Fewer than 3,300 estates will owe federal estate tax this year, the smallest number in more than 75 years (other than 2010 when the tax disappeared for the year). But, paradoxically, even as Congress shrinks the number of taxable estates, the law also encourages many more estates to file returns—even if they owe no tax. That will increase costs to those who want to do prudent estate planning, keep their planners and lawyers busy, and swamp the IRS with many times the number of returns filed in recent years
Posts Tagged ‘estate-tax’
The Coming Flood of Estate Tax Returns
November 30th, 2011 
admin 
Posted in News 
Tags: decedent, deficit, economy, estate, estate planning, estate tax returns, estate-tax, executor, health-benefits, payroll taxes, portability, president-obama, survivor 
No Comments »Johnny Depp and the New Tax Law
December 17th, 2010 MisterX68048 When the President signs the big tax deal later today, will he be cutting income taxes for most families or sparing them a tax hike? Will he be slashing the estate tax or resurrecting it
It’s Not About Economic Equality
December 16th, 2010 MisterX68048 In the New York Times’ Room for Debate, Roberton Williams discusses the estate tax and why, despite its shortcomings, it still has an important role in federal tax policy.
Posted in News Tags: debate, despite-its, discusses-the-estate, estate, estate-tax, federal-tax, important-role, roberton, roberton-williams, times No Comments »State Estate Taxes: Windfall Gold in Expiring Tax Cuts
October 5th, 2010 admin As Congress delays action on extending the 2001-03 tax cuts, state revenue officers may be secretly hoping for continued legislative paralysis. Why? Because the federal estate tax , repealed for this year, will be back in January —and many states are in line for a windfall if the levy returns to its pre-2001 form
Posted in News Tags: congress, credit, district, estate-tax, estate-taxes, federal, from-the-credit, from-the-states, january-since, main page, politically, repealed, resurrection, year No Comments »Estate Taxes, Capital Gains, and Paperwork
October 4th, 2010 MisterX68048 The one-year lapse of the federal estate tax this year came with the unwelcome requirement that heirs assume their benefactors’ bases for some assets they inherit in 2010, as Howard Gleckman explained in a recent TaxVox post . For some mid-sized estates, that meant higher taxes.
Posted in News Tags: benefactors, estate-tax, howard, howard-gleckman, inheritances, main page, sell-the-assets, tax compliance, year No Comments »No Estate Tax, But 2010 Still May Not Be So Great for Heirs
September 30th, 2010 MisterX68048 No joke: The other day a financial planner told me about a client who asked if he could rework his father’s end-of-life advance directive to take into account the ever-changing estate tax . In other words, could he pull the plug on the old man if it looked like he was going to die before January 1,
Posted in News Tags: business, client, estate, estate-tax, father, harry, million-it-owed, nephew, stock, time, uncle-harry, year No Comments »Philanthropy and the Estate Tax
July 19th, 2010 MisterX68048 When President Obama proposed to cap the value of itemized deductions at 28 percent, the philanthropic sector came out foursquare against the idea, claiming that it would decimate charitable contributions. Cutting the tax savings from gifts to charities for high-income taxpayers would raise the after-tax cost of giving and lead people to give less
Posted in News Tags: cutting-the-tax, estate-tax, main page, math, philanthropic, president, president-obama, rate-on-estates, using-the-lower, year No Comments »An Estate Tax Deal: Pay Now, Die Later
May 19th, 2010 MisterX68048 News reports suggest that the Senate may soon consider restoring the estate tax with an option allowing people to prepay their tax before they die. Details are apparently still in flux as senators negotiate. We—and maybe they–don’t know yet what they’ll propose for the basic estate tax but it’s unlikely to be harsher than the 2009 version
Posted in News Tags: estate, estate-tax, main page, owner, people, senate, time, wealthy No Comments »Die Now
December 30th, 2009 admin If you’re single, not in great health, and are worth a lot but not a really huge lot, you could do your heirs a favor and die today or tomorrow. Sure, you may want to hang around to ring in the New Year but that could cost the beneficiaries of your will a chunk of change
Posted in News Tags: basis, beneficiaries, broker, congress, estate, estate-tax, executor, family, family-business, heirs, house, main page, stock, taxes, your-heirs No Comments »2010: Get Ready for a Tax-a-palooza
December 29th, 2009 admin Let’s face it, from a tax policy perspective, 2009 was a bust. Except for creating a bunch of new credits in the name of economic stimulus, Washington pretty much ignored the revenue code. 2010 will be very different.
Posted in News Tags: beneficiaries, budget, bush, estate, estate-tax, fundamentals, holidays, house, main page, obama, presidential, stock, tax-revenues No Comments »
