Capital Gains Tax Is Optional

Did you know that capital gains tax is optional? You have three choices: You can pay the tax (an expensive option), you can postpone the tax (delay rather than avoid the tax consequences), or you can avoid the tax with careful planning.

Here are three specific ways to avoid paying capital gains tax.

You can avoid capital gains tax by gifting appreciated property through your estate at death. When the property owner dies, the cost basis is stepped-up to the value at the date of death.

If you gift the property to charity, when the charity sells the property, it pays no capital gains tax.

You can transfer property to a charitable trust, receive income from the trust for life or a term of years, with the agreement that the charity will receive the principal at the termination of the trust, and there will be no capital gains tax payable at the time of transfer or when the trustee sells the property.