Well, it was only a matter of time but the IRS and Treasury issued new regulations effectively killing Private Annuity Trusts as a tax deferral tool. The abusive nature and sloppy practices of the sales and marketing firms that were promoting these finally caught up to them.

The IRS made a specific point of saying Installment Sales of Real Estate funded by annuities aren't brought into this ruling.!

What does this mean? It means if you are looking to defer taxes on the sale of real property, you now have one real, viable, conservative option. A structured annuity sale funding and installment sale over time.

You obtain deferral, you have guaranteed payments and you have some assurance from the IRS that they aren't going to blow you out of the water.

I'll be posting a podcast on this topic later this week with Attorney Robert Wood discussing the implications of this decision.