Thursday, August 05, 2010 What's up with the Federal Estate Tax?
2010 has been quite a year already... The U.S. Congress has failed miserably at giving us direction on what the tax landscape will look like come 2011. Folks, we're only five months away from 2011, believe it or not. And in 2011, the federal estate tax comes back with a roar. If Congress does nothing, many more people will potentially be effected by the tax. For married couples, you will be able to pass on about $2 Million to your heirs, estate tax free. If your estate is worth more than $2 Million, every dollar past the $2 Million mark will be taxed at a 55% rate. $2.5 million estate? Count on your heirs paying Uncle Sam $275,000.
Congress has not stepped up to the plate at this point, and there have been no meaningful committee votes or full member votes on any estate tax fix. A couple of senators and house members have spoken up, but that's not enough when you have 535 such members. Therefore, I am not optimstic right now that there will be a fix come 2011. If you think your estate is worth around $1 million or more if you're single, or $2 million or more if you're married, you need to start thinking about planning now. There are things we can do to minimize the estate tax if you were effected by it.
Here are a couple of great articles I've found this morning on the federal estate tax.
The best time to plan is now. Please do not hesitate to reach out to my firm to get started on planning. Call us at (215) 706-0200. |