According to summaries being reported thus far, the Fiscal Cliff legislation that passed on January 1, 2013 will implement permanent estate tax relief.
Federal Estate Tax will not be required on inheritances of up to Five Million ($ 5,000,000) Dollars. Married couples may be permitted to add their exemptions together, to avoid paying tax on inheritances less than Ten Million ($10,000,000) Dollars.
For any additional value over the excluded amounts, a 40% estate tax is applicable.
Estate-tax policy has been in flux since 2001, when the Bush tax cuts were enacted. They called for higher levels of exemptions and lower tax rates to be phased in over ten years, with the estate tax totally eliminated in 2010, and being restored to pre-2001 levels at the end of 2012.
Without last night’s deal, a 55% estate tax would have been applied to all inheritances above One Million ( $1,000,000) Dollars.
We will continue to monitor the final details of this legislation, and update accordingly.