Christine A. Sackett

My focus

Based on my many years of tax experience, I focus my practice on two primary areas.

Charitable gift planning

I represent colleges and universities and other charitable organizations to develop their planned giving programs and to assist their donors in structuring gifts to meet their philanthropic goals and tax objectives. I have extensive experience in the implementation and maintenance of charitable gift annuity programs and in the creation, administration and tax benefits of charitable remainder and lead trusts and private foundations. I am currently working with a university’s development office and donor’s counsel to structure a substantial gift of commercial real property.

Tax compliance

I assist charitable organizations, individuals and fiduciaries on a wide range of annual tax compliance matters. I work with private foundations and the trustees of charitable remainder and lead trusts to prepare their annual federal and state filings and to calculate their required distributions. I assist our tax accountants in the preparation of complex income tax returns, specializing in the income tax charitable deduction. I also have extensive experience in the gift tax reporting of cash, stock and real property transfers to children and grandchildren as well as the funding of 529 college savings plans, qualified personal residence trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts and multigenerational trusts and the resulting generation-skipping tax consequences.

Looking ahead

I am watching how the tax code and the economy impact charitable and intra-family gift planning and working on giving strategies for our institutional and individual clients.