Number of Filed Estate Tax Returns Has Dropped

The Statistics of Income Bulletin, an IRS publication, reports that the number of filed estate tax returns dropped from 108,000 in 2001 to 38,000 in 2007.  The primary reason? Increases in the estate tax exemption that began in 2001, with the biggest drops occurring during a year directly following a year in which the estate tax exemption was increased. 

See Brian G. Raub, A Look at Estate Tax Returns Filed forWealthy Decedents Since 2001, SOI Bulletin, Vol. 29, No. 2, at 288; Hani Sarji, IRS releases the fall 2009 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin: total number of estate tax returns filed dropped between 2001 and 2007, Future of the Federal Estate Tax, Nov. 25, 2009.