Voters have to make a decision on November 6. But in the days that follow, advisors and their wealthy clients may face some tough choices as well.

The reason: the stark differences in tax policy, not only between Democrats and Republicans but between Congress and the White House. One thing is certain: Taxes will go up, whether or not Republican challenger Mitt Romney unseats President Barack Obama. A lot depends on whether Republicans regain control of the Senate as well.

Many of the changes are already written into the law, such as the end of the Bush tax rates, scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012. Then there are estate taxes to consider. In 2013, with the Bush tax rates of 2001 and 2003 expiring, the estate tax exemption will revert to $1 million from $5.12 million. Rates on amounts over the exemption will go up from 35% to 55%.

Some financial experts believe that if President Barack Obama is re-elected, he would likely let those taxes stay at the pre-Bush levels, though Obama has also proposed an exclusion of $3.5 million and a rate of 45%. Senate Democrats have proposed extending all the Bush tax rates for one year on income up to $200,000 for individuals ($250,000 for married couples). Under this scenario, high-income taxpayers would see their top two income tax rates increase to 36% and 39.6%, from 33% and 35%.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have proposed a full one-year extension of the Bush tax rates, including the lower rates on investment income. They would not, however, continue theĀ 2009 expansion of the lower and middle-income tax breaks included in the Democratic plan. Republicans would extend the current estate tax, which allows for a $5 million exemption level (indexed to $5.12 million for 2012) and imposes a top rate of 35%.

Obama says he wants to preserve the Bush income tax rates for those beneath the $200,000 and $250,000 thresholds. The special tax rates on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends will expire on December 31, 2012. Starting in 2013, the tax rate on long-term gains will be 20% (or 10% if a taxpayer is in the 15% tax bracket). Also starting in 2013, the distinction between ordinary and qualified dividends will disappear, and all dividends will be subject to ordinary tax rates. As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare rates will go up to 3.8% on investment income for singles earning more than $200,000 and couples earning more than $250,000.

The taxes on dividends will also go up for people in those high brackets, to the rate of a person's regular income, up to 39.6%. The Medicare tax surcharge would add 3.8%, making the total tax on dividends 43.4%, which is the figure cited in Obama's budget, according to Thomas J. Handler, partner at Handler Thayer PPC, a Chicago law firm. Capital gains would revert to 20% from 15%. The 3.8% Medicare surcharge would make the capital gains rate 23.8%. This rate also applies to sales of businesses and real estate; if a client plans to sell land or a business, he should look at this carefully, starting now.

Handler says this return to the 2000 tax rates would create a dire outlook-the result would be to take 4.7% off of GDP, he says, which means, with an already slow growth rate this year, GDP would turn negative.

So what are wise advisors suggesting that their clients do? "Who you think will win has a big impact on what you should do," Handler says. Should you delay deductions and accelerate income? That's the main question. "We're suggesting that all things being equal, take cap gains. We rarely want to accelerate taxes, but in this case you have to if you plan to sell a business or land or other real estate. You have to get going now." Clients would also have to sell high-dividend stocks, he says.

Ross Levin, president and founding partner at Accredited Investors, a financial advisory firm in Edina, Minn., takes a less aggressive stance. "We are not currently accelerating capital gains because we think that is still up in the air," Levin says. "We are accepting the Medicare surcharge as a given."

Levin, along with other advisors, says that most of the planning he is doing now centers on reciprocal spousal trusts for estate planning. Clients can still transfer $10 million out of their estate that's not subject to estate tax.

John Dadakis, partner at Holland & Knight, a New York law firm, says, "If properly prepared, you will have these assets out of the estate and their growth out of the estate. There are ways you can take this money and still have it available."

The current estate exemption, $5.12 million, is the highest level in history. If Obama is re-elected, that number will likely fall to $1 million. That will give planners a three-month window at the end of the year to accelerate gifts and reduce their clients' estates.

A married couple can use $10.24 million between now and year's end. Some attorneys suggest that clients use that $10 million-plus to make gifts now and pass them free of gift tax. "Between now and December 31, you will see the biggest wealth transfer ever, no matter who wins," Handler says.

If you use that gift-tax exemption, your estate tax exemption will be zero. You will have gotten $10 million out. But you may have created other problems. For one, you no longer have that money. Another problem is that if you gift an asset, the receiver of the gift accepts it at the donor's "carryover basis," whereas an asset passed at death gets a "step up" in basis to its current value.

For clients who want to protect their estates from taxes, advisors like Brandon Jones, who works with Levin at Accredited Investors, have set up what they call "spousal access trusts," or "reciprocal trusts." These allow a couple to take $10.24 million out of their estate but still have access to it in two trusts, one set up for each spouse. The assets in either one can be tapped for certain needs such as health, education and maintenance for the spouse and children.

But these trusts must be constructed very carefully to meet the requirements for "indirect access," according to Jones and Dadakis. For instance, Jones says it won't pass muster to merely set up two trusts with opposite beneficiaries. You must have two different trustees.

"If I'm the husband creating the trust, my wife will be the trustee; to add a second trustee would be enough," Jones says. So, for example, for the wife's trust, she might name the husband and a son. "If I create a trust for Sarah and my son Sam, Sarah has access if we need some money to live on."

Dadakis says the trusts must be set up at different times, at least 30 days apart. Because most states, such as New York and Minnesota, do not have a gift tax, by setting up these spousal reciprocal trusts, "you will save $1.6 million in New York estate tax alone," Dadakis says.

His firm has been setting up these trusts all year. "But it's not so automatic that you can do it in a few days," he says. Jones, who says he has been "doing them heavily in the last two or three years," began using them in 2007.

Handler says that if you've made mistakes in earlier tax returns, you should correct them this year, before tax rates go up. "This may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix things up, to correct mistakes in earlier returns," he says. "Who you think will win [the election] will have a big impact on your planning."

As for the impending sunset of tax rates, Handler believes something needs to be done immediately and that Congress cannot wait until after January 1, 2013. "Every day beyond that date kills business expansion, kills the market." The impact on jobs and the economy would be such that the U.S. would sink back into recession, he says. "You will have people renouncing citizenship. The number of renunciations under Obama's administration has more than quadrupled, and Obama has made the recession deeper and longer than necessary."

Of course, not every financial expert agrees. Levin says the opposite: "If Romney wins, I'm strapping my dog on the top of my car and driving to Canada."

Mary Rowland can be reached at [email protected]. She has been a business and personal finance journalist for 30 years and has written two books for financial advisors: Best Practices and In Search of the Perfect Model.