Should this client do a CRUT at all?
Go beyond the deduction and evaluate the total economics of a CRUT over its lifetime.
QuantiCRUT™ quantifies the decision — the trust tested against the alternative your client contemplates, across 10,000 market simulations. In minutes.
Ten thousand simulated paths. Some favor the trust; many don't. The screen shows where your client's case falls.
An appreciated asset, a tax problem, and a client who wants your answer
Your client holds a low-basis concentrated position and wants to reduce the capital gains tax on the way out. They're not opposed to giving to charity — but they want your answer for their specific situation, not a general lecture.
Two questions your current calculator can't answer:
- Can it model the trust's economic performance under uncertainty, year after year? No.
- Can it tell your client the chance they end up ahead in dollar terms versus the taxable alternative — even if some of the value goes to charity? No.
The income tax deduction should not drive the decision
The charitable-remainder calculation — the income tax deduction — is what the IRS wants to know. It doesn't tell you whether your client ends up better off. Your client will wonder, and you should have the answer: over the life of the trust, am I ahead?
The calculators you may already use cannot answer that. There are no benchmarks, and any payout schedule is usually deterministic — a single static investment return projected over the lifetime of the trust. QuantiCRUT™ runs 10,000 fluctuating market paths and reports the win probability at each mortality basis, with the median dollar difference — numbers your recommendation can stand on.
And how basis affects the outcome is not a rule of thumb. It's an interaction among the client's basis, their age, the payout rate, and how long they actually live — which is exactly why it has to be modeled for this specific client. "If it underperforms, at least charity benefits" is a consolation, not an analysis. The screen tells you how likely that outcome is — before your client asks.
Compared to what?
The screen's answer depends on the alternative you test the trust against. The same trust compares badly against a client who would hold and draw income, and strongly against one who would sell and reinvest. And the perennial favorite — "I'd just hold onto it until I die" — brings the basis step-up into the comparison. The results may surprise you, and they differ from client to client.
The trust against your client's actual alternative
- Tests the CRUT against your client's actual alternative — the one you specify
- 10,000 market paths, five trust structures, both mortality bases — the IRS population table and the annuitant table your healthy client actually lives on
- Prices the factor conventional screening misses: a client who outlives the population table gets more years of tax-free compounding, and the comparison shifts hard toward the trust
- Renders a client-ready PDF: outcomes distribution, heir line, wealth overlay, full assumptions — an exhibit for your recommendation, not a substitute for it
The findings cut both ways
Some clients come out well ahead — in the published record, even some with no charitable intent at all. Others end up behind. How often the trust prevails depends on the client: basis, ages, longevity, and the alternative it's tested against. This isn't a sales tool for CRUTs. QuantiCRUT™ shows where your specific client is projected to land, so your judgment starts from the numbers.
The suitability framework is published in the Journal of Financial Planning (August 2026).
The research behind QuantiCRUT™ →
Decision support for the professional making the call
Financial advisors and planners fielding the low-basis question. QuantiCRUT™ is professional decision-support software: it informs your analysis and your recommendation. It doesn't make them.
Run the screen
One client's facts in. The case, quantified. Minutes, not an afternoon.