| Course | GF593 Estate Planning |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 8 |
| Paper type | Transfer tax calculation |
| Length | About 900 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Finance |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GF593 Unit 8
Forty Cents of Every Marginal Dollar: A Unit 8 Transfer Tax Calculation for a Florida Widower
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GF593: Estate Planning
Unit 8 Transfer Tax Calculation
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The widower, his late wife, his assets and every value are composite and illustrative; exclusion amounts, rates and rules are federal figures for a 2026 death, with 2025 used for comparison; the statute and sources cited are real; this calculation is coursework, not tax advice.
Facts and Assumptions
Harold Lindgren lives in Naples. Florida has no estate or inheritance tax, so the federal return is the whole calculation. His wife died in 2017, and her executor filed an estate tax return electing portability, which transferred her unused exclusion of $3,200,000 to him. In 2019 he gave his three children interests in a family real estate company; after annual exclusions, the taxable gift was $2,300,000, and no gift tax was due because his exclusion covered it. The calculation assumes death in 2026, when the basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 per person.
Computation Schedule
The schedule follows the order of the estate tax return (Internal Revenue Service, 2025).
1. Residence: $2,400,000.
2. Brokerage accounts: $9,800,000.
3. Interest in the family real estate LLC: $5,200,000, at appraised value.
4. IRA: $2,700,000.
5. Tangible personal property: $500,000.
6. Life insurance policy he owns on his own life: $3,000,000. It is included because he holds the incidents of ownership, including the right to change the beneficiary.
7. Gross estate: $23,600,000.
8. Less debts, funeral and administration expenses: $460,000.
9. Less charitable bequest to his university: $1,000,000.
10. Taxable estate: $22,140,000.
11. Plus adjusted taxable gifts: $2,300,000.
12. Tentative tax base: $24,440,000.
13. Tentative tax: $345,800 on the first $1,000,000 plus 40 percent of the remaining $23,440,000, or $9,721,800.
14. Applicable exclusion: $15,000,000 basic amount plus $3,200,000 of his wife's unused exclusion, $18,200,000.
15. Credit: the tentative tax on $18,200,000, or $7,225,800.
16. Estate tax due: $2,496,000.
The 2019 gift is added back at line 11 because the exclusion is unified: lifetime gifts use the same exclusion as transfers at death, so the gift raises the rate base even though no tax was paid on it.
Sensitivity Table
1. 2026 death, with portability: exclusion $18,200,000, tax $2,496,000.
2. 2025 death, with portability: exclusion $13,990,000 plus $3,200,000, or $17,190,000; credit $6,821,800; tax $2,900,000.
3. 2026 death, without portability: exclusion $15,000,000; credit $5,945,800; tax $3,776,000.
Above the exclusion, every dollar of estate costs 40 cents of federal tax, so the portability election his wife's executor filed in 2017 is worth $1,280,000 to his children today.
The table shows two points. The higher 2026 basic amount saves $404,000 compared with a 2025 death, which is 40 percent of the $1,010,000 increase. And the portability election, a return filed for an estate that owed no tax, is worth more than either.
Strategy 1: The Life Insurance Policy
The $3,000,000 policy adds $1,200,000 of tax at the 40 percent rate. If Harold made an irrevocable trust the owner of the policy, its $3,000,000 would fall outside his estate, but only if he lives three more years. A transfer of a life insurance policy within three years of death is pulled back into the gross estate under 26 U.S.C. § 2035. At 79 he may well survive three years, and if he does not, the estate is no worse off than today. The transfer's gift value is the policy's value as of the transfer, which would use a modest part of his exclusion.
Strategy 2: Which Asset Funds the Charitable Bequest
The $1,000,000 bequest saves $400,000 of estate tax whichever asset funds it. But the choice of asset matters for income tax. The IRA carries income tax that the children would pay as they withdraw it, while the brokerage accounts receive a new basis at death and can be sold with little tax. Funding the bequest from the IRA instead of the brokerage accounts would leave the children $1,000,000 more of brokerage assets and $1,000,000 less of taxable IRA. At a 37 percent income tax rate for the children, that change saves them about $370,000 with no change in the estate tax. The university, as a tax-exempt organization, pays no income tax on the IRA money.
Strategy 3: Annual Exclusion Gifts
Each year Harold may transfer up to $19,000 apiece to his three children and six grandchildren without using any exclusion, $171,000 a year in total. Each year of such gifts removes that amount from the estate and saves $68,400 of estate tax. Gifts paid directly to schools for tuition or to providers for medical care are excluded without any limit and can be added on top.
Timing
Estate planning tends to happen late, often only after a serious diagnosis, and studies of estate tax returns show that much of the tax planning wealthy families do is concentrated in the period just before death (Kopczuk, 2007). For Harold, the three-year rule makes timing especially important: the life insurance transfer is worth $1,200,000 only if it is made while he can still expect to live three years.
Summary
At current values, a 2026 death produces $2,496,000 of federal estate tax. Transferring the policy now, funding the charitable bequest from the IRA and continuing annual gifts could reduce the family's combined estate and income tax by more than $1,500,000 if he lives three more years.
References
Internal Revenue Service. (2025). Instructions for Form 706. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i706
Kopczuk, W. (2007). Bequest and tax planning: Evidence from estate tax returns. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(4), 1801-1854. https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2007.122.4.1801
26 U.S.C. § 2035 (2025).
GF593 Unit 8 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 8 of GF593 gives you an estate and asks for the federal transfer tax, computed step by step and then planned against. Set out the facts and assumptions first, including the state's own tax, the year of death and any portability election. Build the computation in the return's order: gross estate by asset, deductions, taxable estate, adjusted taxable gifts, tentative tax, applicable exclusion, credit and tax due. Explain any line a reader might question, such as why a lifetime gift reappears or why a life policy is included. Then test the result's sensitivity to the figures most likely to change, such as the exclusion amount or an election. The planning half should price at least three strategies, each with its condition and limits. A short section on timing and a summary of the combined effect complete the calculation. Cite the IRS instructions, the relevant Code section and research on estate tax planning in APA 7.
How this GF593 Unit 8 example is built
A facts section explains that Florida levies no estate tax, that Harold's wife's executor elected portability in 2017 and that his 2019 gift was covered by his exclusion. Sixteen numbered lines follow the return, from six gross estate assets through $460,000 of expenses and a $1,000,000 charitable bequest to a $24,440,000 base, a $9,721,800 tentative tax, an $18,200,000 exclusion and $2,496,000 due. A paragraph explains why the gift is added back. The sensitivity list compares a 2025 death and a 2026 death without portability, and the highlighted sentence prices the election at $1,280,000. Strategy 1 applies the three-year rule of 26 U.S.C. § 2035 to the policy. Strategy 2 shifts the charitable bequest to IRA dollars, saving the children about $370,000 of income tax. Strategy 3 prices $171,000 of annual gifts. Kopczuk's study of late planning supports the timing section.
GF593 Unit 8 rubric: what earns full points
Accuracy in the computation carries the most weight in this GF593 assignment. Instructors check the order of the lines, the treatment of adjusted taxable gifts, the tentative tax arithmetic and the credit on the combined exclusion. Each figure should carry its year, since the exclusion and annual limits change. The sensitivity table earns credit when it isolates one variable at a time and explains what each change means. Planning strategies are graded on whether they are priced, whether their conditions are stated and whether they fit the client's age and goals. The charitable funding choice is a common place to show depth, because it connects estate tax with the income tax the heirs will pay. A timing section tied to an actual deadline, such as the three-year rule, shows judgment. The IRS instructions, the Code section and the Quarterly Journal of Economics study, in APA 7, support the work.
GF593 Unit 8 help from the desk
GF593 Unit 8 calculations often go wrong at adjusted taxable gifts. Students either forget to add the lifetime gift back or subtract gift tax that was never paid. Others apply the 40 percent rate to the whole taxable estate instead of using the tentative tax schedule and the credit. Portability is easy to overlook, though it can be the largest number on the page. Life insurance owned by the decedent is frequently left out of the gross estate. On the planning side, a transfer of a policy is sometimes presented without the three-year rule, overstating its value. Charitable bequests are usually discussed only for estate tax, missing the income tax angle of which asset funds them. Before submitting, label every figure with its year, check that your tentative tax and credit come from the same rate schedule, and make sure each strategy has a dollar value and a condition.
Get a GF593 Unit 8 example written to your instructions
Year first: tell us which tax year the Unit 8 prompt names, then add the case figures and rubric. The schedule follows return order, dates every bracketed amount, reruns the base at a second exclusion and prices two strategies with their conditions. A first sample is billed at zero and takes 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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GF593 Unit 8 questions, answered
Why is the life insurance in his estate?
Because he owns the policy. Proceeds are included when the decedent held incidents of ownership at death, such as the right to change the beneficiary or borrow against the policy. Transferring the policy to an irrevocable trust can remove it, but a transfer within three years of death brings it back, which is why the sample prices that move with a survival condition.
Is this a tax return or tax advice?
Neither. It is a coursework computation on a composite estate, following the return's order so the logic can be checked. Real estates involve appraisals, elections and deadlines the sample only names. The paper says once that an actual filing would be prepared by a qualified professional, then keeps its attention on the arithmetic and the planning reasoning.
Where can I find a free GF593 Unit 8 sample paper?
This page carries a full GF593 Unit 8 transfer tax calculation for a Florida widower's $23,600,000 estate, with the return-order schedule, a sensitivity table, three priced strategies and APA 7 references.
Why is the 2019 gift added back in GF593 Unit 8?
The gift and estate taxes share one exclusion and one rate schedule. Adding adjusted taxable gifts to the taxable estate puts the estate in the bracket it would have reached without the gift, and the credit then covers the combined exclusion.
How much is the portability election worth to Harold's children?
His wife's unused exclusion of $3,200,000 reduces the tax at the 40 percent rate, saving $1,280,000. Without the election filed by her executor in 2017, the 2026 tax would rise from $2,496,000 to $3,776,000.