No changes in Estate Tax Status

No news from the Senate on the Estate Tax issue. I guess they will take it up next year and be faced with the problem of people who die after 1/1/10 and before they change the law.

Here are some other's opinions:

Tax Girl:

http://www.taxgirl.com/federal-estate-tax-update/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+taxgirlfeed+%28taxgirl%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher.

And from a lawyer on an internet discussion group:

"Dear Client, Please don't die in 2010.

Congress has apparently taken no action to alter or amend the
consequences of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of
2001(EGTRRA). Therefore the estate tax is repealed as to decedents dying after
midnight December 31, 2009 and for the year 2010. Modified carry over basis rules, IRS sec. 1022, will now be applicable, rendering reserved life estates not
eligible for step up basis adjustments and requiring a return, yet to be
developed, under IRS sec. 6018, be filed by an executor to report basis
information. These changes will all expire after midnight on December 31, 2010, at which point the old estate tax law with the $1 million exemption under The Taxpayer Relef Act of 1997 will become law. Many of my clients with modest estates will be harmed by these provisions."

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