Potential Portability Problems
Wealthy individuals in the U.S. will find it easier to cut their estate-tax bill as a result of a provision for using their deceased spouses’ exemption credit.
Wealthy individuals in the U.S. will find it easier to cut their estate-tax bill as a result of a provision for using their deceased spouses’ exemption credit.
It would be an understatement to say that the federal estate tax is in a state of flux. The current rules, with the generous $5 million individual exemption ($10 million for a couple), expire at the end of 2012. Last month, the Treasure Department released the “General Explanations of the Administrations’ Fiscal Year 2012 Revenue Proposals,” also known as the “Greenbook.” Perusal of the Greenbook reveals that the Obama Administration will be seeking to make some big estate tax changes. Return the Gift, Estate, and Generation-Skipping Transfer (GST) taxes to 2009 levels. The Greenbook proposes that in 2013 the exemptions…