The federal estate and gift tax exemption changes from year to year. The current combined federal estate and gift tax exemption amount of $13.99 million per person ($27.98 million per married couple) is scheduled to “sunset” automatically on January 1, 2026, and revert to $5 million indexed for inflation (guesstimated at $7.5 million), unless Congress

If you are at least 70 ½ years old and you have a traditional IRA, you can donate up to $105,000 directly from your IRA account to charity. This direct transfer, called a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD), avoids having to recognize the assets transferred to the charity in your gross income on your tax return.

On June 6, 2024, in the case of Connelly v. United States, the United States Supreme Court determined that corporate-owned life insurance proceeds used to redeem a decedent’s shares in the corporation must be included when valuing those shares for federal estate tax purposes.

A decedent’s taxable estate includes the fair market value of shares

Giving assets away during lifetime to reduce estate taxes due upon your death is not the “no-brainer” it used to be. Sometimes, holding onto assets until your death lowers total taxes.

Income tax, gift tax and estate tax benefits can differ dramatically, depending on the income tax basis of the assets to be gifted or

New York has an “estate tax cliff,” which can result in heirs paying New York estate tax at a rate exceeding 100%.

The current per-person NYS estate tax exemption is $6.94 million, which is the amount you can leave to your heirs at your death without paying NYS estate tax. If your taxable estate, however,

As we’ve previously discussed, portability is an important feature of an estate plan. Portability allows the surviving spouse to die to “save” any of their predeceased spouse’s unused federal estate and gift exemption amount. A federal tax of 40% is imposed on each dollar that exceeds a decedent’s federal estate and gift exemption amount.

The

You may have heard of Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATS) lately, especially if you have been thinking about using your federal estate and gift tax exemption before the current higher exemption amount of $13.61 million is automatically reduced to about $7 million on January 1, 2026, assuming Congress takes no action. (See my column from last

The current combined federal estate and gift tax exemption amount of $13.61 million per person ($27.22 million per married couple) is scheduled to “sunset” automatically on January 1, 2026, and revert to $5 million indexed for inflation (guesstimated at $7 million), unless Congress takes action. This exemption amount applies to the total taxable gifts made

Many of us would like our children to inherit our home once we are gone. More than a few of us think it makes sense to give our home to our children while we are still living. That is not a good idea! Here’s why.

Loss of Step-Up in Basis

Gifting your home to someone

Louis Vlahos’ article, “Planning for the Interest Charge on Installment Sales: Decanting a Grantor Trust?”, was published in the New York State Bar Association Trusts and Estates Law Section Journal. Rivkin Radler member Nicholas G. Moneta is the publication’s Editor-in-Chief.

The article discusses the concept that the special interest charge imposed on the deferred tax