Accounting for Digital Assets in Estate Planning (Course Id 1585)

• Who is this course for?
  This course is designed for anyone needing Continuing Professional Education (CPE), particularly CPAs and other financial professionals interested in estate planning involving digital assets.

• What is this course about or what problem does this course solve?
  The course addresses the challenge of including digital assets—such as online bank accounts, social media, and digital media—in the estate planning process, highlighting their identification, legal implications, and accounting treatment.

• How can the knowledge from this course be used?
  Learners can apply the course knowledge to identify, document, and manage digital assets effectively in estate planning, ensuring proper authorization and secure storage for fiduciaries.

• Why is this course important to a CPA, Accountant, or IRS Enrolled Agent?
  This course equips financial professionals with the technical knowledge to navigate the growing complexities of digital assets in estate planning, a topic increasingly relevant due to corporate and state-level legal nuances.

• When is this course relevant or timely?
  Given the 2024 release and the growing prevalence of digital assets in personal and financial domains, the course is timely for professionals needing to update their practices in today’s digital landscape.

• How is a course like this consumed or used?
  The course is delivered as a NASBA QAS self-study text, completed by reading materials and passing a final exam with a score of 70% or higher to earn CPE credit.

It is important that access to online bank accounts, Instagram pictures, eBooks or even reward miles be considered as part of the estate planning process in today’s digital world. This accounting for digital assets course discusses, in detail, why digital assets should be included in the estate planning process. It then walks you through the steps you need to consider when planning for digital assets and overviews some factors that should be considered during this process. Finally, it discusses some of the difficulties and solutions with accounting treatment of digital assets due to corporate and state restrictions.

NASBA QAS - Text - NASBA Registry - 1585

Course Learning Objectives

• Recognize the difficulty in accessing digital assets of a deceased person.
• Identify digital assets.
• Identify critical components of digital asset planning
• Recognize the difference between owned and leased digital assets.
• Recognize the approaches corporations and states are taking with accessing digital assets of deceased individuals.

Chapter 1 - Accounting for Digital Assets in Estate Planning

Course Learning Objectives

Overview

What is a Digital Asset?

Why Plan?

Financial Assets

Photos, Websites, Books and Videos

Email and Social Media

ITUNE Songs, Games

Ownership vs. Access

Digital Estate Planning

Identify

Document

Secure Storage

Identify a Fiduciary

Authorize a Fiduciary

Legal Environment

3 Tiers

Tier 1

Website Hosts

Photo Sharing Sites

Tier 2

Third Tier

Identity Theft and Hacking

Conclusion:

Review Questions

Glossary