While trusts have long been viewed as flexible estate planning tools that offer the opportunity for tax savings, efforts to avoid federal tax liability through the use of trust arrangements can go too far. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has identified an uptick in the use of abusive trust arrangements in recent years, and it has stated publicly that it is prioritizing enforcement in this area. In this article, Washington D.C. tax lawyer Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, discusses the risks for estate planners, their clients and their clients’ beneficiaries.

In 2021, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division (IRS CI) seized $3.5 billion in cryptocurrency assets. This accounted for 93 percent of IRS CI’s total seizures during the year. But, while this may have been atypical in comparison to years past, it may ultimately prove to be the start of a new trend moving forward. Washington D.C. tax lawyer Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains.