Monday, December 06, 2010 Estate Tax..Here's the latest
A compromise Bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. that would extend the "Bush" tax cuts past 2010. Included in the "Middle Class Tax Cut of 2010" (S.A.4727) is a "permanent" change to the Estate Tax.
In effect, the Bill would make permanent the law that we had in place in 2009. That is a $3.5 million exemption per person indexed for inflation. That's a lot better than the $1 million exemption that was due to take effect on January 1 but not as good as the total repeal we have in 2010.
Interestingly, the Senate followed through on its intention to make the changes retroactive to January 2010 but gave estates of peop[le that died in 2010 the option of using either current law OR the new law, so the retroactivity of the law should have no adverse consequences.
The proposed law makes the exemption amount "transportable" between spouses, but that has always been available using very basic estate planning techniques anyway.
The Bill also makes permanent the income tax cuts that are part of the current law.
We should see in the next week or so if this Bill gets passed and signed into law, but it looks promising at the moment |