Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the federal estate tax exemption limit has doubled from $5 million per individual to $10 million per individual (indexed for inflation). This means that the estate and gift tax exemption limit in 2021 will be $11.7 million in 2021, up from $11.58 million in 2020. This
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In 2017, the IRS announced that the estate and gift tax exemption for individuals would be a total of $11.18 million. Then, the following year, the IRS announced another change to the estate tax, bringing that exemption up to $11.4 million. This means that any and all estate plans previously built on the basis of
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One of the main advantages of undertaking estate planning is the avoidance of the probate process. Probate is the procedure by which a specialized or district court undertakes the distribution of a dead person’s belongings, which includes real estate, the contents of bank accounts, and personal items. The probate process can be unsettling, public, tiring,
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Last year’s unveiled new tax plan changed the game for 2018 and onwards, taking significant steps to diminish the power and reach of the estate tax and make changes to the gift tax. Eliminating the one and raising exemptions for the other have long been goals for the Republican party, and while the President’s campaign
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The estate tax is basically an inheritance tax that people with a total value of over $5.49 million (in 2017) pay when they die. Anyone below that value is tax exempt upon death. This means it only affects a few thousand Americans every year – about 1 in 500 deaths. This makes it a divisive
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