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The IRS Just Made It Easier For Families to Safeguard Assets From Estate Tax

The IRS Just Made It Easier For Families to Safeguard Assets From Estate Tax

The federal government has altered the Internal Revenue Service's portability regulations, giving widows and widowers more time to file after their spouse dies. 

For those unfamiliar with portability -- and with the overall intricacies of estate law -- the term is defined as "the ability to transfer the deceased spouse's unused exemption amount (DSUEA) for estate and gifts taxes to a surviving spouse."

Under previous rules, the surviving spouse had to file IRS Form 706 within 15 months of the death date in order to qualify. Then, in 2017, the application window was lengthened to two years.

Last week, because so many families were missing the two-year deadline, the IRS officially extended the filing window to five years from the date of death.

To be eligible to use the simplified [five-year] method, the decedent must have been a citizen or resident of the United States on the date of death and the executor must not have been otherwise required to file an estate tax return under Sec. 6018(a), as determined based on the value of the gross estate and any adjusted taxable gifts. The executor also must not have timely filed the estate tax return within nine months after the decedent's date of death or extended filing deadline.

While there are definite far-reaching benefits to this new, longer portability filing process -- including less immediate hassle for widows and widowers and their adult children at all income levels -- it also gives wealthy families the ability to more easily shelter assets to avoid paying hefty estate taxes. 

The Wall Street Journal delved into this issue in a recent report, sharing a specific anecdote from Bruce Steiner, a New York City-based trusts and estates attorney:

...[In a September 2020 Steiner case] the dad left his spouse $3 million in investments and assets. Now, her estate is worth $6 million. If she lives another 20 years, she could easily be in estate tax territory, Mr. Steiner figures.

For a younger widow like Mr. Steiner’s client, who has $6 million in assets in her mid-60s, it is an easy call to file for portability, tax professionals say. For an older widow who has $1 million in assets and is in spend-down mode, it probably won’t make a difference—unless she wins the lottery.

The reason so many people fail to file the correct forms is largely a procedural issue. If everything is passed directly from one spouse to the other when the first one dies, there is no estate administration, says Mr. Steiner. So there is nobody to spot the issue.

“It falls between the cracks,” Mr. Steiner says.

The new five-year filing window provides families with cushion to safeguard their wealth regardless of if it seems necessary right now. As Steiner expressed, “The risk-reward of the cost of doing the return is something but modest compared to the cost if you’re wrong and the surviving spouse’s estate is otherwise above the exclusion amount when she dies."

If you need assistance planning for your family's future, find the right local CPA or IRS Enrolled Agent to oversee your estate using the TaxBuzz directory.

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Rebekah Barton

Rebekah Barton

Rebekah's search engine optimization career began completely by accident as a college student. Over the course of her career so far, she has "grown up" with the SEO industry, from writing content while juggling classes to managing her own teams of writers and overseeing SEO strategy in subsequent roles. She is excited to bring her passion for high-quality content to CountingWorks, Inc.

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