The portability election for the Deceased Spousal Unused Exclusion (DSUE) allows a surviving spouse to use a deceased spouse’s unused estate exclusion against subsequent gratuitous transfers. The presence of the DSUE has become so enticing in a potential spouse that some online suitors have included it in their dating profiles. The IRS released Rev. Proc. 2017-34 in June in order to offer a simplified method to remedy a failure to make the election. There are number of specific steps that must be taken in order to qualify. But, as with all good things, this chance is fleeting and will end either on the later of the second anniversary of the decedent’s death or January 2, 2018.
See Susan P. Rounds, Forget “Must Love Dogs”—Go with “Must Love DSUE” or The Portability Election: Simplified Late Election Relief, NAEPC Journal of Estate & Tax Planning, October 2017.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.
