In response to a comment that the current effective date of the new rules on fiduciary fees does not give fiduciaries enough time to implement them, the IRS amended T.D. 9664 to delay the date. As a result, the new rules governing which costs of trusts and estates are subject to the 2% floor on miscellaneous deductions now apply to tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2014, rather than to tax years beginning on or after May 9, 2014 (79 Fed. Reg. 41,636 (July 17, 2014)).
Under the final regulations, the portion of a bundled fiduciary fee
attributable to investment advice (including any related services that
would be provided to any individual investor as part of an investment
advisory fee) will be subject to the 2% floor. Bundled fees are fees
that are billed together, where a portion is fully deductible and
another is subject to the 2% floor. (For coverage of the new fiduciary
fee rules, see “Final
fees on fiduciary fees are issued.”)
Under the
original effective date, fiduciaries of existing trusts and
calendar-year estates would have been subject to the rules beginning
Jan. 1, 2015. However, the commenter pointed out that the rules would
apply immediately to any nongrantor trust created after May 8, 2014,
as well as to the estate of any decedent who dies after May 8, 2014,
and any existing fiscal year estate with a tax year beginning after
May 8, 2014. The commenter was especially concerned that the immediate
effective date would not give fiduciaries enough time to implement the
program changes necessary to unbundle the portion of a fee that was
subject to the 2% floor from the portion that was not. Under the new
effective date, no taxpayer will be subject to the rules until tax
years that begin on or after 2015, which should give fiduciaries time
to implement any necessary changes.
—
Sally P. Schreiber (
sschreiber@aicpa.org
) is a JofA senior editor.
