2010 Estate Tax (The Federal Estate Tax)

[forum_admin]

A Sensible Approach to the Federal Estate Tax

Article provided by Lawrence M. Simon Law Offices
Visit us at Bergen County Estate Planning & Probate Attorney | Ridgewood Personal Injury & Truck Accident Lawyer | New Jersey | NJ

It has been a turbulent decade for the estate tax and Congress is poised to make some monumental decisions. In the simplest terms, estate taxes are collected from the very wealthiest estates when assets are transferred after death to beneficiaries and heirs. If an estate is of sufficient size to be taxed, a large portion is exempt from taxation and certain deductions (such as for charitable giving) are allowed to arrive at the taxable amount. The vast majority of Americans are never affected by the Federal estate tax; well under one percent of estates are large enough to be taxed, those worth millions of dollars.

The President supports making the 2009 estate tax levels permanent, applicable in 2010 and forward, with an ongoing automatic adjustment for inflation of the amount of an estate exempt from taxation. This approach is reflected in the president's budget proposal for 2010 and in a bill introduced in April by Senator Max Baucus, Democrat from Maine and Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, the Tax Certainty and Relief Act of 2009 (S 722). This plan still sacrifices much revenue to the anti-tax movement by continuing a high estate exemption of $3.5 million and a relatively lower tax rate of 45 percent.

• The Federal Estate Tax
• Impact of the Bush Tax Cuts
• President Obama's Position
• Representative McDermott's Proposal

Read more...

A Sensible Approach to the Federal Estate Tax