What is the estate tax liability for a spouse who is a non-U.S. citizen?
I am giving some important points about Estate tax and Gift tax. If the entire estate is less than the exclusion limit, there is no estate tax. A person can reduce his/her estate tax liability by giving gifts every year. 1. If a U.S. citizen or resident dies his estate is taxable; it does not matter if the spouse is U.S. citizen/resident or not. 2. If a U.S. citizen becomes citizen of another country, still his/her U.S. tax liabilities remain. 3. For Estate Tax the exclusion amount for 2007 and 2008 is $2,000,000 and for 2009 is 3,500,000. 4. Life time exclusion amount for Gift tax for 2007, 2008 and 2009 is $1,000,000. 5. Besides the gift exclusion amount, a person can give any number of gift of less than $12,000 (figure for 2006) to any number of persons. No tax is payable on these gifts. If a person receives a gift of any amount, it is not taxable.
