Saturday, February 6, 2010

Estate Tax Battle Resumes

Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, and the Senate Finance Charmian, Max Baucus agree on one thing. Both want to extend the 2009 estate tax rate and exemption amount to 2010 and make it retroactive to January 1, 2010. In the 2011 budget released Feb. 1 by President Obama, the administration is backing the legislation passed by the House last December to repeal the repeal of the Estate Tax in 2010. Too bad nobody has explained to them the due process clause of the Constitution has been interpreted such that the tax code in effect as of the date of a person's death is the law that is to be imposed. Anyone who has a relative who has died in 2010 and who inherited amounts in excess of the proposed $3.5M exemption may wish to contest such retroactive application of any new estate tax law.

Some insiders suggest that the estate tax bill could be linked to the proposed jobs bill being submitted to boost the economy. All we can say is "stay tuned". The final chapter in this area has not yet been written.

1 comment:

  1. Here is more information on the latest "deal" pending in Congress. See; http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/80317-senate-works-on-estate-tax-deal-to-grease-the-skids-for-a-jobs-bill

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