TAX ALERT 2016-5: THE 2016 ELECTION: TAX CHANGES EXPECTED e Roth conversions. It is generally better to convert traditional retirement funds to a Roth IRA in a lower tax rate environment rather than a higher rate environment. For taxpayers who converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2016, the normal rules will provide a chance to review whether 2016 or 2017 would be the better year for a conversion. Generally, a 2016 conversion can be unwound (“recharacterized”) as late as October 16, 2017. Following a recharacterization, the IRA could again be converted to a Roth IRA 30 days later (assuming the original conversion occurred in 2016). Thus, you could wait until October 2017 to determine whether 2016 or 2017 would be the better year for conversion based on the relative tax rates, changes in the market value of the retirement funds and other relevant considerations. If 2016, then you could let the 2016 conversion remain. If 2017, you could “recharacterize” in October of 2017 and re-convert 30 days later. ESTATE AND GIFT TAX Current law. Under current law, the federal exemption for estate and gift tax is $5 million, subject to an inflation adjustment each year. For 2016, the exemption is $5,450,000, and for 2017, it is $5,490,000. For gifts or estates above the exemption, the federal tax rate is 40%. If an appreciated asset is includible in the estate, it generally receives a step-up in basis for income tax purposes equal to the fair market value at death. Accordingly, there would be little or no capital gains tax for appreciated assets sold soon after death. Proposals. President-elect Trump has proposed to repeal the estate tax. The House Republicans’ Tax Proposal also proposes federal estate tax repeal. It would appear that such repeal would be temporary, unless the tax changes proposed can be enacted on a revenue neutral basis.’ It is not clear whether the federal gift tax would also be repealed. The federal gift tax may be viewed as serving two purposes. First,