It seems lately that as soon as Halloween ends, the holiday season begins and we all look forward to the end of the past year and the beginning of a new, and hopefully, wonderful exciting one. The air grows colder, the leaves are gone, and the days seem so short. […]
On August 29, 2013, the IRS issued an announcement (Rev. Rul. 2013-72 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-13-17.pdf ) ruling that it will treat same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, as married for federal tax purposes. Importantly, the ruling applies regardless of whether the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage or a jurisdiction that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
On December 17, 2010, Congress enacted what we know as the 2010 Tax Act, changing the estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer (“GST”) tax regime. Before the passage of the Act, the federal estate tax exemption – the amount that an individual can pass to his or her beneficiaries tax-free – increased in steps from $675,000 per individual in 2001 to, ultimately, $3.5 million per individual in 2009. In 2010, the federal estate tax was eliminated; but only temporarily. Under prior law, the federal estate tax was scheduled to return in 2011 with a maximum tax rate of 55 percent and a $1 million exemption, meaning that if a decedent’s estate exceeded $1 million, such excess would be taxed at a 55 percent rate.
Dear “Ask the Attorney”: I know that April 15th is right around the corner and my 2011 income tax return is due. However, I don’t know what to do since I haven’t filed a return for 2009 and 2010. It seems to have simply gotten away from me. What do […]