With the new estate tax laws in place, including the $5 million exemption ($10 million for a married couple), many people are enjoying a false sense of security about any potential estate tax liability. First, as Forbes recently pointed out, keep in mind this new generous law expires at the end of 2012 … and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen next. In the meantime, also remember that if your state imposes a state estate or inheritance tax, the likely outcome is that combined federal and state taxes could pack a surprising punch for those above the $5 million exemption…
When should you start taking your Social Security benefits? The current common advice is to wait as long as possible, in order to maximize your eventual monthly benefit. In fact, AARP recently launched a new online calculator to help you decide when to start taking benefits … and it clearly illustrates the benefits to claiming later. The calculator is a useful tool, and worth checking out, but as Reuters Wealth points out, the calculator is not totally neutral, and lacks advanced features that could allow you to estimate more complex situations. For example, the AARP calculator does not allow you…
As of July 1, it’s official: Ohio has repealed its state estate tax, as reported through Forbes. Of course, it’s not quite dead yet as the estate tax provision of the new law doesn’t go into effect until Jan 1, 2013. Once it kicks in, though, the Ohio estate tax repeal is meant to be permanent. This will leave New Jersey with the distinction of being the state with the lowest estate exemption of $675,000. Other states are in the news as well, with both Maine and Oregon tweaking their state estate taxes. The Maine budget makes a prospective change…
According to Forbes, the budget troubles and rising deficits hitting nearly every state are making them more aggressive about finding revenue wherever they can – including taxing your estate. Illinois recently became the latest state to impose an estate tax, making it retroactive to the beginning of the year. All told, 12 states and the District of Columbia now impose a state estate tax of some sort. Eight states enforce an inheritance tax and two states (New Jersey and Maryland) impose both an estate and an inheritance tax. “It’s a very confusing situation,” says Anita Sarafa, a managing director and…
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