Congress Likely to Decide on Estate Tax This Year

Most tax specialists suspect that Congress will address the estate tax later this year when it decides whether to extend the Bush tax cuts. Currently, the estate tax is set to go back down to a $1 million exemption, a 55% rate and a $5 million portable exemption.

Based on the way Congress is currently composed, Jeremy Scott, an editor with Tax Analysts, predicts that the rate in place now will either be permanently extended or will be extended for another ten years at least. Scott doesn’t think that another short term extension is likely because Congress does not want to deal with this issue every two  years.

See Melanie Waddell, Estate Tax Limbo Likely to End This Year, Advisor One, Feb. 1, 2012. 

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.