Trust Tax Fundamentals 8:
Complex Trust Elections 

  • Instructor: Clint Bentz
  • Level: Basic
  • CPE Credits: 2.6
  • 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 8: Complex Trust Elections provides advanced, practice-focused training on the statutory elections that determine how complex trusts and estates are taxed under Subchapter J. As the eighth installment in the Trust Tax Fundamentals program, this course equips fiduciary tax professionals with the technical knowledge and judgment needed to apply, time, and document key elections that directly impact income allocation, taxation, and compliance.

Led by Clint Bentz, CPA—nationally recognized for his expertise in trust and estate taxation—this course begins by clarifying the rules governing non-cash and specific bequests, demonstrating how property distributions interact with Distributable Net Income (DNI) and when gain recognition is required under §643(e)(3). You’ll then explore the fiduciary elections that give trustees powerful tools for tax management, including the §663(b) 65-day election, §642(c)(1) charitable deduction election, and §643(g) estimated-tax election.

The course also examines specialized elections for trusts holding S-corporation stock under §1361, comparing Qualified Subchapter S Trust (QSST) and Electing Small Business Trust (ESBT) structures and explaining how each affects S-corporation eligibility and taxation. The final module tackles the §199A Qualified Business Income deduction, guiding you through its application to trusts and estates, including W-2 wage and qualified property limits and the allocation of deductions between fiduciaries and beneficiaries.

By completing Trust Tax Fundamentals 8, you will gain mastery of the most consequential fiduciary tax elections—empowering you to make informed, compliant, and tax-efficient decisions that serve both the trust and its beneficiaries.

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 8th course in the Trust Tax Fundamentals Program.
Trust Tax Fundamentals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 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: 1.75 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.