You can't take it with you, or so they say. Well, if you can't take it along, at least you can decide who gets it and when. Accomplishing this without horrendous tax consequences is a complicated challenge, but it can be done. Passing it along after you're gone is a minefield of tax traps but there are ways your lawyer can navigate through it.

But when the "IT" is a business, the techniques of giving it away or passing it along become even more specialized and highly evolved. A laundry list of some of the more commonly used strategies for minimizing taxation on a transfer of assets would look something like this:

• liquidity strategies (deferrals, redemptions, buy/sell agreements)
• private annuities
• GRATS
• recapitalizations
• the family office

Valuation of the business is the foundation of all these methods. Wherever possible, periodic reevaluation should be made a part of any technique used.

The value of assets transferred either by gift or bequest is subject to a federal tax at graduated rates applied on a cumulative, unified basis. Federal transfer taxes can be reduced by the unified tax credit, which for 2009 was equivalent to exempting $3,500,000 worth of assets from tax, but any property in excess of that is taxed. In 2010, the estate tax temporarily expires so that there is no limit on tax-free transfers at death, but the tax is revived again in 2011, and only $1,000,000 will be exempt from tax. Even so, throughout this period only up to $1,000,000 of property that is transfered as taxable gifts can be exempted from tax by using the unified tax credit. If your business is large enough, you'll need to provide for liquidity so that taxes can be paid without depleting the business's working capital.