Estate Tax Complexity Illustrated by the 2010 “Voluntary” Estate Tax

Executors of 2010 estates had an unusual choice: either to file an estate tax return and possibly pay a 35% estate tax on amounts above $5 million or instead to choose to have assets pass without an estate tax but with a carryover in basis. The data are now in, and we can see that on average, execut...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gordon, Robert, Joulfaian, David, Poterba, James Michael
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Institutional Investor Journals 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114697
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3532-0998
Description
Summary:Executors of 2010 estates had an unusual choice: either to file an estate tax return and possibly pay a 35% estate tax on amounts above $5 million or instead to choose to have assets pass without an estate tax but with a carryover in basis. The data are now in, and we can see that on average, executors of 2010 estates made the right decision. Thousands did choose to voluntarily file an estate tax return, but they wound up paying little or no estate tax.