Jan. 28, 2025

Does My Revocable Living Trust Need a New Tax ID Number? (Episode 312)

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Well, good afternoon everyone, all you Michiganders out there in

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this cold, cold winter weather. Today is Tuesday, January twenty eight,

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twenty twenty five, and of course this is Tuesday with Tom,

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Michigan's only weekly Internet show where we answer your questions

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about a state planning and a state settlement in Michigan.

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I'm your host, Tom Doyle, a state planning attorney, lifelong

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Michigan resident, an ambassador for all things good in this

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wonderful winter land called Michigan. Welcome to today's program. Well,

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I took a little time off over the holidays. I

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figure we're at the end of January, so we should

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start up with some new episodes. If you had been

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listening recently, you would know that the last episode was

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does Santa have to pay Gift Taxes? So I had

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a discussion during the last episode about gift taxes and

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gift tax obligations. So if you've got questions about gift taxes,

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I would encourage you to listen to last week's episode. Today,

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based upon conversations that had with clients recently, today's question

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is does my revocable living trust need a new tax

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ID number? But please remember what I'm about to discus

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us is as always for educational purposes only. It is

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not intended to be legal advice. You need to work

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with your attorney and your tax advisor to determine what

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is appropriate for you and your state plan. So does

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my revocable living trust need a new tax ID number? Well,

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let's just start with some basic concepts. Revocable living trust.

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We're not talking irrevocable. Irrevocable is one that can never

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be changed. Revocable is one that can be changed. And

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it's the most common trust that people have as part

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of their estate plan. So it's think of it as

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a legal entity, or I always tell clients think of

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it as a box, and that you're putting assets inside

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the box, and the box is going to hold those

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assets during your lifetime and after your death, those assets

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are going to be distributed. Now, while you're alive, you

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are full control of the revocable trust, and because it's

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a revocable trust, you can change it. You can change

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the beneficiaries, you can change the trustee, you can get

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rid of the trust if you want to, and you

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can put assets into the box. You can take assets

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out of the box. Now, if you listen to previous

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episodes of Tuesday with Tom or attended one of our seminers.

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You would also know normally people will look having a

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living trust one because they want to control the distribution

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of their state after they die, and or it could

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be multiple reasons. They want to avoid probate and or

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they want to maintain privacy of their estate. And if

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you have any questions about any of those, go on

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head on over to Tuesday with Tom and you can

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search for any of those topics and it will bring

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up a list of previous episodes where I've talked about

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all of those. But now let's talk about tax purposes

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during your lifetime. The IRS reviews your revocable living trust

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as what they call a grant or trust, and what

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that means is that any income and expenses of the

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trust are simply reported under your Social Security number. So

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if the income and expenses are going to be reported

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under your social Security number, there is no need to

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get a separate tax ID number for your trust. In fact,

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if you went online and applied for a separate tax

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ID number, many people will make a mistake in that

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application and perhaps have the IRS wanting all kinds of

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tax returns filed that aren't necessary. So again the IRS

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is not going to require you to have a separate

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tax ID number. They are going to be satisfied if

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income and expenses are reported under your your so Security.

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The same thing's going to happen with tax returns. You're

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going to file your regular income tax returns using your

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Social Security number, so makes it easier for you. Now

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what happens, oh, when you die, Well, when you die,

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now the trust becomes irrevocable. That means it can't be changed.

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And once it can't be changed, now the IRS is

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going to look at it as being a separate taxable entity.

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And once it becomes a separate taxable entity, that would

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be at the time of your death. Now it needs

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to have a new tax ID number, So during your lifetime,

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no new tax ID number. Upon your death, new tax

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ID number. Let's say though, that you are married and

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you have a joint trust. One of you dies, the

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surviving spouse can continue to use his or her Social

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Security number, so it's not going to become irrevocable until

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the death of both spouses, and that is the time

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that a new tax ID number would have to be obtained. Again,

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during your lifetime. Because it's a revocable living trust, there

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is no need to obtain a new tax ID number.

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So the question or the answer to the question, does

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my revocable living trust need a new tax ID number?

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Short answer is during your lifetime no, after your death, yes,

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of course. If you have any questions about that, feel

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free to contact our office and we would be happy

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to assist you in having an understanding of that, or

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you can certainly contact your CPA or other tax advisor

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who ought to be able to explain that as well.

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And always too the a reminder that Amanda and I

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would be honored to have the opportunity to help you

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protect your loved ones by putting together your estate plan,

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amending a current plan, or assisting you in settling in

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a state. We now have recently, as of last week,

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moved we're headquarters here in Grand Rapids to downtown in

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the heart of the government business district. So if you

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happen to be in Grand Rapids, we would be happy

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to have a consultation with you at our new downtown

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Grand Rapids location. We are also in the process of moving,

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hopefully if fingers crossed our Lancing location back to where

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it had been for very many many years on West

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Saint Joe Highway in the township. Fingers crossed that if

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everything comes together, that is going to be happening very

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soon where the place that you likely saw us in

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Lancing is going to be returning to the West Saint

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Joe office. We have a meeting on Monday to be

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talking to the landlord about making that happen. Of course,

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we also have our virtual consultation that would be either

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by zoom or telephone. All of that can be taken

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care of. Scheduling an appointment in person or scheduling virtual

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consultation Zoom or telephone can all be done by visiting

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Doyle LAWPC dot com, where you will find information about

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how to get those scheduled, or you can always call

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the office at five one seven three two three seven

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three six six Remember two. If all you're looking for

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is a particular individual document, maybe you're simply looking at

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needing a new certificate of trust, or maybe you're looking

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at I just need a new durable power of attorney,

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I invite you visit our legal store again at Doyle

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LAWPC dot com. There you're going to find information on

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how you can order just individual documents. Through the website,

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you can make arrangements to pay for those documents that

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are going to be ordered, and those documents, if they're appropriate,

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will be prepared for you by us and emailed to

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you so that you can print them off and have

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them executed again. That would be the legal store at

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Doyle LAWPC dot com. Well, it's called outside and I

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think that is going to be it for today's program.

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As always, ooh, if you have a question about the program,

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or a comment about the program, or a topic that

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you'd like to have me discuss, because many of the

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episodes you will find that a cover based upon questions

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that we've been asked or conversations that we've had. Head

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on over to Tuesday with Tom dot com. That's the

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a personal consultation type question, we're not going to answer

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that question over the air, or you can always send

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time with us today. As always, I hope that you

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have an awesome day and an awesome week in Michigan.

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Stay safe. Tuesday with Tom has been brought to you

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by the estate planning attorneys at Doyle Law PC. To

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