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JK Lasser's New Rules for Estate, Retirement, and Tax Planning, 6th Edition
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JK Lasser's New Rules for Estate, Retirement, and Tax Planning, 6th Edition

by Stewart H. Welch III, J. Winston Busby
February 2019
Beginner content levelBeginner
352 pages
9h 14m
English
Wiley
Content preview from JK Lasser's New Rules for Estate, Retirement, and Tax Planning, 6th Edition

CHAPTER 3The Estate Tax System

Determining Your Estate Net Worth

Although minimizing the amount of estate taxes you will owe should not be your only goal, it is certainly an important one. The estate tax system places a tax on the transfer of wealth for the purpose of redistributing it to the masses. The transfer tax system comprises less than 1 percent of the revenue raised through taxation in the United States. While the estate planning revisions of the TCJA focused on eliminating death taxes on all but super wealthy Americans, it's still very important to pay close attention to the estate tax laws. Why? Because Congress seems compelled to change the limits every few years, and they will rise or fall depending on who has control of Congress. For example, since 2001, Congress has made eight significant changes to the estate tax exemption limits. The amount has varied from an exemption as low as $675,000 (2001) to a 100 percent exemption (2010) to the recent high of $11,180,000 (2018). Table 3.1 is a reminder of the current estate and gift tax limits.

TABLE 3.1 Applicable Federal Gift and Estate Tax Exemption Amounts

Year of Death Gift Tax Exemption ($) Estate Tax Exemption ($)
2018a 11,180,000 11,180,000

aFor subsequent years, the gift and estate tax exemptions are indexed for inflation. For current year updates, visit the Resource Center at www.welchgroup.com; click on “Links,” then “ESTATE BOOK UPDATES.”

Understanding the Estate Tax System

It seems like everything ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781119559139Purchase book