IRC Section 2701 and Gifts of Carried Interests
The transfer in the course of estate planning of a fund manager’s carried interest early in the life of a fund (when the carried interest has a modest value) can be an attractive way in which to remove anticipated future appreciation from the manager’s estate at a nominal gift tax cost. However, any transfer of a carried interest could be subject to the special valuation rules of Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) Section 2701 and result in an unexpected deemed gift and substantial gift tax liability. If the entire carried interest is transferred, the capital interest in the fund retained by the manager may be valued at zero for gift tax purposes under Section 2701, and the manager may be deemed to have made a gift of his entire interest in the fund, including his capital interest, rather than just the carried interest.
One way to achieve the desired estate planning result and avoid the applicability of Section 2701 is the sale of a derivative, based on the performance of the manager’s carried interest, rather than a transfer of the carried interest itself. Typically, the sale would be made to an intentionally defective grantor trust (also simply known as a “grantor trust”) for the benefit of family members. The use of a derivative contract to transfer the value of the carried interest does not require the actual transfer of the carried interest itself, thereby avoiding the applicability of Section 2701. Under this approach, the manager enters into a derivative contract with the trust agreeing to pay the trust at a future settlement date, usually set near the end of the fund’s life, the fair market value of the carried interest on the settlement date.
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