Tag Archives: federal estate tax

Federal estate tax calculation

The taxable value of your estate will determine the amount of money your heirs will have to pay to the government.

What is the taxable value of your estate?
What is the federal estate tax personal exemption allowance?
What are the federal tax rates?
How do you calculate the federal estate tax due?

Q. What is the taxable value of your estate?
A. Your estate representative must make a list of property you own and, perhaps with the help of an appraiser, assign a fair market value to the property. The fair market value is the amount the property is worth at the time you die (or six months later if the value is lower than at date of death), not the price you paid for it. Then, he or she must make a list of all the debts you owed at your death.

If you own property jointly with someone else, multiply your ownership share times the fair market value to calculate the estate tax value of the property. The taxable value of your estate is calculated by deducting the total amount of your debts from the total fair market value of all your assets.

If the taxable value of your property exceeds the personal estate tax exemption allowance, your executor must file a Form 706 Federal Estate tax return and pay the appropriate tax due within nine months of your death.

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Q. What is the personal estate tax exemption allowance?
A. The personal estate tax exemption allowance is the amount of money you can leave free of estate tax.

Q. How do you determine the amount of your personal federal estate tax exemption?
A. It depends on what year you die. The personal estate tax exemption amounts by year of death are shown on the following chart:

Year	Personal Tax Exemption Tax-Free Amount
2006	$2,000,000
2007	$2,000,000
2008	$2,000,000
2009	$3,500,000
2010	No Tax
2011 and years thereafter	$1,000,000 (reverts to old tax regulations)

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Federal estate taxes

Q. How do you determine your federal estate tax rates?
A. The estate tax is a progressive tax levied on the value of the taxable estate exceeding the allowable personal tax exemption allowance, as follows:

TAXABLE ESTATE	ESTATE TAX RATE	TEMPORARY RATE
Up to $10,000	18% of excess over $10,000
$10,000 to $20,000	$1,800 plus 20% over $10,000
$20,000 to $40,000	$3,800 plus 22% over $20,000
$40,000 to $60,000	$8,200 plus 24% over $40,000
#60,000 to $80,000	$13,000 plus 26% over $26,000
$80,000 to $100,000	$18,200 plus 28% over $80,000
$100,000 to $150,000	$23,800 plus 30% over $100,000
$150,000 to $250,000	$38,800 plus 32% over $150,000
$250,000 to $500,000	$70,800 plus 34% over $250,000
$500,000 to $750,000	$155,800 plus 37% over $500,000
$750,000 to $1,000,000	$248,300 plus 39% ovr $750,000
$1,000,000 to $1,250,000	$345,800 plus 41% over $1,000,000
$1,250,000 to $1,500,000	$448,300 plus 43% over $1,250,000
$1,500,000 to $2,000,000	$780,000 plus 49% over $2,000,000	45%
$2,500,000 to $3,000,000	$1,025,800 plus 53% over $2,500,000	45%
$3,000,000	$1,290,800 plus 55% over $3,000,000	45%

*Even though the table above lists the published tax rates, Congress changed the highest estate tax rates for U.S. citizens in 2001 to 45%. For example, assume the value of the estate subject to estate taxes is $2 million for someone who died in 2008. The amount of taxes due is $780,800 plus 45% of the value over $2 million, rather than the 49% shown in some published estate tax rate tables.

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Federal estate tax calculations

Q. How do you calculate the amount of federal estate tax due?
A. The estate tax due is determined by applying the applicable tax rate the year of death to the value of the estate in excess of the personal estate tax exemption allowance applicable the year of death. The death tax rate is currently higher than individual income tax rates. The tax rate changes by year. The amount of the personal federal tax exemption allowance also changes by year.

Step 1. Calculate the taxable value of your estate. Let’s assume the taxable value of the estate was $2,225,000.

Step 2. Deduct the Personal Estate Tax Exemption Allowance. Let’s assume the decedent died in 2008 when the personal tax exemption allowance amount was $2 million, leaving a net taxable estate of $225,000.

Step 3. Determine the appropriate tax rate and calculate the estate tax due. Since the value of the taxable estate is between $250,000 and $250,000, the federal tax due is $38,000 plus 32% of any amount over $150,000. The total federal tax due is $68,200.
A probate case cannot be closed until evidence is presented to the court that any estate taxes owed by your estate have been paid. Some banks will not release accounts to the beneficiary until estate taxes are paid.

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Federal estate tax: What is it?

The federal estate tax is a tax levied when the taxable value of all of your assets is in excess of the personal estate tax exemption allowance.

What is a personal estate tax exemption allowance?
What assets are subject to estate taxes?

Q. What is a personal estate tax exemption allowance?
A. Federal tax laws allow you to transfer a certain amount of assets tax-free when you die. The tax-free amount is referred to as your personal estate tax exemption allowance.

If the value of your assets exceeds the personal estate tax exemption allowance, your executor will be required to file a federal estate tax return and pay taxes on that part of your estate that exceeds your allowed personal tax exemption allowance.

The present state of the tax laws concerning estate taxes is confusing.

If you die before the year 2010, the amount of your personal estate tax exemption allowance depends upon the year you die.
If you die in 2010, there is no requirement to calculate or pay any estate taxes at all.
If you die in the year 2011 or later, the personal estate tax exemption allowance drops to $1 million which was the personal estate tax exemption allowed before Congress voted to change our estate tax laws (see table below) in 2001.

As the existing law will almost certainly change, we urge you to consult a competent professional.

Estate taxes are generally federal taxes and are applicable to everyone; they are a debt of your estate. The estate representative pays the estate taxes before distributing assets to the beneficiaries. Some states have estate or inheritance taxes as well.

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Q. What assets are subject to the estate tax?
A. All of your assets are subject to the federal estate tax calculation. Assets include real estate, bank accounts, cash, motor vehicles, stocks, bonds and other securities, jewelry, fine arts or furniture, notes receivable, stock options, deferred compensation, IRAs, Keoghs, retirement plans, pensions, 401(k) plans, life insurance proceeds and all interests in businesses and business property including
shares in partnerships, joint ventures, farms, rights to royalties, value of intellectual property, etc.

The gross value of the estate also includes the value of any gifts given away within two years of your death that exceeded the annual gift tax allowance, currently $12,000 per person.
Q. Are assets with a named beneficiary part of your taxable estate?

A. Yes. The probate value of your estate and the estate tax value of your estate are separate calculations. When deciding if your estate is subject to the federal estate tax, all of your property, including retirement accounts and life insurance proceeds with a named beneficiary, are included as part of your estate property.

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President Obama makes “permanent” estate tax temporary again.

President Obama proposed 2014 budget: Changing the Estate Tax and Gift Tax Rates AGAIN!!!

From January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2012, Congress seemed intent on making planning for death more complicated than it already is by creating a series of “temporary” estate tax laws. These temporary tax rates and estate tax and gift tax exclusion amounts created turmoil for software companies, lawyers, accountants and ordinary people.

As part of the 2012 “Fiscal Cliff” compromise, President Obama signed legislation that appeared to make permanent the 2012 estate tax exclusion amount of $5 million for estate and gift taxes and a top estate tax rate of 40 percent. The exclusion amounts would be indexed for inflation. The statements from Congress and the President made it seem we FINALLY had permanent rules regarding federal estate and gift taxes. Software companies could stop revising code. Families could make permanent plans for death.

So much for compromise. The Obama “Green Book” Budget for 2014 puts us back in the guessing game about estate and gift tax rules. Page 138 of the budget has these words: “Beginning 2018, the proposal would make permanent the estate, GST and gift tax parameters as they applied during 2009. The top tax rate would be 45 percent and the exclusion amount would be $3.5 million for estate and GST taxes, and $1 million for gift taxes. There would be no indexing for inflation.”

You can find out more here:

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/Documents/General-Explanations-FY2014.pdf

Personal federal estate tax exemption

The personal federal estate tax exemption allowance is the amount of money you can pass tax free to your heirs. Congress is reviewing legislation that will change the personal exemption allowance starting in 2010.

Q. What is the amount of your personal federal estate tax exemption?
A. It depends on what year you die. The personal estate tax exemption amounts by year of death are shown on the following chart :

Federal Personal Estate Tax Exemption Allowance by Year of Death
Year	Personal Tax Exemption Tax-Free Amount
2007	$2,000,000
2007	$2,000,000
2008	$2,000,000
2009	$3,500,000
2010	No Tax
2011 and all years thereafter	$1,000,000

Dying in the year 2010: Why Is It Different?

On January 1, 2010, the rules about taxing inherited asets changed.

To understand why dying in the year 2010 is different from dying in any other year, you must understand how inherited assets are taxed.

Unless someone dies in 2010, all of their heirs will inherit property with a “stepped-up basis.” Stepped-up basis is an Internal Revenue Service term describing the tax basis of inherited property as equal to the fair market value of property on the date of death. When inherited property is sold, the beneficiary uses the stepped-up basis to calculate and report capital gains. If the sales price exceeds the stepped-up basis, the beneficiary reports the profit as a capital gain on his or her tax return and pays the necessary capital gains taxes.
- Example: Sue inherited a house from her mother, who bought the house fifty years ago for $25,000. On the day her mother died, the house had a fair market value of $500,000. Sue sold the house six months later for $525,000. Sue reported a capital gain of $25,000, the difference between the stepped-up basis and the sales price.
Unless you die in 2010, the decedent’s estate is required to pay estate taxes if the fair market value of all the property on the date of death exceeds the federal estate personal tax exemption allowance for that year. If estate taxes are due, the estate representative pays the estate tax and then distributes the remaining assets to the heirs.
- A surviving spouse receives an unlimited federal estate tax marital exemption. No federal estate taxes are due, even if the fair market value of the inherited property exceeds the federal estate tax personal exemption allowance. Any inherited property sold during the lifetime of the surviving spouse uses a stepped-up basis to calculate capital gains.
- Estate planning documents may include a reference to the federal estate tax personal exemption allowance as a way of reducing estate taxes or allocating assets between different trusts and beneficiaries. They may determine how much a surviving spouse or child inherits.
- The federal estate tax rates for the year determine how much tax is due.
What will be different if someone dies in the year 2010?

In 2001, Congress passed a bill known as The Economic Growth and Tax Reconciliation Act of 2001. Section V of this bill specifies how inherited assets are taxed between the years 2002 and 2011.

Years 2002-2009
For the years 2002 through 2009, the Act changed the amount of the federal estate tax exemption allowance as well as the federal estate tax rate.
- The federal estate tax exemption allowance increased from $1 million to $3.5 million.
- The federal estate tax rate decreased from 55% to 45%.
The Act resulted in fewer estates being subject to the estate tax and decreased the amount of taxes due for those estates that were subject to an estate tax. Most important, the Act did not change the fundamental way in how inherited assets are taxed.

Year 2010
If you die in 2010, there is no estate tax. There is no federal estate tax exemption allowance and no federal estate tax rate schedule. You could have an estate worth hundreds of millions of dollars and no estate tax is due. The elimination of the estate tax does not mean there is no tax on inherited assets. The Act requires the beneficiaries, not the estate representative, to calculate and pay taxes on inherited property using either a stepped-up basis or a carryover basis.
- The estate representative must calculate and document the carryover basis of inherited property. The term “carryover basis” means the tax basis is the original cost paid for the property. The greater the increase in value of the property between the date of purchase and the date the beneficiary sells inherited property, the more taxes a beneficiary pays.
  - Example. Sue inherited a house from her mother, who bought the house 50 years ago for $25,000. On the day her mother died, the property had a fair market value of $500,000. Sue sold the house six months later for $525,000. Sue reported a capital gain of $500,000, the difference between the carryover basis (the original price of the property) and the sales price.
- An estate representative must also calculate the stepped-up basis of the decedent’s property.
- The estate representative can only distribute a limited amount of assets using a stepped-up basis.
  - $1.3 million can be distributed to beneficiaries with a stepped-up tax basis.
  - $3 million of assets can be distributed to a surviving spouse with a stepped-up tax basis.
  - All other inherited property must be distributed to beneficiaries using the carryover tax basis.
- All beneficiaries must calculate and pay capital gains when they sell an inherited asset. The estate representative will provide documentation the beneficiary can use to document on their tax return whether capital gains are calculated using a stepped-up basis or a carryover basis.
Year 2011
If you die in 2011 or any year thereafter, the Economic Growth and Tax Reconciliation Act of 2001 is repealed. The rules about estate taxes and the tax basis of inherited property revert back to the rules in existence in 2001. Heirs inherit property and calculate capital gains using the stepped-up basis. The federal estate exemption allowance reverts back to $1 million and the maximum estate tax rate reverts back to 55%.

Summary
Because the rules on the taxation of inherited assets are so fundamentally different for someone who dies in 2010, no one thought Congress would allow the existing Economic Growth and Reconciliation Act of 2001 to remain in effect. In December, the House voted to provide a permanent federal estate tax exemption of $3.5M and a maximum federal estate tax rate of 45%, effective January 1, 2010. The Senate could not agree on what the amount of the federal estate tax exemption allowance and the rate of the estate tax should be and did nothing. Senator Backus was quoted as saying it was not a priority within the Senate to change the existing 2001 legislation, but has implied he will make it a priority in 2010.

What does all of this mean if you die in 2010?

What began as a debate on how much wealth someone could pass on to their heirs free of estate taxes has evolved into a mess for everyone who dies in 2010, not just the wealthy.

Good records just became more important. In order to calculate the carryover basis for inherited property, the estate representative will need to know the original cost of all of the property. Just imagine documenting stock splits or the cost of a home bought fifty years ago.
Existing estate planning documents that make choices based upon the amount of the federal estate personal tax exemption allowance won’t work. There is no federal estate tax exemption allowance in 2010. You may accidentally disinherit a spouse or your children!
If the value of your estate exceeds $1.3 million, your estate representative will determine who inherits assets using a stepped-up basis or a carryover basis. The unlimited marital tax exemption allowance does not exist for surviving spouses. A surviving spouse may pay more in capital gain taxes during their lifetime if their spouse dies in 2010 than they would pay if he or she died in any other year.
It will be a tough year for estate representatives. They must determine the intent of existing planning documents or existing intestate laws versus the need to follow the rules for taxing inherited assets in 2010. It will be a good year for estate planning litigators.

The Senate has stated it intends to pass new legislation with the intent to make the legislation retroactive to January 1, 2010. Every day that passes without some type of resolution compounds the problem. Do we need to change our estate planning documents? What happens with software or web sites providing information about estate taxes? Can we die retroactively?
If you know you won’t die in the year 2010, you may not want to call your financial planner or your estate planning lawyer. Otherwise, it may be wise to call and get their advice and input on how to deal with the mess Congress has created for everyone.