Suggested Reforms for Estate And Gift Tax Systems

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has suggested some reforms for the estate tax and gift tax systems to Congress. These suggestions include:

• Making the technical modifications to the GSTT rules permanent
• Retaining the applicable exclusion indexed for inflation
• Keeping a uniform exclusion amount for estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax purposes
• Maintaining portability
• Bringing back the full state estate or death tax credit
• Avoiding “cliff” taxation by providing several tax brackets

See AICPA Recommends Reforms of Estate and Gift Tax System, 2011 TNT 228-19, Nov. 18, 2011; Andrew Hodes, AICPA Recommends to Congress Reforms for Estate and Gift Tax System, Wealth Strategies Journal, Nov. 28, 2011.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this article to my attention.