for several years running, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.”

The article goes on to detail Mr. Kushner’s real estate investments, and how they result in a zero tax bill.

Ironic Fact

When one combines the salient points of these two articles, it is ironic to reflect that the wealthy are the ones who both pay the most taxes, and seek to save the most taxes. When anyone prepares their income tax return, wealthy or poor, do they seek to pay the most tax or the least? Many commentators criticize wealthy individuals and corporations for not paying their fair share of taxes. But what is this fair share? Who decides what a fair share is?

Thankfully, we don’t have to answer this question. Our goal is to maximize your investment gains through strategies that minimize your worldwide tax burden. Please send us your tax concerns and questions, so we can structure a plan that gives you all the tax savings elements of PPLI. You can share your experience and inquiries at the bottom of the page. Thank you.

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by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli