Planning to Die in 2010 to Save Estate Taxes? Hold on!!! (Tom's Blog)

Planning to Die in 2010 to Save Estate Taxes? Hold on!!!

Many of you know that the estate tax is scheduled to go to zero next year before it reverts to the pre-Bush rates and rules in 2011. So dying in 2010 seems like a good plan (just kidding, of course).

We all knew this was too good to be true, didn't we? There is now a bill in the making that will permanently extend the 2009 estate tax provisions. While this may be sad for those planning to die in 2010, it's really very nice for the rest of us.

You see, the pre-Bush estate tax provisions only allowed a $1,000,000 exclusion and taxed everything over that at 55%. The 2009 rules allow a $3,500,000 exclusion and the rate for estates greater than this is 45%. So, this would be a very nice change for future years.

Hopefully, they will also add a provision to increase the exclusion for inflation. I'll keep you up to date on this bill as it makes its way through the system.

FYI, there is another tax bill that has been introduced in the form of a "technical corrections" bill. People think technical corrections just mean minor clarifications, but sometimes they can be significant provisions. I'll let you know more about that bill in a future blog.

Stay on top of taxes and so you don't get blindsided and keep control of your hard-earned money.

Warmest regards,

Tom