Planning for the Surtax

The best time to plan for any tax event is well before it occurs, and this also applies to the surtax.  The trustee of a trust will almost always want the business income of the trust to be characterized as active income. The surtax may be addressed, at least partially, in

The IRS’s Position on Material Participation by Trusts

According to the IRS, material participation for a non‑grantor trust should be determined solely by reference to the activities of the trustee acting as such; it should not include the trustee’s participation in any other capacity (e.g., as an employee of the corporation), nor should it consider