Article on Post ATRA Estate Planning

Lewis Saret (Federal Tax Attorney, Washington D.C.) recently published an article  on the medicare entitled, Post ATRA Estate Planning Part 1: Key Transfer Tax Provisions of the American Tax Relief Act of 2012, The Estate Planner, (July 2013). Provided below is the introduction to the latest article:

On January 1, 2013, Congress passed the American TaxpayerRelief Act of 2012 (ATRA),1 and on January 2, 2013, President Obama signed ATRAinto law. ATRA makes permanent, with certain modifications, the transfer taxprovisions of the so-called Bush tax cuts, originally enacted as part of theEconomic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA).2 EGTRRAmade several changes to the federal transfer tax system, including mostprominently, phased in reductions in transfer tax rates and phased in increasesto the transfer tax exclusion/ exemption amounts. Due to budgetaryrequirements, EGTRRA included a sunset provision that caused its transfer tax provisionsto expire at the end of 2010. At the end of 2010, Congress enacted the Tax Relief,Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 (TRA 2010).3TRA 2010 extended the EGTRRA tax changes for two years and set the estate taxat a 35-percent maximum tax rate, with an estate tax applicable exclusionamount of $5 million, adjusted for inflation. ATRA was enacted in response tothe expiration of the TRA 2010 tax provisions.