Where Will the Estate, Gift and GST Tax End Up in 2010?
If current law remains unchanged, in 2010 there will be no estate tax and no generation-skipping transfer (“GST”) tax, so that you may leave an unlimited amount to anyone free from those tax regimes. Under current law, in 2011 the estate and GST taxes are scheduled to return, with only a $1 million applicable exclusion amount for each (indexed for inflation in the case of GST tax exemption). It is widely expected that this result will not be allowed to occur, yet here we are in December, with no new legislation to resolve the issue of where our transfer tax system will end up. As of this writing, however, Democratic leaders are preparing an estate tax bill that would permanently extend the current transfer tax law. The legislation is expected on the House floor shortly. At the same time, H.R. 3905 (the “Estate Tax Relief Act of 2009”) was recently introduced. Under H.R. 3905, in each of the 10 years from 2010 through 2019, the estate tax applicable exclusion amount will increase by $15
