Trust Tax Fundamentals 10:
Non-Resident Aliens & Specialized Trusts 

  • Instructor: Clint Bentz
  • Level: Basic
  • CPE Credits: 4.2
  • Field of Study: Taxes
Who should attend? Public and private accountants and tax preparers serving clients in the US.
Watch the course overview video to learn more!
Trust Tax Fundamentals 10: Non-Resident Aliens and Specialized Trusts concludes the Trust Tax Fundamentals series by equipping fiduciaries and tax professionals to navigate two of the most intricate areas of fiduciary taxation—cross-border trust compliance and specialized trust design. This course brings together advanced concepts from the preceding nine modules and applies them to high-stakes scenarios where accuracy and judgment are paramount.

Led by Clint Bentz, CPA, a national authority on trust and estate taxation with over 35 years of experience advising fiduciaries and family enterprises, this course combines practical compliance guidance with deep statutory analysis. Clint’s extensive background in estate administration and complex trust structures ensures that learners receive both theoretical grounding and field-tested insights.

The course opens with the taxation of trusts that include non-resident alien beneficiaries, addressing U.S. source income, withholding obligations under Chapters 3 and 4, and required forms including W-8BEN, 1042-S, and 1042-T. Participants learn how to distinguish effectively connected income (ECI) from fixed or determinable annual or periodic (FDAP) income, apply treaty modifications, and manage the timing challenges of accurate withholding and refund claims.

Subsequent modules explore an expansive range of specialized trusts—from Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs) and Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs) to Beneficiary Defective Inheritance Trusts (BDITs), Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPTs), Special Needs Trusts, and Charitable Split-Interest Trusts. Learners examine the technical foundations of these vehicles through relevant IRC sections (§§2035–2042, §678, §4947, and others), Treasury Regulations, and IRS rulings that define their structure and compliance treatment. The series culminates with modern trust types such as DING and DST structures, showing how fiduciaries can integrate state tax advantages and §1031 exchange opportunities into comprehensive planning strategies.

By completing this capstone course, professionals will gain mastery over fiduciary withholding, trust classification, and compliance procedures essential to complex domestic and international trust administration. Graduates of the Trust Tax Fundamentals series will be equipped to apply these principles with precision, ensuring compliance, enhancing client outcomes, and elevating the standard of fiduciary practice.

See the Course Overview & Introduction below for more details and the detailed Learning Objectives. 

Clint Bentz Consulting LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org
Lesson series
This is an on-demand, QAS Self Study course.

This is the 10th course in the Trust Tax Fundamentals Program.
Trust Tax Fundamentals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are pre-requisites for this course.

Students must complete all learning activities and achieve a minimum score of 70% on the final assessment to earn CPE credit for this course.

A CPE certificate will be issued at the completion of the course.

Access to this course will expire 12 months after date of purchase per NASBA requirements.

This course is current for tax law in effect following the passage of the OBBB.

Publication Date: November 2025
Revision: 2025 Tax Year
Review Date: November 2025
  • Video time: 2.5 hours
  • 1 Comprehensive Assessment (must pass with 70% or higher to earn CPE credits)

Course contents

Meet the instructor

—

Clint Bentz

Managing Member, Clint Bentz Consulting LLC
Clint Bentz is a managing member and lead instructor at Clint Bentz Consulting.
For over 35 years, Clint has been helping families with their estate and succession planning, as well as providing continuing professional education to tax professionals, attorneys, bankers, trust officers, and lay audiences on a broad range of income and estate tax issues, as well as training advisors on how to keep family-owned businesses with succession.
Clint is the primary author of the Ties to the Land curriculum published by Oregon State Extension Service and the OSU Austin Family Business Program.